FAYETTE COUNTY COURTHOUSE
& BRIDGE OF SIGHS

61 E. MAIN STREET

The Fayette County Courthouse and Bridge of Sighs Snapshot:

The Courthouse building that you see here is the 4th hall of justice to be built in this location since the original Courthouse constructed in 1784
Construction began in 1891 and was designed in Richardsonian Romanesque style
Some special features of the building include a clock tower that is 188ft from the ground, beautiful marble floors, carved iron staircases, and relevant artwork. Courtroom One is especially magnificent in design
Because more space was needed, an additional annex was built in 1927 and now there are five courtrooms
The County Jail is behind the Courthouse and a bridge was constructed between the two buildings to allow for prisoners to cross over into the courthouse for trials. This bridge is known as the “Bridge of Sighs”

Fayette County Courthouse & Bridge of Sighs- The Full Story:

Fayette County Courthouse prior to current building

Marquis de Lafayette statue carved by David Gilmour Blythe

Brownfield sisters holding the 1825 Lafayette flag

On June 1, 1891, the cornerstone was laid, with much fanfare, for this courthouse. This building would be the fourth hall of justice in our county since 1783. In March, 1784, a small building was erected in Uniontown to hold court. It was replaced by a two-story brick building in 1796. This structure was destroyed by a fire that started while court was in session on February 4, 1845. Fortunately, the county records were saved. Our third “Temple of Justice” was built in the Greek Revival style. This two-story brick building was opened in March of 1847. It was topped by a tower containing a clock as well as a statue of the Marquis de Lafayette on top of the steeple. This statue, carved by a Uniontown resident, David Gilmour Blythe is currently situated in the rotunda of the courthouse. Also on display in the rotunda is a flag, sewn by the women of Uniontown in 1825, to fly over the town when Lafayette returned on his farewell tour. Having outgrown the third courthouse, the commissioners set about to plan for the one you see here. The architects chosen were E.M. Butz and William Coffman of Pittsburgh, the same who furnished plans for the jail that was about to be completed. The courthouse was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style much like the Allegheny County Courthouse of Pittsburgh, considered to be one of Henry Hobson Richardson’s masterpieces. A local firm, Laughead, Modisette & Co. won the bid to construct the courthouse.

On the day the cornerstone was put into place, a time capsule, containing documents and pictures was placed inside. Also included was a drawing of Jacob Steel, a Fayette centenarian who was as old as the county itself. Steel was born on October 19, 1783 in Springhill Township and he lived near Masontown nearly all his life. He recalled gathering hickory nuts on the day of Washington’s second election . He also recalled when Thomas Jefferson resigned from Washington’s Cabinet in 1793, to lead the new Democratic party against the forces of Federalism under Hamilton. He was 10 years old at the time. He lived not far from Friendship Hill, Albert Gallatin’s estate, and was 42 when General Lafayette joined Gallatin at his home in 1825. Steel credited his long life to using whiskey in moderation, never smoking, working through sun or rain and being even tempered. On Monday, August 24, 1891, Steel passed away from the effects of a fall from a porch. He outlived two wives and he had twelve children.

The clock tower stands 188 feet from the ground. It has four faces and rings on the hour. The interior of the courthouse has marble floors, intricately carved ornamental iron staircases, and oak trim. Courtroom One is magnificent in its design and on its walls hangs paintings of Lafayette as well as early judges. The ceiling of the 40-foot-high second floor lobby features four large oval medallions, 10 feet across, with symbolical paintings representing the county’s four leading industries – mining, coke burning, agriculture and manufacturing. A painting of George Washington was done by Connellsville artist C. Samuel Kilpatrick.

Jacob Steel

Jail and Bridge of Sighs

The second floor was remodeled in 1902 to add courtroom space and to construct a bridge from the jail, over an alleyway. Just as in Pittsburgh, the bridge became known as the “Bridge of Sighs.” Prisoners crossed over the bridge to the main courtroom.

With overcrowding a concern, the county purchased additional property and constructed the four-story courthouse annex in 1927 in the Spanish Romanesque style of architecture. The courthouse now provides for 5 courtrooms.

During the history of Fayette County, thirteen men have been executed. The last to be hanged was Frank Wells, 21, who murdered Charles Butler of McClellandtown on January 3, 1913. The gallows still exist inside the top of the courthouse. The first to be hanged was John McFall who murdered John Chadwick, an innkeeper in 1795. The execution was carried out by a rope strung to a Sycamore tree since there wasn’t a jail. The next execution would not happen again until 71 years later when Richard Thairwell murdered James Houseman, of Fayette City. Houseman’s wife Mary had orchestrated the plan and took part in every detail but she escaped the noose. Their young boarder, Thairwell, paid for the crime.

Frank Wells’ Rosary

The Decorated Courthouse

Modern Day View Inside the Bridge of Sighs from Jail into Courtroom 1,

Perhaps the most famous prisoner ever to be housed in the Fayette County prison was “Crazy Billy.” Mystery surrounded William Stanford’s early beginnings. Not long after he arrived in Fayette County, in 1831, he entered Judge Crow’s house in Nicholson Township where he held the judge and his family with an ax. He said he wanted to be able to manage the judge’s farm. Stanford was taken prisoner where he was placed in the same cell as John Updegraff who was sleeping off a night on the town. It is unknown precisely why, but Stanford, believing Updegraff was a wild animal took a billet of wood to him and killed him. Judge Crow would have been content to have Stanford executed but instead he was judged to be insane. At this point, and until his death, Stanford was named Crazy Billy. For 16 years he was shackled with heavy irons, sleeping on the cold stone floor. But then the kind-hearted wife of the sheriff, William Snyder, took pity on him and convinced her husband to give him odd jobs and to allow him to venture into the yard. It was there a young girl, Jane McMullen, peeked over the jail walls where she saw him drawing murals with charcoal. Jane was fearful of him but just like everyone else in town, she soon grew to believe he was no longer a threat. Jane told this story to a reporter in 1933 when she was 100 years old. Billy was trusted to do errands for the warden, the judges and the lawyers of Fayette County. It was on one of these errands that he was hit by a wagon while crossing the National Road just in front of the courthouse. Billy died on January 26, 1883. With his last breath he called out to his poor mother who, it was believed, remained in England. Billy was mourned by all and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery where the foundation of his tombstone was a cross-section of one of the columns of the third courthouse. Every now and then someone tries to see if the real William Stanford can be found. Although there are several similarities on the English census and baptism records, no one can absolutely prove who he was. But one thing for sure, Billy was a brilliant man. He was both a poet and an artist and he had been a prisoner for over 51 years.

The Fayette County commissioners, in 2021, voted to build a new prison as the current facility was out of date and too small. Once it is completed, the old jail will be remodeled and renovated to house additional court offices.