Every building on the square

Building by building around the Lincoln County Courthouse: what the old fire insurance maps show in each storefront from 1887 to 1926, and what’s there today. Start at the obelisk on the courthouse lawn, where the walking tour begins, and walk the west, south, east and north sides in turn.

Pick a side Take the walking tour

Then and now: the courthouse

The building in the middle of the square has changed more than the storefronts around it. Today’s courthouse is the county’s fourth, a Colonial Revival building from 1970 that replaced the 1874 Italianate courthouse on the postcard. (Fayetteville Main Street, History; Lincoln County marker, HMdb)

Tinted postcard of the 1874 Lincoln County Courthouse, a two-story brick building with a tall clock tower, behind bare trees with a horse carriage in front, about 1909 — **Then, about 1909:** the 1874 courthouse with its clock tower (postcard postmarked July 31, 1909). “Court House, Fayetteville, Tenn.,” H. G. Zimmerman & Co. Tennessee Postcard Collection, Tennessee State Library and Archives. No Copyright – United States.

Today’s Lincoln County Courthouse, a red brick building with white columns and a white cupola, seen across the lawn in November 2008 — **Now (2008):** the courthouse completed in 1970. Photo: Ichabod, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).

More then-and-now pairs are on the north side cards (the 1914 map next to a 2015 photo). Have an old photo of any storefront on the square? Share it with us.

Pick a side

41 buildings in all, in walking order from the obelisk on the courthouse lawn. Each side has its own page, and each page links on to the next side.

West side — Main Ave. S.11 buildingsSaloons, groceries and a corner drugstore on the old maps, and the building the 1885 fires spared.Map: Sanborn Map Co., April 1914, sheet 9, Library of Congress (public domain)
South side — Market St. E.14 buildingsThe Bright Hall opera house, the post office and an early picture show on the old maps.Map: Sanborn Map Co., April 1914, sheet 9, Library of Congress (public domain)
East side — Elk Ave. S.4 buildingsThe drugstore, the bank and the Odd Fellows hall, and five storefronts that are now the City Municipal Building.Postcard, about 1911: H. G. Zimmerman & Co., Tennessee State Library and Archives (No Copyright - United States)
North side — College St. E.12 buildingsBanks, hardware and dry-goods stores on the old maps, and the Lincoln Theatre today.Photo: Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

How to read this page

The history lines come from fire insurance maps. The Sanborn Map Company drew downtown Fayetteville in 1887, 1891, 1897, 1902, 1907, 1914 and 1926. The maps label each storefront by its use, not by the name of the business. We give what each label means and the label as printed, with a link to the map sheet. (Library of Congress, Sanborn Maps, 1887–1914; UT Knoxville Libraries, 1926)
Street numbers have changed. To match each old map lot to today’s address, we laid the 1914 and 1926 lot lines on today’s county property lines and the Lincoln County 911 address points (Tennessee Comptroller parcel map). That match is our reading of the maps. It hasn’t been checked door by door yet, and some buildings were two old storefronts.
Labels from 1891 to 1907 were read from reduced scans, so a few may change when we read them again at full size.
“Today” comes from our directory as of Oct. 21, 2026. The county offices are in the courthouse itself, 112 Main Ave. S.
See something we got wrong, or know what a storefront held in 1950 or 1980? Every card has a Tell us link.

Help fill in the square

The maps stop in 1926. If you know what a storefront held in the 1940s, the 1970s or last year, or you have an old photo of the square, we’d like to hear from you. We add what we can source and credit it.

Share a photo Email us

Sources for every page about the square

Sanborn Map & Publishing Co. and Sanborn Map Co., fire insurance maps of Fayetteville, Tenn.: June 1887, July 1891, Sept. 1897, Oct. 1902, June 1907, April 1914 (sheet 9, sheet 10). Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Public domain.
Sanborn Map Co., Fayetteville, Tenn., Sept. 1926, sheets 5 and 6. University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries. No Copyright – United States.
Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, parcel layer and Lincoln County 911 address points, checked Oct. 20, 2026.
Fayetteville Main Street, History of the Fayetteville Square.
City of Fayetteville, Fayetteville Square (historic tour page).
Lincoln County marker, HMdb 191646.
WAFF 48, Feb. 8, 2026 and Aug. 18, 2026; RocketCityNow (WZDX), Feb. 8, 2026.
Photos: Tennessee Postcard Collection, Tennessee State Library and Archives; Ichabod and Brian Stansberry via Wikimedia Commons (licenses under each photo). See also our photo credits.
Today’s businesses: the Fayetteville directory, Oct. 21, 2026.

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