The old Spalding County Courthouse is a rare example of the early use of the Italianate Style in public buildings in Georgia and is one of just a few surviving antebellum courthouses in the state. Spalding County was created in 1854 and this was its first official courthouse. It was the work of David Demarest (1811-1879) and Columbus Hughes (c.1825-1871). Demarest was a New Jersey-born builder/architect responsible for the Greene County Courthouse, the Powell Building at the State Lunatic Asylum, and the Old Mercer Chapel at Penfield, among others. He is thought to have been the builder of this courthouse, with Hughes serving as architect. Little is known about Hughes other than the fact that he designed the old Atlanta City Hall, on the site of the present state capitol.

The city likes to point out that famed Western outlaw, John Henry “Doc” Holliday, who was born in Griffin, had business dealings in the old courthouse before his family moved to Valdosta. He may also be buried in the old Oak Hill Cemetery.

After construction of a new courthouse in 1911, the structure became the Spalding County Jail in 1914, furnished by the Pauley Jail Works Company of St. Louis. It was decommissioned as the jail in 1984, when a new facility was built elsewhere.

National Register of Historic Places