Catoosa County Courthouse
Why it's listed
Completed in 1939 in Ringgold, Georgia, the Catoosa County Courthouse is a symmetrical two-story brick building in the Colonial Revival style. It has a hipped roof, a cupola, a projecting pediment with paired Ionic pilasters, and limestone trim. Inside, crossing hallways have six-foot Georgia Cherokee marble wainscoting and terrazzo floors, and the courtroom keeps a stained-glass Palladian window and original wooden benches. The Chattanooga firm Crutchfield & Law designed it, and Barrett Construction Company of Dalton built it. It replaced an unsafe courthouse of the 1850s. Voters approved a $46,500 bond issue in 1938 to match a Public Works Administration grant, and the building opened on September 2, 1939, before roughly 1,000 people. It is considered significant for its architecture and for its role in county government as a New Deal-funded project. It remains in daily use as the county courthouse, joined by a 1980s justice building that is not part of the listing.
Significance in brief: It is a fine example of a New Deal-era Colonial Revival county courthouse that keeps most of its original features, and it is a work of the Chattanooga firm Crutchfield & Law. It also served as the county's only seat of government and was funded in part by the PWA and WPA, supplementing a 1938 local bond referendum.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 06000844, listed September 20, 2006. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 7694 Nashville St., Ringgold |
|---|---|
| County | Catoosa County |
| Listed | September 20, 2006 |
| Reference number | 06000844 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1939-1956 |
| Architect / builder | Crutchfield and Law, architectural firm, Chattanooga, Tennessee (William Crutchfield and Halbert G. Law); Barrett Construction Company, contractor, Dalton, Georgia |
| Architectural style | Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Architecture, Politics/Government |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Remains in active use as the county courthouse; alterations are mostly minor. |
| Acreage | 0.6 |
| Coordinates | 34.91564, -85.11079 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 06000844.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q55606775
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.