Historians believe that the first court sessions in Loudoun County were held 247 years ago, in November 1760, in the unfinished courthouse building.

Before that, the court had been meeting in the home of Nicholas Minor. Court records document that he received 1,200 pounds of tobacco in 1759 for the use of his house for the purposes of holding court.

The first references to the courthouse building in court records appear in a notation made on July 11, 1758: “Ordered that the sheriff advertise for workmen to build a courthouse.” On August 9 of that year, the Board of Justices adopted detailed specifications for the size and dimensions of the structure – a brick, 40 by 28 courthouse building with a 16 by 16 jury room.

There were to be five windows in the courthouse – “two on one side, two the end where the Justices sit, and one on the side on which the Jury room is built.” The windows were to be framed with white oak, and the sashes to be made of well-seasoned pine of at least 1 ¼ inches in thickness. The doors were to be “of paneled work of proper stuff, well-seasoned, the front to be 8 by 4 ½ folding with proper Bolts and Locks.”

The specifications also included two jury galleries, with stairs leading up to each from the floor, a circular justice seat, lawyers bar, and two boxes for the sheriff and his deputy at the foot of each of the stairs to the jurors’ galleries.

On September 13, 1758, the Board of Justices awarded Justice Aeneas Campbell a contract for “365 pounds of current money” to construct the courthouse building. The courthouse was to be located on lots #27 and #28 in Leesburg, which Nicholas Minor deeded to the county in 1761.

Construction of the courthouse building remained uncompleted for at least the next ten years. In 1768, Justice Campbell was sued for non-performance on the construction bond he had been awarded.

The original courthouse building was the first of three to serve Loudoun County at the same location. It was used for over 50 years before being replaced by a larger brick building that was erected either on or immediately adjacent to the original site. The second courthouse was built between 1809 and 1811.

The cornerstone for the third – and current – courthouse building was laid on April 24, 1894. This is one of a series of weekly releases from the Loudoun County Office of Public Information during 2007, highlighting landmark events in the Loudoun County government over its 250-year history.

Sources:

Elizabeth Beer, “Loudoun’s Court House,” in Loudoun Times-Mirror, October 8, 1953

C. O. Vandevanter, “A History of Loudoun County Courthouses,” in Loudoun-Fauquier Magazine, Winter 1931

John T. Phillips II, “Loudoun County Courthouse,” ©1994