When the contract was let for construction of the present courthouse in 1923, there were two major issues: placing the county jail on the top floor of the structure, and removal of the courthouse clock.
It was decided not to move the jail because of the cost. It was also decided not to include the old clock in the new courthouse. Courthouse clocks were thought to be out of date. Macon was "too big and modern" for such things. Both decisions were quickly reversed.
The clock had powerful and numerous friends. A petition to keep the clock, placed in the nearby drugstore, quickly gathered signatures, including many lawyers. Arnold Jacobs' name led the list. Newspaper articles protested loss of the town clock. The Grand Jury chimed in with a pro-clock resolution.
The old clock went on top of the new building. The bell, with its date "1871," weighs two tons. It is huge, and worth the climb to see it, if you get the chance.
Money was suddenly found in 1924 to move the jail to the new courthouse. It may be coincidence, but in that year the State of Georgia replaced hanging in the county of conviction with electrocution and made the state penitentiary the site for all executions. It is probable the county had not wanted a gallows in the courthouse.
As the 1923 building was delivered to the county, it had very wide halls and a railed atrium in the middle of the third and fourth floors. At least one prisoner jumped through the third floor opening in an unsuccessful escape attempt.
There were two superior court courtrooms, and one each for the City Court (State) and Civil Court. Segregation laws confined black spectators to the balcony in the larger superior courtroom until late in the 1960's.
The present building was filled with oddities when new, and some persist. There is still a flowing spring in the sub basement. There were "secret" rooms and passages, and many very narrow stairs. Some have been walled over; some remain, leading nowhere. Of course, the smoking chambers on each floor will seem an oddity in years to come.
A building connecting the Grand Building and the original courthouse was erected in 1979 to provide additional courtrooms. A local wit, Dave Thornton, described the golden mirrored addition as "a hussy between two bankers."
The metal detectors, guards at the door and surveillance cameras in the halls, installed in 1996, converted the Bibb County courthouse into the Bibb County forthouse.
Frank M. McKenney