Georgia County Government - July 2008 - (Page 33)

Georgia’s Grand Old Courthouses The Talbot County Courthouse at Talbotton Built in 1892. Bruce and Moran, architects. A By Wilber W. Caldwell ccording to George White’s Statistics of the State of Georgia, Talbotton’s populat ion had reached a l m o s t 1, 5 0 0 i n 1849, and the town contained a “large and well-arranged” brick courthouse, a jail, two churches, two academies and seven or eight stores. Talbot County had been cut from Muscogee County in 1827. The courthouse that George White described had been erected in 1831. It was the county’s first permanent court building. The two-story brick vernacular structure was built by the Birch brothers, who had been involved in the additions to the Georgia state capital building at Milledgeville in the late 1820s and who erected similar excellent early brick court buildings at Watkinsville (1829) and at Greenville (1832). Entrenched in the myths of the past, Talbotton was slow to acquire the trappings of the new age. Nonetheless, a small helping of the New South myth was imported by The Talbotton Branch Railroad, which was chartered in the railroad building frenzy of the early 1870s. However, like most cottongrowing regions, so hard hit was Talbot County in the aftermath of Civil War, that it would take nine years to build the seven miles of track from Talbotton to a junction with The Southwestern at Bostwick, (later called Pascal, later Junction City). The Talbotton Branch Railroad was finally completed in 1881, but by the time the first train steamed into town, Talbotton had begun to decline, her population down to around 750 according to Sholes’ 1879 Gazetteer of Georgia. Surely the new railroad brought with it some glimmer of hope, but in 1881, hard times lay ahead for Talbotton, and the hour of her fullness was past. The 1890s saw a small resurgence at the end of this lonely spur. As Talbotton’s population neared 1,000, The Peoples Bank of Talbotton was chartered and the simple brick commercial architecture, which had begun to surround so many Georgia squares around the turn of the century began to appear. Meanwhile, on Feb. 12, 1892, the old Talbot County Courthouse burned to the ground. The The Talbot County Courthouse at Talbotton. Photo by Wilber W. Caldwell subsequent commission of Atlanta architects, Bruce and Morgan, supplies further evidence that at least some New South passion had trickled into Talbotton. When the old courthouse at Talbotton burned, Bruce and Morgan were busy covering Georgia’s squares with Romanesque court buildings. Between 1892 and 1895 the firm designed 13 Romanesque Revival courthouses in Georgia, many with elaborate Queen Anne details. Seven of these still stand today. This building at Talbotton, begun in 1892, and its virtual twin in Statesboro (1895) are among the finest of these. Whether we call this building Romanesque Revival or Queen Anne is something of a moot point. In America, the Queen Anne style, inspired by the great English architect Norman Shaw, had quickly evolved into a rather confused mix of English Renaissance, Tudor and Elizabethan elements often lavishly overlaid with classical decoration. In addition, Richardsonian elements were also common. As Alan Gowans so aptly puts it, American Queen Anne buildings “sometimes seemed to look back to the Italianate, and sometimes sideways to Richardsonian Romanesque.” Here in Talbotton we find an appealing model. The high tower with its steep pyramidal roof, the great arched entrance with its wide brick voussoirs and the triplearched window grouping above are purely Richardsonian. But Queen Anne elements abound in the bell-shaped roof of the low tower, the lacy central pediment with its fan-shaped window and lacy cornice, and the many decorative panels displaying both repetitive terracotta motifs and scrolling floral designs. COURTHOUSE continued on page 34 JULY 2008 www.accg.org 33 http://www.accg.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government - June 2008

Georgia County Government - June 2008 Contents President’s Message County Matters Laurens, Treutlen and Wheeler Counties Work Together to Leverage Economic Development 2008 Hurricane Season Forecast to be Active GDEcD: Georgia Is Bolstering International Marketing Efforts U.S. Communities Announces Auto Parts Service Contract Energy Innovation Center Opens in Warner Robins Coweta County Uses Innovative Road Construction Techniques Counties & The Law: An Analysis of Ten Commandments Displays in Georgia Courthouses Georgia’s Grand Old Courthouses: Talbot County Extension News: Youth Summit Teaches Civic Engagement Research Corner: Train Me! NACo News: NACo Seeks Obesity Prevention Programs County Parade Index of Advertisers

Georgia County Government - June 2008

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