The Historic Henry County Courthouse in Martinsville, Virginia is getting closer to being a real showpiece in our community. Rehabilitation of the building is still in progress with the funds from Save America’s Treasurers grant, a local Harvest Foundation grant and gifts. If you are in the area, we would love to show you this historic building being brought to its former glory. Hosts will be at the courthouse on Thursdays from 1 PM until 5 PM, Fridays from 1 PM until 5 PM and Saturdays from Noon until 4 PM. Please come by and see us.

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Isn’t this picture great? The community came out to show that “This Treasure Matters”.

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Work has finally begun on the restoration of the Historic Henry County Courthouse. The HVAC system is being installed. Soon we will be able to have the walls and ceilings repaired and painted. The New College Institute plans to move into the first floor on the left side for their recruiting offices. We are pleased to partner with them. 

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This year is marching right along. The historical society board has met and has started making plans for 2010. Of course, the courthouse restoration is our big project this year. The installation of the HVAC systems has been delayed. Some great new ideas came to surface after bids went out and a contractor selected. The county, the historical society and the engineer all agreed that the new ideas would give us much better systems and save a great deal of energy cost in their operation. These changes necessitated new plans being drawn, approval from Save America’s Treasurer and the Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources and a new request for bids. We are disappointed that there is a delay in installing the HVAC, but we think it will be well worth it.

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Best wishes for the Holidays from the Martinsville-Henry Historical Society. The beautiful photo of the courthouse which appears above was taken by Rick Dawson of Dawson Photography.

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Dr. Jesse M, Shackelford, bought property in Irisburg and built a home, a wing of which was used as a hospital from 1895 to1899.  Five years later, he moved to Martinsville where he remained.  On April 29, 1921, Dr. Shackelford purchased the Teague residence on Church Street and created a hospital there.  The Shackelford Hospital was established in 1921.

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Welcome to the Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society’s updated and interactive website.  The new format will make available to you more local history stories, photographs, and the ability for viewers to ...

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The Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society (MHCHS) is expecting final approval of the courthouse phase one-rehabilitation plan from the State and Federal Government within the next few weeks.  Once approved, the work for the HVAC can be released for a RFP (Request For Proposal), and after 20 days, bids will be accepted and a contractor selected.  If this timetable is achieved, the HVAC work could be completed within 3 months.  The HVAC will be a three zone system. Once the HVAC is completed, wall and ceiling repairs can be made and then everything painted, making the facility ready for use. 

MHCHS has requested from the Department of Historic Resources (DHR) to approve the installation of drop ceilings in the west wing and the back room of the east wing on the first floor.  This will be necessary retain the historical significance of the ceilings in order to place HVAC duct work and wiring out of sight. The ceilings will still be 13 feet in height and will not impact their historical significance.  Phase one also includes refurbishing three of the existing restrooms located on both floors.  Although none will be handicap accessible at this time, future plans do include handicap restroom to be added.  It is anticipated that Phase one could be completed in six months or less.  Current projections indicate that the majority of the initial plan can be funded, thanks to the efforts of our volunteer work force. 

MHCHS is still exploring all the possibilities for the entire first floor use.  Our major focus will to utilize the facility to tell the story of our local history, as well as have space available for community use and facility rental.  The west wing of the courthouse’s first floor will remain a completely separate space from the rest of the building and will have its own HVAC and electric meter, which will be advantageous for rental space.  This could become a valuable resource for maintaining the courthouse and the Historical Society function.  The second floor, the courtroom, will retain its current design and layout to reflect our rich community history.  Whatever is decided, it will need to help generate foot traffic into the facility in order to raise awareness of what we have to offer.

Although the courthouse is not as elegant as some of the 18th century courthouses in the state, it will be a very attractive Arts & Craft era building that will be a real asset to our community.
 

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