The red-roofed brick building with clock tower that keeps watch over downtown Anderson is symbolic of The Electric City. It’s called the Anderson County Historic Courthouse, but what’s so historic about it?
When the decision was made in 1826 to split the Pendleton District to create Anderson and Pendleton districts, both of them would need new seats of government, according to Dustin Norris, curator of the Anderson County Museum.
A commission of five men was established to determine the site of the new Anderson courthouse. After discussing several options, the decision was made in an unusual way.
“Apparently there had been a particularly long discussion this day and one of the commissioners named Robert Brown Norris walked out of the tavern – he had had enough – and he poked his staff into the ground and said, ‘this is the Southeast corner of the courthouse and who says ‘no’ has me to whip,’” Norris said.
That declaration occurred between today’s Benson and Whitner Streets where today’s historic Anderson County courthouse stands.
The original courthouse was a log structure built around 1828, with the City of Anderson referred to as Anderson Courthouse for many years, even after Anderson was incorporated as a city in 1833. The current historic courthouse was built on the site in 1898, and renovated in 1904, 1939 and 1991.
Video courtesy of Anderson County Media Department.
