Rutherford County Historic Courthouse

The current Rutherford County Courthouse was completed in 1859, replacing an earlier structure on the same central-square site that has served as the county seat since 1811. The Italianate design with its distinctive cupola became a landmark of downtown Murfreesboro in the years just before the Civil War transformed the city into an active theater of operations.

When Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg held Murfreesboro through 1862, the courthouse functioned as an administrative and detention facility, housing Union prisoners in its upper floors and jail section. After the Battle of Stones River (December 31, 1862–January 2, 1863), Union forces under General William Rosecrans occupied the town, and the building shifted roles to serve as an overflow field hospital for the thousands of casualties sustained in one of the war's bloodiest engagements — nearly 25,000 total casualties across both sides.

The third-floor jail cells reportedly witnessed at least one prisoner suicide by hanging during the Civil War period, an event documented in local historical accounts. In 1923, the building was the site of a separate tragedy: a stuntman known locally as the 'Human Fly' attempted a rooftop climbing exhibition that ended fatally, a story preserved in period Murfreesboro newspaper accounts and retold in regional ghost lore. The Rutherford County Historical Society has maintained archives of the building's history and paranormal reputation.