First Courthouse

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Historical Marker #1263 in Murray commemorates the history of the first courthouse constructed in Calloway County.

The Calloway County courthouse originally functioned as a one room log structure and was built in 1823, one year after the county was founded. Community tradition claims that the primitive courthouse was the first public building constructed in the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky. The Jackson Purchase is located in far western Kentucky, an area bordered by the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Ohio Rivers. It is called the Jackson Purchase because of General Andrew Jackson's role in negotiating the land from the Chickasaw Indians in 1818. Jackson and former Kentucky governor Isaac Shelby agreed to pay the Chickasaw Indian Nation $20,000 a year for 15 years; a total of $300,000. The Jackson Purchase added more than 2,000 square miles of land to Kentucky.

The Calloway County log courthouse was originally constructed in Wadesboro, which at that time functioned as the county seat. The log building remained in use until 1831, when a new courthouse was constructed. In 1843, the town of Murray became Calloway County's new seat of government and the log structure was moved there. The 1831 courthouse was a two-story brick structure and featured office space for county officials. The building doubled as a place of worship on Sundays.

Another building was constructed after Murray became the county seat, which unfortunately, burned in 1906. After an incidence of vote tampering, a new courthouse was constructed in Murray in 1913 to replace the burned structure. Today, this 1913 building still serves as the county courthouse. While the original log courthouse no longer serves its original intended function, it has remained in service as a residence for more than a century.