The Mayberry Courthouse is where Andy Taylor, Barney Fife and Warren Ferguson worked. It contained two cells for prisoners and a small back room with a single sized bed. Barney or Andy would sometimes sleep in the back room while on duty. The mayor's office was upstairs, just above the courthouse but the entry was never revealed. Considering the fact that the block had an extending second floor across the shops, it might be presumed it was all connected as the county offices with an unseen stairway somewhere in the rear of the block..
Structural Inconsistencies[]
Because the courthouse is filmed on separate indoor and outdoor sets, there are many inconsistencies in the layout between the two. Viewers will note that the space between the exterior courthouse and the Barber Shop doesn't allow enough room for a jail cell from the interior set to exist. Further, the window in that cell to the outside indicates an alley where the Barber Shop is meant to be.
While the interior set was based on the existing outdoor structure from the 40 Acres Studio Backlot, the set designers chose to use an open set design with obtuse angles as those used on a theatrical stage, normally allowing all seated audience members to see from any angle (and thus also easier to use multiple studio cameras.) The resulting lack of right angles meant that the indoor set is actually more triangular than square.
During Season 1 it is apparent that the directors were afraid to show the outside wall between the courthouse door and the Barber Shop, always cutting away or hiding it from view, since the window isn't supposed to be there. Later, however, in Season 2 the designers chose to add the second window to better match the outdoor front and avoid confusion.
Similar discrepancies occur with the door to the back room, as well as the non-existent stairs to the upstairs Mayor's Office. It is never shown, and thus left up to the viewer's imagination to fill in the blanks.
Former Sheriffs (as heard in Citizen's Arrest)[]
Sheriff Pinkley (around 1931) | | Fred Paley took over for Pinkley | | Dale Buckley for Paley | | Sheriff Andy Taylor for Dale Buckley
Sheriff Poindexter (1946): (The Case of the Punch in the Nose)