Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

As part of the deal to establish Gettysburg as the county seat the Getty family donated this land for a county prison. A two-story bastille-like building was erected in 1851 to replace the original detention center. On July 2, 1863. Confederate General Robert E. Lee held a war council in the building. Following the battle, the prison was utilized by the Union Army provost marshal to retain soldiers and civilians charged with violating martial law. In 1889 the County enlarged the front of the building to three stories and continued its use until 1948. The county library moved in for the next 40 years and most recently it has served as a municipal office building.

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

The town government floated around town for much of the 1800s. One town house burned; meetings were held in a store and on the porch of a church. In 1875 a long-term solution was finally reached with the construction of this red brick town hall. Its design drew heavily on the colonial Georgian style popular a century earlier. The bill for the building and the land came to $50,763. After selling off some town property the tab came to a bit over $35,000. Town offices, courts and a public library occupied the ground floor; upstairs the meeting hall provided space for lectures, recitals and the occasional poultry show.

Georgetown, Delaware

In 1835 a lottery was authorized to raise funds to replace the frame structure which had served as Courthouse since 1791. Construction of the new building began in 1837 following the sale and relocation of the original Courthouse to its present site on South Bedford Street. The seat of justice. was completed in 1839 on plans drawn up by nationally known architect William Strickland. Strickland was most famous as a proponent of the then-popular Greek Revival style for important public buildings but the two-story Courthouse, with limited funds, was built in a plainer Federal style. It would not be until 1914 that the Ionic portico and expanded tower with cupola were added.

Adams, Massachusetts

At this end of Park Street the town’s leading family, the Plunketts, built their homes. This Georgian Revival brick manor house was constructed for Charles T. Plunkett in 1907. In subsequent years the building did duty as an American Legion home and now as offices for the town.

New Castle, Pennsylvania

The Municipal Building features a stylish Art Deco facade that harkens back to New Castle’s glory days of the 1920s.

Westerly, Massachusetts

This is another contribution to the streetscapes of Rhode Island by William R. Walker and Son of Providence. The two-story granite structure projects a pedimented Ionic entrance portico.

Milford, Pennsylvania

Architect George Barton blended the popular Second Empire style with classical elements in 1874 to provide Pike County with a suitably impressive courthouse. The mansard roof with cornice brackets and round, arched windows are standard-bearers for this picturesque style. The roof-line is rich with Palladian dormers, a classical pediment and domed cupola with paired pilasters.

Kingston, Rhode Island

Although the legislators wouldn’t recognize it today, this was one of Rhode Island’s original state houses when the General Assembly rotated its meetings among the five counties between 1776 and 1791. When Kingston was dropped from the rotation it reverted to its original use as the county courthouse. The building was constructed in 1775 using posts and beams hewn from the thick forests nearby.

For its 100th birthday the courthouse received a Victorian makeover highlighted by a French Empire-style mansard roof supported by an abundance of decorative brackets. The original belfry was the plopped on top of the new roof. The new look couldn’t forestall the march of time, however, and in 1895 a new courthouse was built in West Kingston. The first floor was converted into the town library and the second floor became a community meeting hall. For its 200th birthday, in 1974, the old courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Rockville, Maryland

There have been four Montgomery County court houses in Rockville since it was established as the County seat in 1776. Court was originally held at Hungerford Tavern. A frame court house existed in the late 18th century but was sufficiently outgrown by 1810 to necessitate a new building for the Clerk and his records. In 1835, the County petitioned the General Assembly for authorization of a new brick court house, which was completed in 1840. By that time, Rockville was an established residential, governmental, and market hub with a population of nearly 400. The original single-story wings of the court house were razed in 1872 to provide more space but by 1890 it was outgrown and demolished. The General Assembly authorized another bond issue for the replacement brick and sandstone Romanesque Revival court house which was constructed in 1890-91 and which stands here today.

Florence, South Carolina

The 12-story Florence City-County Complex was completed in 1972, an oft-reviled interpretation of the Brutalism branch of the International style.