The County Seat of Bath

After 112 years in buildings near the Warm Springs mineral baths a mile northeast, the Bath County Court moved to this site in 1908. The architect, Frank P. Milburn, predicted the new courthouse would be "an honor and ornament to Bath County for generations." It contained a central rotunda with exhibit space, a fireproof vault, and elaborate facilities for jurors including overnight rooms with "nice single iron beds" and toilets. The building burned in 1912, but the county records dating from 1791 onward survived with the loss of only one order book left outside the vault overnight. In 1914 a new, Classical Revival-style courthouse, designed by T. J. Collins and Son, was completed on the same foundation. An addition doubled its size in 1980.