The County Courthouse is the third Claire Allen designed building and perhaps the most imposing owned by the County of Jackson. Located on the corner of Jackson and Wesley Streets, it was constructed in 1927-1928 as the Elk’s Temple of Jackson. It contained a bowling alley, handball court, pool, auditorium and contained many elaborate meeting rooms. With the onset of the Great Depression, the building fell into foreclosure and sat vacant until purchased by the County in 1935 for the sum of $27,000. The building was designed to serve as the seat of County Government and named the County Building. After spending $360,000 towards that effort, the County Building opened for business in 1937. The building has many original ornate light fixtures on the first floor. Many of the floors have marble paneled hallways and beautiful terrazzo floors. The fourth floor has 2 court rooms lined with solid mahogany paneling.

After housing many units of County Government (minus the Sheriff, Fair, Parks, and Juvenile Home) for close to forty years, it became committed as the “Courthouse” after the County purchased the former National Bank of Jackson building in 1975 and relocated departments to the newly named “County Tower Building.”

Currently the Courthouse is occupied by the 12th District Court, 4th Circuit Court, including Probate, Family and Juvenile Courts, Office of the Prosecutor, County Clerk, Circuit Court probation and the Office of Emergency Measures.