Sarah Friday's 1810 Granby Drawing

Court House




From 1785 until 1818, Granby was the Lexington District judicial seat. There was a courthouse and jail in Granby. The Court was in session eight days a year. The courthouse and jail were built on a one acre piece of land owned by Nicholas Hane. Hane filed a petition in 1806 that he was never paid for the land. There were several petitions signed by the "merchants" of Granby. In an undated petition, 62 citizens of Granby were fighting efforts to move the courthouse from Granby to the new town of Lexington. Unhealthiness in the jail was the main reason for moving the judicial center.

The old Granby courthouse was dismantled and rebuilt in Columbia at the northeast corner of Lady and Marion streets. Despite being recognized as the oldest building in Columbia, it was torn down in 1944 to make room for an electric company building.

Court House move to Columbia




A 1954 story (The State) which mentions that the Mullers (there was a Mullers family that lived in Granby) have been living in the old Granby Court house building in Columbia.



Below: The "Granby Court House" as it was in Columbia.




The following 1870 Birds Eye View of Columbia shows the back of this unique building, which had a covered back porch but no doors or windows on the first floor. This would have been a very unusual design for a house, adding to the theory that it may have been the Granby Courthouse and Jail.





The next two pictures are from the USC digital collection of John Blackburn's photo album of pictures taken between 1900 and 1910. The first picture is what would have been the front of the courthouse. The second picture is the back of the building, which matches the unique building shown in the 1870 drawing.






Granby Courthouse site: Status: Under a slag pile. Archaeology is not feasible at this location on the quarry property (Click here to see this location on a map)