Old Courthouse - St. Louis, Missouri - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings 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.

Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link] NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): [Web Link] Address: 11 North Fourth St St. Louis, Missouri How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Other (Please explain in the Private Message field) Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link]

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