Livingston Parish Courthouse, Old - Springfield, LA
N 30° 25.683 W 090° 32.733
15R E 735738 N 3368776
Fine Federal Style building, looked abandoned, but in good condition.
Waymark Code: WM542J
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 11/07/2008
Views: 12
Building is located on a corner of Second and Mulberry St.s These streets are NOT busy, so parking and walking around building was easy and I had no problems. Yard was cut, and building appeared to be in restored condition, but not used, or lightly used.
I could not find much history about the building, so here is history from Register Application.
Courthouse Springfield was named as the Livingston Parish seat in 1835. The community was chosen
for this honor because of its location on a navigable river, the primary mode of transportation in rural
Louisiana during this era. The law implementing the decision dictated that a suitable courthouse be furnished without expense to the parish. Evidence suggests that S. G. Parsons, the parish sheriff,
donated an appropriate building located within Square 6 of the community.
Also in 1835, the New Orleans Gas Light and Banking Company chose Springfield as the
site of its new bank, apparently the first in the parish. The company erected its new building within a
few blocks from the courthouse in Square 12. However, the bank failed in 1843. At that time, the
parish acquired the building, although whether it was donated or purchased outright is unclear.
Thus, the former bank served as the Livingston Parish Courthouse from 1843 until 1872. As such, it
was the center of the parish's civic and political activity throughout the years leading to Louisiana's
secession from the Union in 1861, the difficult war years which followed, and for several years
during the controversial Reconstruction era.
The courthouse's most significant dispute during its period of service was the location of the
parish seat. During the 1850s pressure mounted to move government personnel and records to a
site near a newly completed railroad line. In 1860 the Legislature actually authorized an election to
determine the question, but the Civil War temporarily tabled the issue. It quickly resurfaced after the
war. An 1871 election verified the people's desire for a change, and in 1872 the Legislature
approved the removal of the courthouse to Port Vincent.