This courthouse was the most imposing public building in early Robertson County. After Calvert became the county seat in 1870, the town lost many leaders in the 1873 yellow fever epidemic. As planned, the courthouse was begun in 1875, but before it was completed Franklin was named county seat in 1879. Robert A. Brown, a merchant, investor, and planter, purchased the building in 1885, and with the help of his wife, Lucy Herndon Brown, converted it into a residence. In 1909 his heirs sold it to Mrs. Fannie L. Hammond, whose family kept it until 1966, when it became a museum.