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Conecuh Has History of Five Court Houses Beginning
with Log Cabin at Hampden Ridge
"The present Courthouse building is the fifth court house in Conecuh, with the history of Conecuh courthouses dating back to before Alabama became a state in 1819.
The first "court house" was at Hampden Ridge, and was built and used shortly after the War of 1812. The log house could hardly be called a court house as is known today, since Conecuh was not a county, and it was generally used for a court room only.
After Alabama became a state, the "court house" was moved to Old Sparta, where a special structure was built. It was at this court house that the first Conecuh company of volunteers was organized for the Confederate Army, in April of 1861. This company served with distinction throughout the Civil War, and was among those which surrendered at Appomatox in April of 1865.
Shortly after the Civil War, the courthouse at Old Sparta burned down, destroying all records. It was rumored at the time that the fire was deliberately set by a party or parties to destroy records which would have been damaging to them.
After the fire, which is variously said to have been in 1866, to 1868, the county seat was moved to Evergreen, and Old Sparta gradually waned away. The court house erected here then burned a few years later, and an imposing red brick structure took its' place. The red brick court house was condemned about 1899, and the present building finished in the summer of 1901. Other accounts place the completion as late as 1906, but it is believed that the summer of 1901 is the most accurate.
The destruction of Conecuh's court houses by fire have made it virtually impossible to trace land transactions, since the records were also destroyed."
Source: Reprinted from article in Evergreen Courant in 1957
Note: Since this article was published in 1957, some land records and other transactions, though difficult to obtain, can now be found, along with newspapers on microfilm from 1879 forward. These records are on file at the Evergreen Public Library in Evergreen, and the Alabama Dept. of Archives and History in Montgomery, AL. The present day courthouse in Evergreen is still controversial, and in May 2005, after several challenges reaching as far as the Alabama Supreme Court, the courthouse was torn down. Many of the offices were removed to the old Southwest Alabama Agricultural School (formerly Evergreen High School & more recently, the Evergreen Junior High School) on North Main Street in what was once known as Old Evergreen.
Submitted by Sherry Johnston
County Will Not Pay Plantiff's Attorneys
The Conecuh County Commission does not have to pay the legal fees of the Alabama Preservation Society and other plantiffs who sued them. Judge Hardie Kimbrough, in what may be the final ruling in the case ruled Thursday (June 28) that the APA was not entitled to any fees and they would forfeit a $25,000 bond to the county. The court said APA did not have standing in the county. APA and J.C. Padgett sued approximately $200,000 in legal fees and court costs. The courts did award Padgett $21,901 for certain fees apparently on the grounds that he did have standing and "some services provided by said plantiff's attorneys resulted in enjoining unlawful actions by defendants."
In summary the court said, "Because APA had and has no standing to participate in the action at bar, it had no legal standing to request the injunctive relief imposed on the county, and, therefore, any injunction issued pursuant to APA's participation was wrongful. Since APA was the only party who provided funds for the cash bond, the court finds that APA's lack of standing is sufficient to support an award of the cash bond proceeds to the county."
"The basis of the court's award to the county of the cash bonds in the sum of $25,000 is that APA's participation in this case was wrongful, and the court determines (that the county) has sustained damages as a proximate result of such worngful participation by APA. Such damages include, but are not limited to, expenditures by said Defendants for attorney's fees and cost expended by the Defendants in defending APA's allegations and requests for relief.
"To paraphrase a former Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, " they paid
their money and took their chances."
The court said, "the record in this case clearly establishes that on the date the Complaint was filed by plantiffs in this cause, that there was no resident citizen and taxpayer of Conecuh County, Alabama, who was a member of the Alabama Preservation Alliance. It was only after the complaint was filed, that Edna Padgett became a complimentary member of APA.
"Since APA had no members to sue in their own right when the Complaint was filed, the court finds that the association ("APA") did not meet all of the requirements for standing. Furthermore, APA had no real legal interest in the application of the funds collected.
"As there were no individual members of the APA with a legal interest in the
subject matter of this lawsuit at the time this case was filed, no members of APA were actually injured by the Defendants'
actions regarding the county courthouse, and therefore no member of APA could reasonably be supposed to have benefitted from
this action."
Max Cassady was the county attorney when the suit was filed. He told SANews that the county has been vindicated, and that it is ironic that the final ruling should be made public during the same week that construction is scheduled to start for the new courthouse.
Source: South Alabama News, July 7, 2005 (front page, right column, middle of page)
Submitted by Sherry Johnston