The Old Monroe County Courthouse was designed by prominent Southern architect Andrew Bryan and built between 1903 and 1904 during the tenure of Probate Judge Nicholas Stallworth. One of two courthouses of this type designed by Bryan, with a sister courthouse in LaGrange, Georgia later destroyed by fire, it was built in a Romanesque style with Georgian influence by Louisville, Kentucky contractor M.T. Lewman. It served as the seat of most county offices and the site of court cases until a new courthouse was constructed in 1963. The building's lasting fame comes from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird and the motion picture of the same name, which features the now-famous courtroom scene. Today the site is on the National Historic Register and is a national literary Mecca.