Rutherford County Courthouse

Rutherford County, named for Revolutionary War Gen. Griffith Rutherford, was established in 1803. Murfreesboro became the county seat in 1811; soon after commissioners acquired land from Col. William Lytle for the public square.

The ca. 1858 Greek Revival-style courthouse is one of only six remaining antebellum courthouses in Tennessee. During the Civil War, Union soldiers occupied the courthouse and square, using the cupola to watch for threats. On July 12, 1862, Confederate troops under C.S. Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked the Union garrison, forcing the troops to surrender and temporarily ending Murfreesboro’s occupation.

On December 31, 1862, C.S. Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army clashed with U.S. Gen. William S. Rosecrans’s forces at the nearby Battle of Stones River. Rosecrans prevailed, and the Union Army reoccupied Murfreesboro for the remainder of the war.

In 1863, the Union Army recruited African American men in Murfreesboro for the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The 13th USCT marched downtown before leaving to fight in the Battle of Nashville, carrying a regimental battle flag presented by an organization of African American women known as the Colored Ladies of Murfreesboro.

In 1920, Sara Spence DeBow and other women gathered signatures here supporting woman suffrage; anti-suffragists also protested here after Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment.

Today, the courthouse houses the Courthouse Museum, which includes an outstanding collection of decorative arts, paintings, and historical objects from the 19th and 20th centuries.