[2] The courthouse was the site of a notable event on 9 October 1890 when nationally infamous train-robber and outlaw Reuben Houston "Rube" Burrow was shot and killed in the street in front of the building.

[2] After Marengo became a county in 1818, the first building to serve as a courthouse was a simple one-room log cabin.

The new building would serve as the courthouse continuously, except for a brief period during Federal Reconstruction when the county seat was moved to Demopolis, until 1902.

A new three-story Richardsonian Romanesque style courthouse with a five-story clock tower was then built at the corner of North Main Street and East Coats Avenue, leaving the old courthouse for use as a public school.

In 1949 the building was sold to the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization for use as a meeting hall.