This carefully detailed Colonial Revival courthouse reflects the county's confidence and prosperity during the 1910s when railroads expanded and mineral and timber production increased. The courthouse was attached to the front of an earlier one built in 1894. Designed by Miller of Roanoke, the 1915 courthouse is a T-shaped two-story brick building accented by brick quoins, and it has a hipped roof crowned by a domed clock tower. An attenuated two-story pedimented portico with paired Ionic columns dominates the building's central pavilion. The courthouse of 1894 was razed in 1972 and replaced in 1950 and 1972 by rear additions to the present courthouse.