Randolph Co. Courthouse
In June 1808, a committee was appointed to contract the building of a brick courthouse to replace the original log structure on Court Street. This building cost approximately $1200, including $35 for hinges and other ironwork paid to Solomon Collett. The courthouse was completed in 1815, and the wing on the south, which contained the county clerk's office, was completed in 1838. A separate addition on the east side housed the circuit clerk's office.
In 1894, with the new town of Elkins agitating to become the county seat, a large new courthouse was built in Beverly. This new building burned under suspicious circumstances in 1897 and the court records were moved back into the old courthouse. In 1899 Elkins was designated as the county seat, and the records moved there. In later years the building was used as a store.
"These Courts were attended by prominent lawyers from Staunton, Clarksburg, Weston, and elsewhere. Aside from jurors and witnesses, many people gathered from all sections of the county, many of them remaining as long as Court lasted, meeting with old friends and relatives, keeping up old acquaintanceship - a custom that seems to have passed with that generation."
Thomas J. Arnold
The 1808 court house is a two-story brick building, three bays by three bays, which originally had similar north and west facades and a bell tower on the roof.
Marker is at the intersection of Court Street and Main Street (U.S. 219), on the right when traveling east on Court Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
