Old Courthouse, Gettysburg, Adams County

It's a snowy day here, so I hope everyone reading this is safe and warm. As usual with this kind of weather, I'm not feeling my best, so the result is kind of a quiet post this week. To be fair, there's only so much to be said about the subject, which no longer exists, but I will tell you what I can.

The marker is on the northeast side of 
Lincoln Square in central Gettysburg

The history of Gettysburg is tied to that of Adams County, which I'll cover in more detail when I do a post about the county marker. But in the pre-Revolution years, Adams County didn't exist yet; it was part of York County. One particular area in this western part of the county was home to a pair of roads that were extremely well traveled by both soldiers and itinerant merchants. One of these connected Shippensburg with Baltimore, Maryland; the other connected Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. As you can probably guess, the crossroads for these was a busy place.

In 1761, an Irish immigrant by the name of Samuel Gettys came with his wife and three children to that busy crossroads and saw opportunity. He bought some land and established a watering hole called Gettys Tavern, which - thanks to its location - quickly became popular and turned old Sam into a prominent regional businessman. The tavern, which likewise no longer stands, has its own marker so you can read more about it there. But suffice it to say that Gettys Tavern was so well-known, and its owner so important to the area, that when a borough boundary was established in 1786, it was decided that the community should be named Gettysburg in honor of both.

Sam died in 1790, around the same time that the movement to break York County apart and create another county out of its western half really began taking hold. The Pennsylvania Legislature agreed and appointed a commission to pick a county seat. But while the commission's original choice was Straban Township (then spelled Strabane Township), which sits just a little northeast of Gettysburg, the plan was changed in 1791 to put the new public buildings in Gettysburg instead. In 1800, Adams County was formally dedicated and named for our second President.

As county seat, Gettysburg was the hub of all county government, and in 1804, construction was completed on a county courthouse. I can't find any further information about it, however, not even the name of the architect. We do know that it stood in the center of town, a stone's throw from the Wills House where President Lincoln would later fine-tune the Gettysburg Address. The image at left, preserved by the Library of Congress and in the public domain, is the only picture of the building I've been able to find. 

The only thing I feel like I can say with conviction about it is that this is the courthouse in which Thaddeus Stevens practiced law when he lived in Gettysburg. As I mentioned in the post about his Gettysburg years, he once defended a farmer who had been arrested for his debts and killed one of the arresting officers. Although the Great Commoner was unsuccessful in his efforts to defend his client, people were deeply impressed by the zeal he showed and he became an extremely sought-after lawyer. This is where he would have argued many if not most of his cases, until he moved to Lancaster in 1842.

The only other thing we know about the original Adams County courthouse is that by the time of its 50th birthday, it was already becoming ill-suited to the people's needs. Whether it was too small or run-down, I can't say for sure, but it was dismantled in 1859. It seems to have been allowed to remain just long enough for a new courthouse to be completed at the intersection of Baltimore and West Middle Streets, not far from the town square. This Italianate brick building is still standing, and during the Civil War served as a hospital for both Union and Confederate soldiers. It has a bell in its tower which was cast in Philadelphia in 1804; this may have been taken from the original courthouse, but I can't find any source to confirm that. It remained the county courthouse until 1979, when it was replaced by a new and more modern building down the street. The second courthouse, which underwent some extensive restoration in the 1980s, is a historic landmark and is still used for ceremonial purposes; in 2022 it received a new bronze statue of Thaddeus Stevens, thanks largely to the efforts of the Thaddeus Stevens Society.

As for Lincoln Square, where the original courthouse stood, it's empty of buildings. It's actually not a square at all, but a perfectly circular green space in the heart of Gettysburg, with well-tended flower beds and an American flag in the exact center. (It was unfortunately raining during my visit, but here's the flag being taken down for the day.) There's no hint that this was once the seat of justice in Adams County - except, of course, for the marker.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Rupp, Israel Daniel. "History of Adams County: Chapter XXXIX." The History and Topography of 6 Pennsylvania Counties. Gilbert Hills, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1846.

Samuel Gettys at FindAGrave.com

Old Courthouse at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.