Daviess County is named for Joseph Hamilton Daviess, who was a lawyer killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe and who lived from 1774 to 1811.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
N – Harrison County
E – Grundy County and Livingston County
S – Caldwell County
W – DeKalb County and Gentry County
Created: December 29, 1836
County Seat:
Gallatin 1836 – present
County Courthouse – Gallatin
Location: 102 North Main Street / West Grand Street
Built: 1907 – 1908
Style: Beaux Arts
Architect: Patrick Henry Weathers of Jackson, Mississippi
Contractor: W T Lewman and Company of Louisville, Kentucky
Description: The building faces east is a three story stone and concrete structure. The building is located on the landscaped grounds of the Courthouse Square in the center of Gallatin. The building has a large porch on the east front with arched entrance on the first story and two columns rising from the second story to the top of the third story with pediment at the top. There are similar porches on each side. The second and third story windows are recessed behind the columns. The front extends from the main building. On the center of the roof is a large dome with clock and white colored dome roof. In the interior is a cross design with stairways at the north and south entrances which ascend to the second story. The stairway at the east entrance ascends to the second and third stories. The stairways have turned wood balustrades. The interior is finished in oak woodwork with marble wainscoting and terrazzo floors. The large County Circuit Court courtroom is located along the south side of the third story. The building houses the County Circuit Court of the 43rd Judicial Circuit. The architect was P H Weathers and the contractor was W T Lewman and Company of Louisville, Kentucky. To the west is the old Sheriff Residence and Jail.
Note: The Cape Girardeau County courthouse is of the same design as it was built by Weathers in 1906-08. The Stoddard County courthouse, adjacent to Cape Girardeau County, was remodeled in 1909 using Weathers’ same design, but with brick as the principal material.
See: The architect, Patrick Henry Weathers of Jackson, Mississippi, designed courthouses in Louisiana in Tensas Parish; in Mississippi in Lamar County, Lee County and Marion County; in Missouri in Cape Girardeau County and Stoddart County; and in Oklahoma in Ellis County, Logan County and Washington County.
See: The 43rd Judicial Circuit includes Caldwell County, Clinton County, DeKalb County and Livingston County.
Old County Sheriff Residence and Jail – Gallatin
Location: 310 West Jackson Street / Water Street
Built: 1888 – 1889
Style: Residence and Jail
Architect: Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St Louis
Contractor: Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St Louis
Description: The building faces north and is a two story red colored brick and wood structure. The “T” shaped building is located on landscaped grounds on the west side of the center of Gallatin. On the south side of the Sheriff Residence is a one story light red colored brick jail structure. The building is octagonal in shape with a stone foundation. The building is one of three remain Squirrel Cage Jails.
Note: The Squirrel Cage Jail is a unique architectural design provided answers to concerns about prisoner security, worries about both prisoners breaking out and accomplices breaking in. It is an octagonal-shaped rotary jail with a rotating deck divided into five individual jail cells spinning on a single axis inside a perimeter of stationary bars.
County Courthouse – Gallatin
County Circuit Court courtroom
Old County Sheriff Residence and Jail – Gallatin
Photos taken 2009, 2023 and 2026
Im,ages 21*