CHARLOTTE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Dickson County Courthouse has stood tall in Charlotte for nearly two centuries.
“It’s almost like the U.S. Capitol, or the White House, or the Lincoln Memorial, everyone knows this is iconic, not only in Dickson County, but this region,” said Dickson County Mayor Bob Rial.
Grandmother and granddaughter preserving history, encouraging tourism near historic gristmill in Dickson County
Rial said the building was the oldest operating courthouse in Tennessee until 2020, which is when Dickson County opened a new justice center down the street. Now, county leaders are working to reclaim that title by renovating the building, inside and out.
“It’s pretty much determined that Dickson is the economic engine, Burns and White Bluff are nice bedroom communities, and the spirit and soul of Charlotte is — business is government,” Rial added. “We took that up 15 years ago by making improvements here on the square, where, this is our industry, and this is what Charlotte does.”
Dickson County’s first courthouse was built in 1807, three years after Charlotte was designated as the county seat. Over the years, its logs were replaced by bricks, but the building was destroyed by a tornado in 1830…