One of two buildings that originally comprised the Natchez Institute, one of Mississippi’s earliest public schools, the courthouse ( pictured on p. 36) is a stuccoed three-bay Classical Revival building with a stepped and paneled parapet and a projecting pedimented frontispiece defined by paired pilasters. Weldon Brothers of Natchez were the contractors, and the masons were Charles Reynolds and James Brown.

Memorial Hall originally featured an upper-floor auditorium and a raised basement with four classrooms entered from a dramatic entrance hall with a pair of matching elliptical staircases. In 1921, World War I veterans renovated the building, changed its name, and installed a stage with

a proscenium arch in the auditorium. In 1987, the Historic Natchez Foundation acquired the deteriorated building to prevent its demolition. It was renovated as a federal courthouse in 2008.