Two courthouses in Watkinsville served as the government center of Clarke County. The first was built in 1806 and the second in 1849. When Oconee County was created in 1875, a new courthouse was built; it was replaced by the present structure in 1939, a project of the WPA.
Now replaced by a newer facility, William J. J. Chase‘s Stripped Classical New Deal courthouse is still used for county business and is adjacent to the new courthouse. Chase also designed the Seminole, Mitchell, and Cook County courthouses.
National Register of Historic Places
Prolific architect William J. J. Chase designed this Beaux Arts courthouse for the newly-formed (1920) Seminole County in 1922. The inscription on the frieze reads: A Populo Seminoli Iudicium Ad Causam Iustitiae Humanae Aedifactum Est – Anno Domini Mille Nongenti Viginti Duo. Though I took two years of Latin in high school, my translating skills are rusty at best. My guess is that this means, loosely, To the People of Seminole (County), This is Built for the Cause of Human Justice. The second part is: In the Year of Our Lord 1922.
National Register of Historic Places
Designed for the WPA under the supervision of William J. J. Chase, the architecture of this courthouse, like the one Chase designed for Cook County, is Stripped Classical. The eagles surrounding the clock add an Art Deco element.
Camilla Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Designed by William J. J. Chase, the “Stripped Classical” design of this courthouse is often mistaken for Art Deco.
National Register of Historic Places
Coffee County’s present Stripped Classical courthouse was designed by William J. J. Chase in 1940 to replace the previous courthouse which burned in 1938. I strongly suspect that it was a New Deal project.
Downtown Douglas Historic District, National Register of Historic Places