Knox County Courthouse (Tennessee)
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Knox County Courthouse
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Old Knox County Courthouse
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| Location | Knoxville, Tennessee |
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| Coordinates | 35°57′39″N 83°55′1″W / 35.96083°N 83.91694°WCoordinates: 35°57′39″N 83°55′1″W / 35.96083°N 83.91694°W |
| Built | 1885 |
| NRHP Reference # | 73001803 |
| Added to NRHP | April 24, 1973 |
The Knox County Courthouse is a historic building located at 300 Main Street in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Built in 1885, it served as Knox County's courthouse until the completion of the City-County Building in 1979, and continues to house offices for several county departments.John Sevier, Tennessee's first governor, is buried on the courthouse lawn. The courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture and its role in the county's political history.
The courthouse is a 2.5-story brick structure with an imposing clock tower. It contains a mixture of architectural styles, including Colonial elements in the clock tower and Gothic elements (including quatrefoil patterns) in the balcony and porch. Much of the interior has been altered.
The Knox County Courthouse sits on what was originally Lot 36 of Charles McClung's 1791 plat of Knoxville. The lot across the street to the north (Lot 37), currently occupied by the federal courthouse, was the lot set aside by James White for the county courthouse. The county's first courthouse was completed circa 1793, but was considered an eyesore.Thomas William Humes stated that a "frolicsome Irishman" burned this first courthouse down within a few years of its construction, to the delight of the city's residents. The lot of the current courthouse was originally occupied by a federal blockhouse made famous by a Lloyd Branson painting.
Knox County's second courthouse was built about 1797. This second courthouse was the setting for the George Washington Harris short story, "Eaves-Dropping a Lodge of Free-Masons." Harris described the "old stone Court-house" as having a "steep gable front to the street," a "disproportionately small brick chimney," "well-whittled door-jambs," "dusty windows," and "gloomy walls and ghosly echoes." By the 1830s, this courthouse had deteriorated, and local politicians began calling for its replacement.
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