When a May 1910 lightning strike damaged the Hamilton County Courthouse beyond reconstruction, governmental officials sprang into action. The first concern was finding adequate quarters for the Chancery, Criminal and Circuit courts, along with those for the county. When the City of Chattanooga offered space in its municipal buildings, officials breathed a sigh of relief.
Within 24 hours, Chattanooga Mayor Thomas Clarkson “T.C.” Thompson had authorized the relocation of county records and valuable papers to city office spaces. Two days after the fire on Monday morning, the Criminal Court was in session in the City Council’s quarters. The Circuit Court was delayed one week while the aldermen’s board room was readied. City and county staff evaluated possible locations for Chancery Court. Clerk and Master Sam Erwin and his staff were given the Board of Education’s assembly room. They immediately unpacked rescued records and organized the week’s work.
Once county government was functioning, planning focused on the rebuilding of the courthouse. Insurance carriers including C.W. Olson & Co., McRae and Stuart, F.E. Tyler, Ferger Brothers, Sol Moyses, McGhee & Hosklus, W.J. Colburn & Co., Glover and Grady, and Mrs. Carrie R. Pickens, joined forces and determined that the total coverage on the destroyed building was $76,500 with an additional $16,500 for the contents.
County leaders announced by mid-week that insurance proceeds would serve as the beginning fund for construction of a “modern, fireproof, attractive building” and that they would petition the Tennessee General Assembly for permission to issue bonds for the remaining construction and furnishing costs. The estimated outlay was projected at $300,00-$500,000. Debate centered on the possibility of using the first-floor walls and foundation as the basis of a new courthouse, but almost immediately that idea was set aside. Officials recalled that the former courthouse was built in 1878, remodeled and enlarged in 1891, and that the judges and elected county constitutional officers had urged a new courthouse for almost 20 years. Lack of financial resources had delayed replacement. With major functions of county government now being carried out in borrowed space from the city, plans for a new courthouse quickly moved forward.
On Jan. 16, 1912, the Hamilton County Court with authorization from the Tennessee General Assembly passed a resolution ordering the issuance of $350,000 worth of bonds for construction of a new courthouse. A Courthouse Commission was appointed to oversee the process. Members included John Tinker, Esquire; George W. Edwards, Esquire; Z.W. Wheland; J.C. Howell; C.M. Preston; and Judge Michael M. Allison, chairman.
The commission chose to advertise for two possible designs: one for a brick and terracotta building with marble trimmings and the other for a design using gray Tennessee marble for the exterior walls. R.H. Hunt of Chattanooga was employed as the architect.
The firm of Barnwell and Jones was selected to work with the winner of the construction bid to provide quality assurance. Nine firms submitted bids. After carefully evaluating each one, the commission awarded the contract to George A. Fuller and Co., Washington, D.C.
With the additional features — glass dome, decorative touches, elevators, appropriate ornamental hardware and Corinthian columns — included in the design, the costs would “come in within the appropriation.” The Courthouse Commission proclaimed that Hamilton County citizens would “receive full value” for their investment and that the new building would “contain all the up-to-date equipment for preserving the papers and records of the county … and ample room for the business of the four courts … .”
On Friday, Oct. 25, 1912, Judge H.H. Ingersoll of Knoxville, Tennessee, the past grand master of the Tennessee Masons, presided over the dedication of the new Hamilton County Courthouse with a reminder of the division of power represented by the new structure. “We believe all power is inherent in the people, to be exercised, however, in the constitutional method … . We believe that sovereign power is properly divided into legislative, executive and judicial, each to be exercised by a separate department of government … . We are here to build, not destroy, and thus we testify our faith in American institutions, our confidence in Tennessee courts of justice. We stand on the faith of our fathers and shall obey their constitution … .”
With a flourish, Judge Allison and Judge Ingersoll cut the ribbon, and Hamilton County had a new courthouse.
Linda Moss Mines, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County historian, is vice chair of the Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center and secretary of the Chattanooga Area Veterans Council. For more information on local history, visit Chattahistoricalassoc.org.