Brick Store was center of activity at county’s inception

Brick Store was cornerstone of county’s earliest activity

By TAYLOR BECK

tbeck@covnews.com

Constructed in 1821, the same year of Newton County’s formation, the Brick Store was once the focal point of daily activity for the community.

Known as the first brick structure built in Newton County, located near the “Y” intersection of Old Social Circle Road and U.S. Hwy. 278, the Brick Store is one of the oldest buildings in the county’s history and the third oldest commercial building in the state. It is believed the original bricks used in the construction of the Brick Store were imported from England and hauled overland by oxcart from Savannah to the site. However, in 1967, an Atlanta brick company owner said he believed the brick to be made of native material.

Since its construction, the Brick Store has been a general store, stage coach stop, post office, school house, church, jail, residence for Martin Kolb and, most notably, a courtroom.

The Brick Store was the site of Newton County Superior Court’s first court session.

At the time of Newton’s formation, the Superior Court selected a new community 10 miles west of the Brick Store known as Newtonsborough — later renamed Covington — to be the county seat. But until a courthouse could be built in Covington, legislation provided that elections and court sessions must be held at the house of Martin Kolb.

Historians say the first court session held at Brick Store was also the last.

Authors of “Courthouses in Georgia” say a one-room log courthouse was later built near the Brick Store in 1822 at the cost of $62.

One of the first telephones was installed in the Brick Store area in 1897 by G.C. and H.B. Adams.

The Brick Store was also said to be the base of “an early covert law enforcement operation” in the early 1900s, according to historians. In 1986, then 89-yearold resident Ernest Gibson said he remembered eastern Newton County was “well on the way to becoming a haven for gambling promoters and illegal whiskey stills” in 1914.

The Brick Store was eventually closed around 1935 and sat for decades in ruin. In 1973, trustees of the Newton County Historical Society took ownership and renovated the structure.

In 2009, the historic building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Three years later, the Historical Society launched an effort to make more renovations to the building through a federal grant.

Today the site includes a tablet from 1933 commemorating the Stage Coach Crossroads, a plaque commemorating the building’s donation by Charles M. Jordan of the building to the Historical Society in 1971 and a plaque from the landmarks commission dated 1990. To the left and rear of the Brick Store is a large granite tablet with a plaque that was placed by the Sargent Newton Chapter of The Daughters of the American Revolution in Covington.

From time to time, the Historical Society hosts open house events and feature historic exhibits at the Brick Store.

The historic Brick Store still stands on U.S. Hwy. 278 in eastern Newton County. Special Photo