Madison County is named for James Madison, who was the President of the United states from 1809 to 1817.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
N – Jessamine County, Fayette County and Clark County
E – Estill County
S – Jackson County and Rockcastle County
W – Gerrard County
Created: October 17, 1785
County Seat:
Milford 1785 – 1798
Richmond 1798 – present
County Courthouse – Richmond
Location: 101 West Main Street / North 1st Street
Built: 1849 – 1850
Style: Greek Revival
Architect: Major Thomas Lewinski of Lexington
Contractor: Bowman & Thompson and Lewis & Bolt
Description: The building faces south and is a two story white colored brick structure. The south front has a large temple style portico supported by four large white colored columns. The east and west wings extend below the high main roof. Atop the roof is an octagonal white colored wood cupola with clock at the base and black colored roof at the top. The building was remodeled in 1880. The architect was Cropsey & Brown. The building was restored in 1964 to 1965. The architect was Marye and Bond and the contractor was Lane, White & Congleton Company.
County Hall of Justice – Richmond
Location: 351 West Main Street / North 3rd Street
Built: 1896 – 1897
Style: Richardsonian Romanesque
Architect: Unknown
Contractor: Samuel Rice of Madison County
Description: The building faces south and is a four story stone structure. The building was completed as a Federal Building containing the Post Office. The exterior of the building is faced with smooth and rusticated ashlar-cut stone from Rockcastle County. A tall tower on the left side consists of an open belfry with clock-faced dormers projecting from its steeply pitched pyramidal roof and an interior stairwell with randomly spaced, narrow vertical windows. The gable roof, also steeply pitched, contains two gable dormers on the main facade that contain ornamental copper inserts. Four engaged octagonal columns with Byzantine-like capitals extend asymmetrically across the second and third stories to support large arches. Three Romanesque arches on the first story emphasize the entrance beneath them. The finely carved stone piers with human-masked and foliated capitals represent typical features of the Romanesque Revival style. The building houses the County Circuit Court and County District Court of the 25th Judicial Circuit. The building became the Richmond City Hall in 1970 and was converted into a courthouse in 1999.
See: The 25th Judicial Circuit includes Clark County.
History: The county was created in 1785 and Milford was selected as the county seat. The court met in various locations including Miller’s barn. The first courthouse was built by William Golden in Milford in 1786. In 1798 the county seat was moved to Richmond and the second courthouse was a simple log cabin next to the jail. The third courthouse was a two story brick structure built by Tyre Rodes in 1799. The fourth and present courthouse was constructed in 1849 to 1850 at a cost of $35,000. The County Hall of Justice was constructed in 1890 to 1891 at a cost of $100,000 and was converted for use as a judicial building in the 1999.
County Courthouse – Richmond
Photos taken 2007
Images 11