Friday was the kind of historic day Robert Maurice Rawls would have covered had he, a newspaper editor, been alive to see it.

It was the 200th anniversary of the day Athens became the county seat of Limestone County. To mark the day, the family of Rawls — the owner, publisher and first editor of the Alabama Courier — donated his old desk to the Tourism Association. In turn, the Tourism Association gave it to the Houston Memorial Library and Museum on Houston Street in Athens, the former home of Gov. George Smith Houston.

The desk is a tall, dark and handsome secretary covered in mahogany veneers and featuring a bubbled-glass bookcase for storing whatever editors store.

The Alabama Courier was a predecessor of The News Courier, and Rawls was editor there from its establishment in the 1880s until his death in 1936. He is buried in Athens City Cemetery with his second wife, Imogene Haynes Rawls, who served as his successor at The Alabama Courier.

The secretary was made in Limestone County for J.J. Turrentine, co-owner of The Alabama Courier, and it later became the property of Rawls. At one point, the secretary moved with Rawls’ family members to Texas. So, in a way, the donation of the desk back to Athens is a way for the desk to make it’s way back home, said Anita Raby, chairwoman of the Houston Memorial Library’s Board of Directors.

The board members are thrilled to have the piece now that renovations to the old Houston house are well underway. They hope other historic furniture and memorabilia will make their way back home by way of the Houston, Raby said.

With the secretary also came a framed painting of an early edition of The Alabama Courier. Both will be available to the public for viewing at the Houston, which is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.

Teresa Todd, president of the Athens-Limestone County Tourism Association, lauded the donation of the secretary as generous gift from the Rawls’ family and said it was appropriate that the desk be sent to the Houston Memorial Library on the bicentennial of the day Athens became the county seat.