The Judge James E. Horton Legal Learning Center 

Corner of Grove Street NW and Church Street NW

c. 1846

 The stately colonial nine-room antebellum house was built in 1846 in Athens, Alabama (known as the Maclin-Hobbs-Horton home). Beautiful solid mahogany stair railings lead to the second floor. During the Civil War, the house was headquarters for General Dodge and the Union Army when Federal troops occupied Athens. General James A. Garfield who would become President of the United States, stayed here during the war as well. Later, Judge James E. Horton, Jr., presiding judge with the Scottsboro Boys Trials, lived here. Following Judge Horton’s courageous decision to overturn the second death sentence of Haywood Patterson, and the loss of the election, Horton moved the house to Greenbriar, Alabama, in 1939. On October 8, 2023, the structure was moved to Decatur, Alabama. The House will serve as a part of the Decatur Scottsboro Boys Civil Rights Museum and is currently preservation in progress. It will be open for tours from 2 to 5 pm.