Original Old Rock Courthouse Cornerstone

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, and I'm givin' you the marker's own account here, Knox County once had itself a courthouse worth remembering. Back in 1891, the officials of Knox County set out to build something lasting in Benjamin. Judge J.J.

Truscott was presiding over the county, and the commissioners, W.H. Benedict, T.P. Reeder, J.A.

Spinks, and G.B. Stewart, were the men behind the effort. T.D.

Isbell was serving as sheriff. Together, that was the crew that raised a rock structure to replace the wooden courthouse that had been standing since 1886. Now, wood is fine, but rock.

Rock tells the county something about itself. This new courthouse was erected in 1891, and it stood in use until 1935. That is a long time for a building to carry the weight of a county's business, its disputes and its decisions, its records and its reckoning.

The cornerstone from that original old rock courthouse is what remains to mark it all, a piece of the thing itself, still here to remind you that Knox County once built to last.

What the marker says

Erected in Benjamin in 1891, when the officials of Knox County were: J.J. Truscott - judge; W.H. Benedict, T.P. Reeder, J.A. Spinks, G.B. Stewart, commissioners; T.D. Isbell - sheriff. Rock structure, replacing wooden courthouse of 1886, was in use until 1935. (1967)