Hamblen County Courthouse

The Construction

   The commissioners of the newly formed county that were appointed to superintend the erection of the courthouse were R. M. Barton, J. C. Tate, J. C. Hodges, John Murphy and Joseph Eckle. The Hamblen County building committee commissioned architect Alexander C. Bruce to draw up and present three plans to the committee. Alexander C. Bruce (1835-1927) was Atlanta’s first member of the American Institute of Architects. Bruce trained in the Nashville, Tennessee office of English architect H. M. Akeroid. He practiced in Knoxville, TN, where he was elected an associate in the A.I.A.
    Bruce drew up plans in the architectural style of Italianate, Second Empire. One plans cost was $10,000, another $15,000, and the last to cost $18,000. The commissioners choose the most expensive plan, but accepted a bid by G.W. Barrett and George W. Folsom, under the name of Lyle & Folsom, for $21,750. The building was completed in 1874. George W. Folsom, Drury Morris, G.W. Barrett, and John Murphy donated funds and the land in which the courthouse still stands. There were additions added in 1955, 1956 and 1999. This building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Please click to enlarge

The Copula

   In the original plans drawn up by architect Alexander C. Bruce of Knoxville, there were clock faces on the four faces of the copula. For unknown reasons the clocks were omitted from the building during construction, probably because of overruns on the actual construction.

   There was another plan that commission proposed in 1874. It ordered that a bell and a clock be added to the copula and proposed that the county would assign $400 dollars to buy a brass bell but only if the citizens paid to have the clock faces installed. Neither were added at that time. The county was already paying for such things as a new courthouse, jail, and a poor-asylum, they may have thought this was something that they could add in the near future. As it turns out, it took many years to install a working clock face. In 1999, some 125 years later architects at Adams Architectural Associates in Knoxville designed a complete new copula to replace the original that was dilapidated and was in need of replacement. Even thought a bell wasn’t included in these plans, I’m sure the clocks would have would have put a smile on the faces of those that envisioned it so many years before.

The original chosen plan is located in the Hamblen County Archives in the basement of the Hamblen County Courthouse in Morristown, TN.