A Peek into Summers County’s Past: Rare Photo of Summers County Courthouse

HINTON W.Va. (Hinton News) – I won’t delve into too much detail in regards to the history of the Summers County Courthouse since I had written an in-depth article on September 23, 2023, that fully explained every aspect of its history. But I recently uncovered a virtually unseen early photo when it only had 4 turrets.

The late Summers County Historian John Kesler gave me this photo quite some time ago. I recall him pointing out to me at that time just how rare this photo is because it only has 4 of the 6 turrets on it. Also, because of the direction in which it was taken.

This photo shows the building with only 4 turrets that had been added during the 1890s renovations and expansion project which also added the ornamentation to the building. In the 1925-1926 remodel the two turrets on the rear of the building were added and kept with Milburn’s early expansion of the courthouse. This photo was taken sometime between these two expansions.

Notice the view of this photo, how both of the turrets are the same size. At first, I was confused because when you are at the front of the building the one on the left side is substantially taller. And the metalwork at the top of the gothic-style roof is a little taller than the others.

In the rear of the right-hand side, you can see a bit of this pinnacle directly beside one of the original chimneys. The most interesting part I find of this photo is that at that time both the front and back of the building had what functioned as a “main door”. Both of which had the fancy white frieze with black lettering that reads “Summers County Courthouse”, just as it is now over the main door into the facility.

The large grass area that is shown with a horse inside of the lot is the area where the 1940-1941 addition or better known as the 3rd expansion was added to the building. This area is also where the Memorial Building now sits, which is now connected as one large complex. This provided for an elevator to be added to the courthouse without messing up the historic integrity of the building. Until next week.”