Drawing of Earlier courthouse
Sherman's Troops at the courthouse
Temporary courthouse (Served as Methodist and Baptist Churches)
1900 View of courthouse
1920's Version of courthouse
40's Version of courthouse
Familiar View of courthouse
Side View of courthouse
First Secession Meeting Monument
Current courthouse
The first courthouse was described as a log building measuring 60 feet by 40 feet. It was moved (some think to the site of the Academy) to make way for the second courthouse which is pictured as a drawing. This is the building (second photo) that Sherman's troop's burned. A former Church on the corner of Main and Page Streets served as a temporary courthouse for 14 years (This building was moved--some think to the site of the Academy). The next series of pictures show the Old Familiar courthouse in differing views through the years. The current courthouse was completed in 1977 and is undergoing an addition in 2006.
James W. Jenkins: The following information (shown at the site of the old Academy at 601 West Main Street) cites additional background on the buildings used for both the courthouse and for the Academy. There seems to be some uncertainity by earlier historians as to which building this is. Some say it was the first courthouse (because of the dimensions) and some say it was the old Methodist (later Baptist) Church which served as the courthouse from 1865 to 1888. References made to “The Academy” on the corner of Main and Academy Street are interpreted by some writers to mean it was a private school. A number of schools in South Carolina and the South made reference to Academies and Institutes, but in most cases these were public schools. The confusion may come from the fact that rural students frequently boarded in town homes to attend the town school, and that connection seems to imply private school. My experience in education and my knowledge of some of these so called “Academies and Institutions” across the state lead me to conclude that most of them were public schools. Academies that flourished in the early days of desegregation were almost always private or religious-oriented.
[Copied from The Cheraw Chronicle Bicentennial Edition] A two-story wooden building built in 1786 served as a courthouse. It was located behind the present courthouse and measured 50 feet by 40 feet. In 1825 the early courthouse was moved to another site where it was used as a schoolhouse giving Academy Street its name. (editor’s note: I can’t find it today, but I recall reading that the first building was made of logs.)
[Copied from Chesterfield Advertiser: This article refers to a September 3, 1925 Advertiser account of W. D. Craig’s first visit to Chesterfield.] “My first visit to Chesterfield was made November 12, 1845, the memorable famine year of this section of the 19th century. There was almost nothing made on the farms. They could not get supplies enough for people and stock ...... Coming on down the street to where S. M. Jackson now lives, we came to a big grove and an imposing two-story building, 40 by 50 feet, which was the village schoolhouse.”
[Copied from Baptist Church History] Some years later the organization moved to the present location, purchased the old Methodist Church building for a sum of $400. The church had been used as a courthouse since Sherman burned the Court House in March of 1865 and it was not rebuilt until 1884. The Baptist, after using this building for a few years sold it to the Trustees of the School who moved it to the lot now occupied by the residence of S. M. Jackson. (Editor’s note: Mr. S. M. Jackson was the father of David Jackson who lived in the house in the 50’s.
[Copied from Chesterfield Advertiser:Some Historical Facts about Chesterefield 1786 - 1970 by Madge Craig Curtis] (Refering to Chesterfield Baptist Church) “In January of 1886 they bought the old Methodist Church which stood where the Amoco Service Station is now. This building had not only been used as a church, but as the courthouse about twenty years following the burning of our Court House. The Baptist worshiped in this building only a few years, and then sold it to the trustees of the school who moved it. The building stands where David Jackson now lives.”
[Copied from Cheraw Chronicle Bicentennial Edition] “Our first schoolhouse was used as early as 1830. There were two large rooms but not many facilites for the young children, so some of us spent our first years in the private school of Miss Lizzie Geddes down on the east side of Green Street.
[Copied from Walter R. Burr, Jr. Handwritten History 1886, Page 4] “The night of March 2, 1865 General Wm. Sherman gave his men orders to burn the Chesterfield, SC County Courthouse. The torch was also put to the Chesterfield Academy that was located on the South side of main Street and on the corner of Main Street and old highway # 85 South. The torch started several other fires in our town of Chesterfield.”
[Written article by Sarah Trotti at the Children of the Confederacy Meeting] "In writing this article of Chesterfield County's Courthouse of 1827 - 1865, I must tell a little about her first courthouse, as the story would not be complete without it. The first courthouse in Chesterfield County was a wooden structure built in 1786, one hundred and forty years ago, just one year after the county came into existence. This building was 50 x 40 feet, a two story model and stood just back of the courthouse now in use. In 1827, ninety-nine years ago the people of the county decide to build a more modern and larger courthouse, therefore the original one was moved to where Mr. Maxey Jackson now lives and used as a school house."
Copied: Chesterfield County Pictorial History 1785 - 2000 According to newspaper articles and the Historical Society of Chesterfield County publications, the Works Progress Administration built the front steps and second-level porch, along with an addition to the rear of the building, between 1935 and 1945.
Dr. William Perry: The sidewalk in front of the Courthouse was one of two places children could roller skate. Mangum Street by the Presbyterian Church had a paved sidewalk as well.
Elizabeth Ann Gaddy Rivers: The momument on this site commemorates the First Seccssion Meeting held at Chesterfield Courthouse on November 19, 1860. The Courthouse now houses the Greater Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce, Chesterfield Archives and Geneaology Library, Historical Society of Chesterfield County, Chesterfield Art Gallery, Museum and Gift Shop. Just to show you how much technology has changed our lives in fifty years, please note this personal experience. In 1958, Ruby Hurst (now Teal) and I spent the entire summer in the old courthouse working on a project to re-index the county birth and death records-by hand. We copied information from birth and death certificates onto index cards which were then sorted as specified. The man who headed the project pitched the project to the county, and he hired us to work for him. Reading the handwriting of all those doctors probably prepared me well to read any student's handwriting in the next thirty-five years of teaching that followed that summer experience! I remember that Ruby and I ate lunch nearly every day at Mrs. Grant's boarding house on East Main Street and that we probably spent most of our salary on that, as well as gaining a few pounds from eating the delicious food. Our lunch companion most days was "Miss" Delle Rivers, Calvin Rivers's mother, who walked from her house across the street, for her meals. The first rule we learned about eating there was that nobody-I mean nobody-ever sat at the place "Miss" Delle had designated as hers. It stayed empty even if she wasn't there on a given day.
Frank White, Jr. noted that in the copied portion from the Chesterfield County Pictorial History 1785 - 2000, it is stated that Robert Mills designed the courthouse that stands at this site today. He says that this is nothing but a myth that has been perpetuated, not fact. Robert Mills died in 1855; the courthouse wasn't even built until 1884.