The courthouse was built in 1907, and is a three-story, rectangular, Classical Revival-style building sheathed in a smooth ashlar veneer above a rusticated first floor.

In 1916, Thomas Dixon, Jr., the author of The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan, planned to erect a statue of his uncle Leroy McAfee on the courthouse square.

[2][3] The project was initially met with enthusiasm,[2] until it was announced that Dixon wanted McAfee to wear a Ku Klux Klan mask in the statue.

It was also home to the Cleveland County Historical Museum, which closed in 2004 and became the Earl Scruggs Center in 2014 after extensive interior renovations.

[5] The museum focuses on both the life of local musician Earl Scruggs, and the music, history and culture of the American South.