The Walker Cnty. Courthouse at Lafayette
| Publication year | 2024 |
| Citation | Vol. 29 No. 4 Pg. 0028 |
| Pages | 0028 |
GBJ I Feature
BY WILBER W. CALDWELL
The Walker County Courthouse at LaFayette, built in 1883, demolished in 1922. J. B. Patton, builder/architect (attributed).
Originally containing all of present day Dade and Catoosa counties as well as parts of Whitfield and Chattooga, Walker County was created in 1833, and a brick courthouse was erected on the square at LaFayette in 1838. Although this fiercely independent mountainous region had opposed succession in 1861, the old Walker County Courthouse was ironically one of only a few court buildings in Georgia to see action in the Civil War. In June of 1864, Confederate troops repeatedly stormed the old courthouse in an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge its Yankee defenders. The old building survived this violence only to burn to the ground 18 years later. It was replaced by a larger brick building in 1883.
As Sir John Summerson so accurately observed, "The use of the term 'vernacular' by historians is a confession of ignorance." Indeed, we know little of the 1883 Walker County Courthouse, and our ignorance tempts us to call the structure vernacular. But despite its simple unadorned lines, records survive which may place the building in the realm of formal architecture. To be sure, the structure had a formal plan, for in March of 1883, a notice in the Walker County Messenger invited prospective contractors to view drawings in the office of the County Ordinary. The winning contractor was J. B. Patton of Rome. The Messenger goes on to inform readers that a building committee appointed by the County Commissioners had visited Centre, Alabama, where a new courthouse was nearing completion, in order to "investigate and suggest plans for a new courthouse" at LaFayette. Inquiries in Centre, Alabama, reveal that indeed, the Cherokee County Alabama Courthouse burned in 1882 and was replaced in that year. Although no architect is referenced in connection with the construction at Centre, we find that the builder was the same J. B. Patton of Rome. Although Patton's courthouse at Centre burned in 1896 and no photographs survive, the obvious inference is that the 1883 Walker County Courthouse was a copy of, or a variation on, the earlier builder-designed court building erected in Alabama. As to whether Patton's skills as a designer lift the building up and out of the...
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