Madison County Courthouse – Richmond, Ky.

I love Main Street in Richmond. It’s hilly, and as you come into town, it all spreads out in front of you. Today it hit me what makes some downtowns prettier than others – the really nice ones are like Richmond, where all the utility lines have been put underground. It really cleans up the view.
Richmond has done a great job in mapping out its history. In the few moments I spent at the courthouse square I learned a ton. The courthouse square in Richmond has a pretty great story. According to the historic markers, during the Civil War the courthouse square was used to house Union prisoners of war. More than 4,300 soldiers were kept here for a week until they were paroled. I particularly liked this. When a confederate colonel was asked by his superiors how many had been captured, his response was “I have not counted them, but I have a ten-acre lot full.”
The bust pictured above is a pioneer monument erected in 1906 by Richmond native David R. Francis, who was Mayor of St. Louis, Governor of Missouri, an ambassador to Russia and the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Also, a plaque on the courthouse commemorates U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Richmond native Samuel Freeman Miller, who served from 1862-90. He was a Lincoln appointee who studied the law WHILE HE WAS PRACTICING MEDICINE. Doctor and Supreme Court Justice…makes me feel like a slacker. According to the plaque, Justice John Marshall Harlan said of him, “It is safe to say that, with the exception Chief Justice John Marshall, no American judge has made a deeper impression upon the jurisprudence of this country than he.”