Henry County Courthouse (Tennessee)

[1] The building was designed by Chattanooga architect Reuben Harrison Hunt in the Richardsonian Romanesque style.

[1] The design is extremely similar to Hunt's Elbert County Courthouse in Elberton, Georgia which was completed about a year prior.

Portraits hanging in the central hallway depict Patrick Henry, the county's namesake, and the three Tennessee governors who made their home in Paris: Isham Green Harris, James Davis Porter and Thomas Clarke Rye.

[1] The courthouse lawn features several trees (three of which are dedicated to the governors mentioned above), a monument to the county's Confederate soldiers called the "Private of '61" and a Veteran's Memorial bearing the names of Henry County soldiers lost in the service of their country.

The alloy is said to contain the metal of several silver dollars donated by the citizens of Paris to give it a clearer sound.

[5] It was originally installed in the dome-shaped belfry of the Odd Fellows Female Institute, located at the corner of Market and McNeill streets in Paris, sometime after 1854.

[1][5] In 1825, some two years after Paris was established as the county seat and the planned city had been laid off with streets and blocks, a small two-story brick courthouse was built in the center of town.

The Battle of Paris ensued west of the city on 11 March 1862 and is said to have ended with Federals retreating eastward through the town with Confederates in pursuit.

[1] On 1 April 1862, Company F of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry arrived in Paris, commanded by Captain William A. Haw.

I entered it and planted my company flag, the Stars and Stripes of our glorious country, on the top, which was received by my boys with cheers and hurrahs, but by them alone.