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Contractors R. Jesty and Company of Winona built this ambitious Beaux-Arts classical building on a square overlooking the Yazoo River. Clad with coursed ashlar of Indiana limestone, the courthouse features a monumental Ionic portico, and its two-tiered clock tower surmounted by a copper dome rises above the surrounding buildings. Originally rectangular in shape with end pavilions on the east and west faces, the building grew with a three-story rear jail annex in 1926 and office additions on the east and west sides in 1953. The magnolia-shaded lawn was the end point for several voter registration marches in the tense year of 1963.