Anyone who routinely travels past the Lowndes County Courthouse in downtown Columbus knows instantly when it is the opening day of the circuit court session. Hundreds of people gather at the courthouse, with dozens spilling out onto the grounds.

The same scene has been playing out at the courthouse for decades. Expanding the courthouse to add a third courtroom has been on the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors’ wish list at least as far back as 2007, likely even longer. Former county administrator Ralph Billingsley said when he arrived on the job that year, he had seen architectural drawings of an expanded courthouse.

Prominent in those drawings was a courthouse complex that included purchasing Franklin Academy, expanding the current courthouse and moving all county offices to Franklin, a complex covering two blocks.

That means long before the Columbus Municipal School District voted in January to close the historic school, a possible way to make use of the facility had been floating for close to two decades.

Franklin Academy, the first free public school in Mississippi, closed in May after 204 years as a city school. The closure was part of the school district’s consolidation plan, which also includes closing Fairview Elementary School.

Communities everywhere struggle to sell or repurpose old school buildings. CMSD did manage to sell the old Lee Middle School in 2018. Nearly a decade prior to that, Genesis Church purchased Hughes Elementary.

Given its proximity to the courthouse, Franklin seems to be a natural solution to the county’s overburdened judicial system.

Currently, there are four courtrooms in the courthouse, two on each floor. Those courtrooms are used by three circuit court judges as well as the three chancery court judges. Unlike chancery court, which convenes throughout the year, circuit court is conducted during three three-week sessions and one four-week session. That means, with just two courtrooms at its disposal, only two of the three circuit court judges work any one session, leading to a substantial backlog of cases that benefits neither the families of victims, who must wait for justice to be served, or defendants, whose right to a speedy trial is compromised.

One idea that seems logical is to move the offices of the circuit clerk and/or chancery clerk from their current location in the courthouse to Franklin Academy, which would create space for the desperately needed third courtroom. That would allow all three circuit court judges to be in session, a move that would greatly reduce the backlog of cases that have been going on as long as anyone can remember.

Franklin is so large that it will almost certainly be redeveloped as a mixed-use building, potentially including apartments, retail and office. Having the county lease or purchase part of the Franklin property could give the redevelopment an injection of life, potentially making the property more desirable to private development.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.