The United States District Court of Tennessee was established in 1797, one year after Tennessee became a state. Initially,one federal judge, John McNairy, served the entire state. The state was later subdivided into two, and then later three federal judicial districts served by additional judges; eventually these districts were carved into divisions. The Northeastern Division of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee was established in 1900. In a political trade-off with Johnson City, Tennessee, which obtained the veterans' home, Greeneville was chosen as the site for the federal courthouse. The original courthouse and post office building, erected on the southwest corner of Main and Summer Streets, was completed in 1904. Despite the existence of this handsome facility, no federal judge presided in Greeneville on a full-time basis until the appointment of Charles G. Neese in 1961. Judge Neese was succeeded by Greeneville native Thomas Gray Hull in 1983. It was Judge Hull who had the foresight to recognize that the courthouse that had served the division so well in the 20th Century would not be adequate to meet the expanding needs of the federal court in the 21st Century. With the invaluable assistance of his friends First District Congressmen James H. Quillen and William L. Jenkins and Senators Fred Thompson
and Bill Frist, Judge Hall maneuvered for years to obtain the funding for, and achieve the construction of, Greeneville's second federal courthouse - the building before which you stand today.
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