August 18, 2024, Columbus County Courthouse

Around Our Town with Gene Merritt
August 18, 2024
Blog # 33

Columbus County Courthouse, Whiteville, North Carolina

I am very pleased to present recent photos of the renovation of the Columbus County Courthouse in Whiteville, North Carolina. This iconic and beautiful building is special to me. I served as the Executive Director of the Whiteville Downtown Development Association, Inc. for two and one-half years a few years ago as a favor to my good friend John Fisher. I always admired the beauty of the building and hoped it would reopen one day. That day has come. It will be open soon and will be a significant asset to the Town of Whiteville and its downtown area.

The 1914 era building was closed in 2015 while county officials decided its fate. Rep. Brenden Jones obtained a $4.5 million grant for the restoration of the building. Bill Valentine, a world-renowned architect and Whiteville native, donated $100,000 to the project.

Up until the 1960s, the courthouse housed many of the county offices. The courtroom was later divided into two rooms. When the annex was completed in 2015, the old courthouse was closed, and the clerk of court’s office – the last remaining department in the building – was moved into the new facility.

The clerk’s office will be restored to its original location and expanded, Clerk of court Jess Hill said. The chief resident Superior Court Judge C. Ashley Gore will have an office in the building, and the original courtroom, now back to its original single venue, will be used for Superior Court, civil court, meetings and ceremonies.

The clerk’s suite in the annex will become the home to the new public defender’s office.

Hill said in an interview earlier this year that when Columbus County moves to the eCourt system, defendants paying traffic tickets and fines after district court will use kiosks in the annex, rather than having to go to the clerk’s office. The new suite in the old courthouse will also allow different sections of the clerk’s office, such as criminal, estates and civil, to have their own areas for assisting citizens.

“The old courthouse is a symbol of our county, and so many people take pride in it,” he said. “I think people are going to be amazed at the makeover and be even more proud of their courthouse.

“Generations of Columbus residents have come through these doors for more a hundred years,” Hill said. “Now we have preserved this beautiful landmark, and it should serve more generations.”

As the project was nearing completion, county commissioners asked the Department of Transportation to work on the pedestrian crosswalks, handicapped access and streets around the courthouse square. That work has been delayed due to evening thunderstorms but will be completed by Friday. The DOT paid for the costs of the improvements, outside of the courthouse restoration.

Jefferson Weaver, Managing Editor/Columbus County News

Columbus County Courthouse exterior photos
Gene Merritt

Columbus County Courthouse interior photos
Gene Merritt