Facing each other across Cherry Street, the two Warren County courthouses illustrate differing approaches to classical design: Greek Revival and Moderne. The old courthouse ( pictured above) occupies the highest block in town on walled terraces ascended by stairs on all four sides. Confederate soldiers used the three-story building as an observation post during the Civil War. It is the last known construction project of the Weldon Brothers firm. One source cites Weldon slave John Jackson as its designer; others claim William Weldon was the architect. Monumental Ionic columns support pedimented porticos on all four sides, and an octagonal tower with engaged Corinthian columns and a tempietto-like cupola on a tall octagonal drum tops the building. Office spaces occupy the cross-hall plan’s first floor, and the courtroom is on the second. T. F. Baker Ornamental Iron Works of Cincinnati cast the iron column capitals, staircase, and judge’s bench. Four original cisterns in small stucco octagonal outbuildings occupy the corners of the block. Vacated in 1939, the courthouse became the Old Courthouse Museum in 1948, operated by the Vicksburg and Warren County Historical Society.
The 1939 courthouse, funded by the Federal Works Agency, takes a tripartite form, its four-story central block slightly recessed from the outer pavilions. One of the final projects of Jackson contractors W. J. McGee and Son, the building is raised on a marble base and is clad in limestone. Stylized fluted marble pilasters and a large bas-relief anthemion over the entrance are among the facade’s classical references.
Nearby, the three-story Warren County Jail (1906, William Stanton and W. A. Stanton; 1111 Cherry) is a rare Progressive Era jail still serving its original function. A three-part facade dominated by a five-story central tower unifies an eclectic combination of stylistic details. The F. B. Hull Construction Company of Jackson, one of the state’s first regional contracting firms, built the jail.