As part of the internal improvements campaign carried out by the South Carolina Board of Public Works in the 1820s, Robert Mills designed at least fourteen courthouses and fourteen jails throughout the state. The Lancaster County courthouse and jail are among the finest that have survived through the years showing the example of his work from this period.
Set on a raised
basement, the two-story brick courthouse is characterized by Palladian symmetry
and features a pediment portico with modified Tuscan columns. The double flight of
steps leads to an entrance with a semicircular fanlight set in a molded
pediment. The vaulted ground story has solid brick walls no less than two feet
thick; those on the second story measure eighteen inches. The courtroom,
located on the second floor, is finished with wainscoting and reed woodwork.
The courthouse has remained in use since its construction.
The jail, was located one block from the courthouse, is a
two-story stuccoed masonry building with few exterior features. Its design
incorporates several innovations advocated by Robert Mills. Barred cells are
situated in the center of the prison rooms to facilitate circulation, which
Mills believed necessary for inmates’ health. Prisoners were also arranged
according to their crimes: debtors on the first floor and others above.
The austere exterior of the building features stone quoins and
belt courses and recessed arches on the ground floor. County officials decided
to discontinue use of the building as a jail after a cell-block fire caused the
deaths of eleven inmates in December 1979. Today the historic jail is now used
as an office building. The courthouse and jail were designated as National
Historic Landmarks by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1973.
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