GeorgiaThe historic Madison County Courthouse in Danielsville was built in 1901 in the Romanesque style on a cruciform plan by architect J. W. Golucke, at a cost of roughly $18,314, and remains the grandest structure in the small county seat. Its most consequential moment came in 1964, when three Ku Klux Klansmen stood trial here for the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Lemuel Penn, a Black Army Reserve officer and Washington, D.C., educator who was shot from a passing car near Colbert as he drove home from training at Fort Benning. An all-white jury acquitted the men in this courthouse, but the case drove federal prosecution and the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Guest, which affirmed federal power to prosecute civil-rights conspiracies. The county's Jim Crow record also includes documented racial-terror lynchings, among them the 1936 killing of Black farmer Lent Shaw by a mob near Colbert. County offices moved to a newer building in 1996, the roof was restored in 1999-2000, and the historic courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Madison County Courthouse (Courthouse)
The stone-and-brick heart of every Georgia county.
Madison County Courthouse is a courthouse in Danielsville, Madison County. It is one of 43 historic sites cataloged in Madison County on Georgia Roam.
The site sits at 34.1217, -83.2214 near Danielsville. The nearest cataloged historic site is Crawford W Long M D (historical marker), about 0.2 miles away. Others within a short drive include Crawford W. Long, Madison County Courthouse, and Crawford Long Birthsite.
This record is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The historic Madison County Courthouse in Danielsville was built in 1901 in the Romanesque style on a cruciform plan by architect J. W. Golucke, at a cost of roughly $18,314, and remains the grandest structure in the small county seat. Its most consequential moment came in 1964, when three Ku Klux Klansmen stood trial here for the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Lemuel Penn, a Black Army Reserve officer and Washington, D.C., educator who was shot from a passing car near Colbert as he drove home from training at Fort Benning. An all-white jury acquitted the men in this courthouse, but the case drove federal prosecution and the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Guest, which affirmed federal power to prosecute civil-rights conspiracies. The county's Jim Crow record also includes documented racial-terror lynchings, among them the 1936 killing of Black farmer Lent Shaw by a mob near Colbert. County offices moved to a newer building in 1996, the roof was restored in 1999-2000, and the historic courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Sources: en.wikipedia.orgtime.comethospreservation.comgeorgiaencyclopedia.org
“Madison County Courthouse” names 2 distinct records in Madison County. This page is the courthouse in Danielsville. The others:
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