Robertson County Cooperative Extension

39 East Walnut St. Mt. Olivet KY 41064

Phone: 606-724-5796

FAX: 606-724-5900

ROBERTSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE On the second day of October in 1867, John and Mary Riggs deeded an acre of ground, without cost, to the county for its courthouse and designated the area as a public square. But it was five years later before construction got under way. O.S. Deming, George H.B. Thompson and John D. Gough were the committee to draft plans for the courthouse but Deming did most of the work.

On February 12, 1872 the Fiscal Court decided the courthouse should be a two story brick structure and awarded the contract for construction to G.M. Williams. The bricks were kilned on the site and the courthouse was the first brick structure in the county. Before the courthouse was halfway finished, the Fiscal Court discovered it lacked funds to complete the structure. Not easily daunted, the court members, most of whom happened to be members of the Masonic Lodge, decided to go ahead and reserve the second floor for the Masonic Lodge. The Masons paid $1500 and took two notes, to be paid in November 1875 with interest of ten percent (10%).

O.S. Deming was the county judge and the court members were: Warren Beckett, Mason Orme, James Kenton, Asberry Henson, F. M. Louderback, S.C. Clarke, John Meenock, George H.B. Thompson, William H. Hill, and L.S. Rogers. Only five of these signed the deed (dated Nov. 25, 1875 - but not recorded until August 20, 1926, Deed book 18, page 491). Thompson, Hill, Kenton, Rogers, A. Henson. It is no doubt the only courthouse in Kentucky which is half-owned by the Free & Accepted Masons. The Courthouse was first used by the Fiscal Court in January 1873.

Editor’s note: On February 14, 1978 the Robertson Co. Courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also thought that it is the last original Kentucky Courthouse still in use for court sessions. 

This Courthouse information was taken from the booklet “Echoes from the Century 1867-1967" edited by the late T. Ross Moore and originally printed in 1967.