Fletcher Sloan - Architect (1826 - 1883)

During the occupation of the Civil War, the Union Generals, Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, J.B. McPherson and then Col. Lew Wallace made visits to Bolivar. It was in May 1864; General Sturgis came with his 12,000 soldiers. He decided to make the town useless to any army and especially the Confederates who had defeated him in battle. He burned the business section including the Baptist and Methodist churches and the courthouse. After the war, during the year 1865, progress was made rebuilding the business section. Philadelphia-based architects, Fletcher Sloan and half bother Samuel Sloan (a famous Philadelphia architect) before the war had designed the McNeal Place in Bolivar. Fletcher then designed St. James Episcopal Church, and after the war designed many of the buildings and houses in this area. Fletcher also designed many southern churches and courthouses including the ones Holly Springs and Oxford, Mississippi.

The crown jewel of all historic structures, most locals will agree is our famed county courthouse, built (or rather, "rebuilt") in 1868. This elegant structure continues to the present day as the center of county government activity, but whether it's the grand central staircase or the vintage vault in the Recorder's Office, it's impossible not to feel the history when one steps through the high arched doors.

Fletcher Sloan died in Bolivar, Tennessee in 1883; he will be well-remembered for the building legacy he left behind.