Old Chesterfield County Courthouse
First Secession Meeting Monument
Dr. William Perry: The sidewalk in front of the Courthouse was one of two places children could roller skate. Mangum Street by the Presbyterian Church had a paved sidewalk as well.
Elizabeth Ann Gaddy Rivers: The momument on this site commemorates the First Seccssion Meeting held at Chesterfield Courthouse on November 19, 1860. The Courthouse now houses the Greater Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce, Chesterfield Archives and Geneaology Library, Historical Society of Chesterfield County, Chesterfield Art Gallery, Museum and Gift Shop. Just to show you how much technology has changed our lives in fifty years, please note this personal experience. In 1958, Ruby Hurst (now Teal) and I spent the entire summer in the old courthouse working on a project to re-index the county birth and death records-by hand. We copied information from birth and death certificates onto index cards which were then sorted as specified. The man who headed the project pitched the project to the county, and he hired us to work for him. Reading the handwriting of all those doctors probably prepared me well to read any student's handwriting in the next thirty-five years of teaching that followed that summer experience! I remember that Ruby and I ate lunch nearly every day at Mrs. Grant's boarding house on East Main Street and that we probably spent most of our salary on that, as well as gaining a few pounds from eating the delicious food. Our lunch companion most days was "Miss" Delle Rivers, Calvin Rivers's mother, who walked from her house across the street, for her meals. The first rule we learned about eating there was that nobody-I mean nobody-ever sat at the place "Miss" Delle had designated as hers. It stayed empty even if she wasn't there on a given day.
My maternal grandfather, J. Andy Teal, had an office in this building. He was county clerk and road supervisor for many years. He also served as town clerk and was engineer supervisor for Chesterfield County and was an agent for Standard Oil. He was a farmer in the Zoar Community and was married to Dorothy "Dolly" White Teal. They had three children; Audrey (later Adams), Wilson, and Elizabeth (later Gaddy and then Harris).
Frank White, Jr. noted that in the copied portion from the Chesterfield County Pictorial History 1785 - 2000, it is stated that Robert Mills designed the courthouse that stands at this site today. He says that this is nothing but a myth that has been perpetuated, not fact. Robert Mills died in 1855; the courthouse wasn't even built until 1884.