Old Bartow County Courthouse - Cartersville, GA
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 34° 10.031 W 084° 47.752
16S E 703165 N 3782888
When courthouse was burned down in Cassville in 1864, citizens there refused to rebuild. County seat moved to Cartersville, county re-named Bartow from Cass...and this courthouse built. Used from 1869 to 1903.
Waymark Code: WM10VHX
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 06/27/2019
Views: 2
County of courthouse: Bartow County
Location of courthouse: 4 E. Church St., (under bridge), Cartersville
Year built: 1869
Architects: Fay and Corput
Architectural Style: Italianate
"Old Bartow County Courthouse/"Original" 1869 Courthouse, 4 E. Church Street ( 1869)
"Before the Civil War, the county seat of then-Cass County was Cassville. During the Civil War, the county
was renamed Bartow County to honor a fallen Civil War veteran. In May 1864, General William T. Sherman's
troops burned Cassville, and its citizens declined to rebuild the courthouse. By an act of the Georgia
legislature in 1866, the question of the new county seat was addressed. A referendum was held, and
Cartersville was chosen over Cassville. In 1867, at a cost of $20,000 dollars, construction began for a new
Bartow County courthouse on Church Street in Cartersville and the building was completed in 1869
(photographs 13 and 14 ). The two-story rectangular-shaped building has an unpainted red-brick exterior. It
has tall, narrow, windows similar to other institutional and commercial buildings of the period. The roof is
slightly pitched. It is one of the few courthouses in Georgia to exhibit the Italianate style, and it is also a rare
Reconstruction-era public work. The building was used as a courthouse from 1869 to 1903, when the new
"Gold Dome" Courthouse opened just west of the downtown square at the corner of Cherokee Avenue and
Erwin Street. From 1903 to approximately 1980, the 1869 courthouse building was used for a variety of
commercial enterprises. For several years in the early 1900s, Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and photographs
show that it was used as a grocery and bulk warehouse. Later, it was used as a roller skating rink. Images
from the 1950s show that it was a furniture store. From approximately 1980 to 2010, the building was vacant.
In 2010, the City of Cartersville renovated the building for use as the Bartow History Museum. This building
was originally listed in the National Register in 1980, as part of the "County Courthouses of Georgia" thematic
nomination." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
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