St. Stephens Courthouse and Masonic Lodge

St. Stephens Courthouse and Masonic Lodge. Washington County. , In 1848, Washington County designated the town of "new" St. Stephens as the county seat of government. On November 23, 1853, the Alabama Legislative Act 243 authorized the location and construction of the courthouse at "Old Hazards Field," a 10-acre lot owned by John B. Hazard. In December 1853, the county awarded the building contract to Levin Jefferson Wilson, who also constructed the St. Stephens Methodist Church located just north of the courthouse between the junction of County Road 34 and Old St. Stephens Road. St. Stephens became the 7th seat of government for Alabama's earliest county. The courthouse served as the primary governmental and political facility from 1854 until the county seat relocated to Chatom in 1907. Shortly after the building was completed, the courthouse became the meeting place for the newly formed St. Stephens Masonic Lodge #81, which was granted its charter in December 1854., Reverse Side , The Masonic Lodge held its first meeting in January 1855. During the Civil War, L. J. Wilson sponsored a Confederate Infantry Company, known as Wilson's Guards in his honor. The company recruited from December 1861 to February 1862 and mustered at the courthouse. Wilson's Guards would later fight as Company A of the 32nd Alabama Infantry Regiment. The building features a rectangular floor plan and housed county offices on the first floor, while the second floor was used jointly as a courtroom and Masonic Hall. Since its construction, the building has retained much of its original form with few alterations. After the county seat moved to Chatom in 1907, the county sold the building to the St. Stephens Mason Lodge #81 in 1910. Today, the St. Stephens courthouse at "new” St. Stephens is the oldest surviving courthouse representing the county's earliest political history and one of only two extant dual-purpose courthouse and Masonic Lodges in Alabama, the other being the Monroe County Courthouse located at Perdue Hill., Listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on October 8, 1978, and the National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1997 .