MONROE COUNTY, GA - HISTORY   Building of Courthouse

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FIRST COURTHOUSE WAS INEXPENSIVE

Monroe County paid $40 for the construction of its first
Courthouse July 7, 1823, data discovered by Miss Stella
Coleman, with the Historical Records Survey, shows:

Many of the early records of the county are missing, such as
the minutes of the first Inferior Court. It is usually from the
minutes of this court that the Historical Records Survey is
able to obtain information relative to the first and later
courthouses.

Miss Coleman found an ancient book simply called "Fund Book" in
which the first Monroe County Tax Collector evidently kept his
accounts. He kept this book only from 1822 to 1815.

An entry in July of 1823 reveals that he paid to Richard
Cheshire the $40 for building a temporary courthouse on a lot
which had been bought from John T. Booth for $700 on March 25,
1823.

On January 4, 1825, the county paid to Elam Alexander of Bibb
County $500 "for undertaking the building of a Courthouse in
Forsyth agreeable to an order of court">

Alexander also was the contractor to build the first permanent
courthouse house in Macon.

Also on Jan 4, Allen Cochran was paid $15 for the use of a
house to hold court in, indicating that the temporary
courthouse had proven totally inadequate or else it had simply
been a one room affair used for the holding of elections.

On September 7, 1824, James Keeling was paid $20 for drafting
plans for the first permanent courthouse.

In October, 1824, James Maddox was paid $10.00 for rent of a
Courthouse.

In 1825 Archibald Swann was paid $649 for building the first
county jail. Previously prisoners had been quartered with
"James Jordan, Jailor of Jones County".

On Sept 1, 1823, James Whatley was paid $25 for running the
line between Bibb and Monroe counties. This line remained
unchanged until 1877.