Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Rockville Court House
MSA SC 5496-036552
Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland

Biography:

The first court session in Montgomery County "was held on May 20, 1777, 'at the house of Leonard Davis.'"1 By 1779, however, a courthouse had been built on the land of Thomas Owen Williams, the father of Elisha W. Williams. That year, Thomas Williams approached the county with ideas for renovating the buildings, and by 1783, the structures included the wood frame courthouse, three surrounding buildings, and four "out houses." More improvements were added in 1810.2

The existing Montgomery County Courthouse was built in 1891. The architect, Francis Earlougher Davis, designed the red brick structure in the Victorian Romanesque Revival style.3 The building's structure also included red sandstone from the Seneca Mills quarry in southern Montgomery County.4 In 1847, under the ownership of John P.C. Peter, the same quarry provided the red sandstone for the first Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.5
 
 
 
 

1.     "Montgomery County Courthouse Historic District." M: 26-11. Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties. www.mdihp.net.

2.     Ibid.
        "Red Brick Courthouse (& Montgomery County Courthouse)." M: 26-11-1. Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties. www.mdihp.net.

3.     "Montgomery County Courthouse Historic District." National Register Listings in Maryland. http://mht.maryland.gov.
        "Frank E. Davis." Maryland Architecture Foundation. http://baltimorearchitecture.org/biographies/frank-e-davis/.
        "Maryland Architects." Maryland Manual On-Line. Maryland State Archives. http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/architec.html.

4.     "Montgomery County Courthouse Historic District." M: 26-11. Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties. www.mdihp.net.

5.     Maryland Geological Survey. Maryland Geological Survey (Vol. 2. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1898) 208.
        Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. 18 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1880) 559 and 663.
 

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