Marshall County is named for John Marshall, who was the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme court from 1801 to 1835.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
E – Lyon County and Trigg County
S – Calloway County
W – Graves County and McCracken County
Created: February 12, 1842
County Seat:
Benton 1842 – present
County Courthouse – Benton
Location: 1101 Main Street / 11th Street
Built: 1915 – 1916
Style: Beaux Arts and Neo-Classical
Architect: Clifford Shopbell of Evansville, Indiana
Contractor: W H Spradling and William Hill of Fulton
Description: The building faces west and is a two story red colored brick structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of Benton. The west front has a protruding section with the entrance on the first story. Above the entrance is a small balcony and above that, a large window on the second story. White colored horizontal trim runs around the building and a further white colored trim cornice runs along the roof line. In 1961, an addition was added on the north side. In 1978, a further addition was added. The architect was LPS Architects and the contractor was Hal Perry Construction Company Inc.
County Judicial Facility – Benton
Location: 80 Judicial Drive / Postal Drive
Built: 2002 – 2003
Style: Modern
Architect: Castleberry, McGregor Architects
Contractor: Codell Construction Company of Winchester
Description: The building faces south and is a two story structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds to the north of the center of Benton. The south front has a high center section with sloped roof and glass panels around the entrance. The second story is recessed, The roof line is flat. The building houses the County Circuit Court and County District Court of the 42nd Judicial Circuit.
See: The contractor was Codell Construction Company of Winchester which company constructed many courthouse in Kentucky (see Louisville).
See: The 42nd Judicial Circuit includes Calloway County.
History: Benton was named as the county seat in 1842. The first courthouse was a log structure built by Francis Clayton in 1843 to 1844. The second courthouse was built in 1847 and was destroyed by fire in 1888. The third courthouse was designed by John McKinnon and constructed by M Lewman & Company in 1888. The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1914. The fourth and present courthouse was constructed in 1915 at a cost of $24,000. The cost of the 1961 addition was $125,000. The County Judicial Facility was constructed in 2002 to 2003 at a cost of $8,005,000.
County Courthouse – Benton
Former Courtroom
County Judicial Facility – Benton
Photos taken 2007 and 2012
Images 11