Built in 1852, likely by Henry Crews, this vernacular courthouse is among the oldest in Georgia. It replaced an earlier structure on the same location which was destroyed by fire in 1829. After extensive renovations and remodels during the 19th and 20th centuries, it was no longer deemed practical and  a new courthouse was opened across the street in 2002. Thanks to Mona Lowe for the updated historical information.

Also significant to the history of Knoxville is the story of Joanna Troutman. In 1835, she designed a flag featuring a blue star on a white field with the words “Liberty or Death” and presented it to the Georgia Batallion of volunteers who left Knoxville to aid in the fight for Texas independence. This first “Lone Star” flag would feature significantly in later Texas iconography and because it was raised after the Texas Declaration of Independence, is considered the first flag to fly over an independent Texas. Troutman, who was born in  Milledgeville, married S. L. Pope in 1839 and moved to Elmwood, his plantation at Knoxville.  Upon Pope’s death in 1872, Joanna married W. G. Vinson, a Georgia legislator. She died at Elmwood in 1879 and was buried at the plantation, but upon a special request by Texas governor Oscar Colquitt in 1913, her remains were re-interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, and a statue was erected to her memory.

National Register of Historic Places