Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Use Restrictions

No physical characteristics affect use of this material.

Preferred Citation

Loudoun County Courthouse Records (M 092) Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Louodun County Circuit Court, Leesburg, VA

Alternative Form Available

None

Accruals

2013.0165

Processing Information

Elizabeth E. Preston, 26 June 2014

Historical Information

The Virginia General Assembly divided Fairfax County in 1757 and created Loudoun County out of the western portion. The county began construction on its first courthouse in 1758, situated in Leesburg. The courthouse housed the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of the county. An office for the clerk of court and a small jail were also constructed on the courthouse grounds. The jail was very poorly built, however, and the county ceased using it almost immediately, in 1759.

Leesburg and Loudoun County outgrew the small courthouse, and in 1811 a new building was constructed on the site of the demolished first courthouse. In 1848, the Leesburg Academy for Boys constructed a large school just east of the courthouse. The Academy sold the building to Loudoun County in 1873, which used the building as office space for court officials. The courthouse was rebuilt again in 1895. A building matching and adjoining the Academy building was constructed in 1959, and in 1972 the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors purchased the Valley Bank building. This structure, east of the courthouse, serves as the office of the Commonwealth's Attorney.

By 1990, the circuit court judges felt strongly that the 1895 courthouse and its facilities were inadequate to meet the needs of Loudoun County. They cited lack of witness areas and appropriate office space for visiting judges, failure of the old buildings to accommodate new technologies, and poor security as real problems that had to be addressed. The Board of Supervisors hired a consulting firm to draft a needs assessment for the next ten years, and to suggest a renovation plan. Their plan, in two phases, came with a projected cost of $18,500,000. It would have renovated existing structures and added 37,000 square feet, as well as a parking desk. The plan failed to gain funding through a voter referendum.

The judges continued to advocate renovations. They wrote a public letter in January 1996 laying out their grievances that prompted the Board of Supervisors to create the Judicial Center Taskforce. The taskforce was made up of community members, government officials, and judges, and was charged with beginning the planning process for renovation of the courthouse complex. At the first meeting of the taskforce Judge Thomas D. Horne presented an "Analysis of the Courtroom" which listed the problems of the facilities.

The voters rejected all funding options in a referendum. Two of the judges insisted that the Board of Supervisors commit to renovation plans or face legal action for failure to support the necessary functions of the county. Planning for the renovation of the courthouse moved forward in the summer of 1996. Eventually, the Board chose to fund Phases I and II of renovations through property tax revenues.

The final plans and construction documents were completed in January 1999 and the Board of Supervisors invited bids from construction companies. The $20,900,000 contract was awarded to the Charles E. Tompkins Company in March 1999. Judge Horne invited citizens to a public information session on 27 June 2000. As a result of this meeting, the Board of Supervisors formed the Courthouse Grounds and Facilities Taskforce (later Courthouse Grounds and Facilities Committee), composed of citizens and the judiciary, to advise the Board on decisions about use of the courthouse and its grounds. The taskforce operated as an important liaison between the public and the Board of Supervisors on all areas of courthouse use, including concerns about renovation plans, holiday displays on the courthouse lawn, and care of memorials.

Construction and renovation suffered delays and setbacks, but the new courthouse was ready for occupancy in August 2004. In January 2013, the Board of Supervisors authorized the Courts Complex Phase III Expansion, which will renovate portions of the courthouse and Valley Bank building, improve parking lots and pedestrian access, and allow for a new parking garage.

Scope and Content

This collection comes from the office of Judge Thomas D. Horne, who led efforts to renovate the Loudoun County Courthouse beginning in 1990. Judge Horne was a Circuit Court Judge in Loudoun County from 1982 until his retirement in 2013. He served on several committees and taskforces that advocated for new courthouse facilities and made decisions on how they should be renovated. The collection contains notebooks that Judge Horne maintained in his office. The notebooks are comprised of studies, reports, correspondence, and meeting minutes that deal with courthouse renovation. For preservation purposes materials have been removed from the notebooks and placed in folders. In addition to notebooks, there are studies created to assist in the planning process, reports and requests from public groups, and minutes from the Courthouse Grounds and Facilities Committee. The collection also contains architectural drawings and site plans from as early as 1920, though most of the site plans were produced as part of the 2004 renovation.

Arrangement

Box: Folder

Related Material

Bienenfeld, Paula. An Archaeological Survey of the Loudoun County Courthouse Square, Town of Leesburg, Virginia Final Report . Falls Church, VA: Tetra Tech, Inc., 1997. [V REF 975.528 BIE] Loudoun County Courts Complex Collection (SC 0093), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA. Robinson, Debbie. Loudoun County Courthouse Old Clerk's Office Building Replacement and Renovation Project . Reston, VA: SWSG, 2002. [V REF 975.528 ROB] Sanders, Suzanne. Archeological Investigations Related to the Loudoun County Courthouse Expansion: Final Report. Frederick, MD: Christopher Goodwin and Associates, Inc., 1999 [V REF 975.528 SAN]

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Bienenfeld, Paula. An Archaeological survey of the Loudoun County Courthouse Square, Town of Leesburg, Virginia Final Report . Falls Church, VA: Tetra Tech, Inc., 1997.

Loudoun County Court Complex Collection (SC 0093), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Loudoun County Courthouse Records (M 092), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Loudoun County. History of Loudoun County . http://www.loudoun.gov/index.aspx?nid=174 (accessed 26 June 2014).

Town of Leesburg. A Brief History of Leesburg . http://www.leesburgva.gov/index.aspx?page=527 (accessed 26 June 2014).

Other Finding Aid

None

Technical Requirements

VCR and DVD player for some material.