Old Courthouse - St. Louis, Missouri - Courthouses on Waymarking.com

The site of the Old Courthouse was given to St. Louis County in 1816 Auguste Chouteau and Judge John B.C. Lucas to be used forever as a site for a courthouse. The first courthouse on the site was completed in 1828. With the expansion of the area during this time period the courthouse was too small within 10 years and plans for a new courthouse were drawn by architect Henry Singleton in 1839 which incorporated the original courthouse as the east wing of the new building.
In 1851 another period of building at the courthouse occurred and the original courthouse wing was torn down and replaced. Thus the building as it stands today dates from the 1839 construction.
In 1861 the dome was replaced with the current cast iron copper clad dome which weighs 128 tons. The dome's architect was William Rumbold and he modeled the Italian Renaissance styled dome after the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The interior of the dome was decorated with paintings by Carl Wimar depicting various historic events in St. Louis.

With the split between St. Louis County and City in 1876 and St. Louis becoming a home rule city, the courthouse became a municipal court building.

The court building was the site of many civic and legal events over the years the most famous of which was the Dred Scott case which in many ways precipitated the Civil War. Another important case held in the courthouse was the Virginia Minor case in the 1870's which was an early women's suffrage.

Even though courthouse was a county level courthouse the Missouri supreme court often heard cases within the building.

In 1930 the City of St. Louis stopped using the courthouse and it was used for various purposes until 1940 when it was deeded to the Federal Government and it became part of the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial.

The courthouse has been renovated including the murals painted by Wimar along with two of the courtrooms. One courtrooms renovated to look like a 1920's courtroom and the other to resemble a 1870's courtroom.

The building is operated by the National Parks Service and is open from 8:00 to 4:30 with many historical displays.

Year Built: 1839 Current Use of Building: Museum part of the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial Level of Courts: Multiple Architect: Henry Singleton, Robert S. Mitchell, and William Rombold Dates this building was used to house judicial proceedings: 1839-1930 Physical Address: 11 North 4th Street, St. Louis, MO (314) 655-1700 Hours: 8:00 - 4:30 daily Related Website: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/30/2022 bobfrapples8 visited it 06/09/2019 YoSam. visited it 10/05/2018 The Snowdog visited it 07/12/2018 The_Simpsons visited it 09/17/2017 kJfishman visited it 10/16/2015 justT1 visited it 10/15/2015 MC_Dahm visited it 08/23/2014 Yewbacca visited it 06/23/2014 petendot visited it 05/11/2014 veritas vita visited it 12/08/2013 walkingwildly visited it 11/01/2013 wildernessmama visited it 10/19/2013 stlee visited it 06/30/2013 speedycah visited it 06/14/2013 mr.volkswagen visited it 06/30/2012 Team gEco Friendly visited it 04/28/2012 Chasing Blue Sky visited it 09/18/2011 adgorn visited it 08/24/2011 CHI-TOWN ROMEO visited it 08/08/2011 The D Zone visited it 05/20/2011 Queens Blessing visited it 11/27/2010 Capn Sea Bert visited it 05/04/2010 79scouts visited it 03/11/2010 Sneakin Deacon visited it 09/07/2009 macdod visited it

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