County of courthouse: Franklin County
Location of courthouse: 300 E. Main St., Union
County organized: Dec. 11, 1818
Named after: Benjamin Franklin
When built the jail cells were on the 2nd floor. A hanging room was built next to the cells, with the trap door opening to the first floor. There has never been anyone hung from the "hanging room". As a matter of fact, the hanging room (tho it still exists) has been sealed off, and is not accessible to anyone. The trap door (see photo) is still visible in the ceiling of one of the county clerks offices. She said, " I am so proud to have it there." I think I heard sarcasm.
This courthouse is only enter able if you work there or have a call to be there. The courthouse police officers took me on a tour and allowed my inside photos.
BOMBING THE COURTHOUSE
"Bombing the Franklin County courthouse was actually just a diversionary tactic for the real crime, robbing the United Bank of Union. The robbers made off with $18,000.
"The bomb had knocked out all the electrical equipment in the sheriff's office, including an alarm system from the bank to the sheriff's office.
"The robbers left the bank in a stolen car with Illinois license plates, which was abandoned on West Main Street near Highway 50.
"The robbers, later identified as James and John Pardue, had been living on a small farm west of Union with their father, John "Russell" Pardue, Sr., 53, and grandmother, Daisy Link Pardue, 79. Six months earlier the brothers had robbed the Citizens Bank in Pacific.
"Two days before the Union bank robbery James had gotten into a fight with his father and shot and killed him with a submachine gun. Next he murdered his grandmother with a rifle. The brothers hid the bodies in a small trailer at the farm.
"After the bombing and robbery, the Pardue brothers drove the trailer with the two dead bodies to Maryland where they buried them on property owned by James.
"At that point, Union Police were aware that John Pardue and his mother were missing but, since the trailer and John Pardue's bows and arrows were also missing, they thought perhaps the two had gone hunting.
"The report in The Washington Missourian at that time said the senior Pardue had two sons living back east and, although it appeared that Pardue and his mother left suddenly, there didn't appear to be a connection between their disappearance and the bombing/robbery.
"In December 1969, Sheriff Miller linked the disappearance of their father and grandmother to the Pardue brothers and turned his information and suspicions over to the FBI.
"The Missourian was the first to break that story.
"In February 1970, the brothers committed a crime similar to the one in Union, bombing police headquarters in Danbury, Conn., to cover up the robbery of a Danbury Savings and Loan facility. The two were caught. John was arrested and incarcerated.
"In early April 1979, on the day the prosecution was to wind up its case, John's wife Nancy smuggled a fully loaded sawed-off rifle to him in his jail cell. As he was being led from his cell to the courtroom he pulled the rifle on the marshal. John was shot three times by another marshal who witnessed the event.
"He was transferred from Connecticut to a Springfield, Mo., federal hospital and died six weeks later from the gunshot wounds.
"James was declared insane and unable to stand trial. He was sent to a mental ward but was released in the 1980s. He kidnapped a Kansas City woman and was sentenced to 10 years for that crime. He was paroled in 1991, arrested for parole violation and returned to prison. Three days later he was found dead in his prison cell. He had hanged himself." ~ eMissourian
THE COURTHOUSES
"Franklin County has had four courthouses. Newport (also called Campbellton in 1854 and Dundee in 1857), served as Franklin's county seat from date of organization in 1818 until 1826. Newport was the site of the first courthouse.
"The $1,950 contract for a brick, two-story courthouse in Newport was awarded to James McDonald in December 1819. The court gave McDonald a promissory note, and when the court could not meet the obligation, McDonald sued. The case was carried to the Missouri Supreme Court, where McDonald was awarded $3,432.25 plus costs. As part of the settlement the court awarded him the public square. His heirs later deeded it back to the county.
"Final cost of the courthouse amounted to about $3,700. The court received this building July 13, 1820, and it continued in use as a courthouse until 1827. By Clark Brown's account of the history of the courthouse, it was razed early in the 20th century; the Work Projects Administration report claimed it was standing in the 1930s.
"Because of the inconvenient river site, the legislature acted upon a citizens' petition for removal of the county seat to within three miles of the center of the county. Court was to continue in Newport until the courthouse in the new county seat was completed. The county seat moved from Newport to Union in 1827.
"A log building in Union, built by Ambrose Ranson, was used by the county from June 1827 until November 1828, while construction on the courthouse took place.
"The second courthouse built in Union was on the square; it was a one-story, brick building with one room on the south and three on the north. The court received the courthouse Feb. 5, 1827. No official record of the cost has been found, but an 1877 history indicated $844.79, the figure which has been used since. Tradition claimed it was a log building; Goodspeed's History, 1888, calls it a log courthouse; but Clark Brown's deed evidence for a brick building is convincing.
"By the 1840s the courthouse was in poor condition, and while there was interest in building a new one, there was also agitation to move the county seat to Washington. But the county seat remained at Union; the one-story, brick courthouse was used until 1849.
"The court appropriated $5,000 on Nov. 18, 1847, for a courthouse. Henry H. Wright completed construction in May 1849, then sued the court to receive $50 compensation for the use of his plans and specifications. Wright did similar courthouses for other counties: St. Francois, 1848; Washington, 1849; and Iron, 1858.
"The building measured 45 by 60 feet; the courtroom on the second floor was to have 16-foot ceilings, with a gallery on the south; the stairs, too, were located on the south end of the building. Costs may have finally mounted to $7,720.
"The gallery on the entire south end of the Circuit Court room was later closed and made into two rooms. Serious cracking occurred in 1868. In addition to general repairs authorized at that time, the court ordered the cupola removed and a new roof; a 34-foot addition was made on the south. Costs came to $5,000-$6,000. This addition needed more than $4,000 worth of repairs in 1885. A west wing and vaults were begun in 1891 and completed in February 1892 at a cost of $6,604.75.
"At a public meeting March 9, 1921, citizens agreed that the building was not worth the estimated $30,000 repair; the 1847 courthouse was razed in February 1922.
"Voters authorized construction on the 20th century courthouse in August 1921 in a special election. The court accepted the plans of a St. Louis firm, Bonsack and Pearce, Nov. 16, 1921. Sealed bids for construction were received March 13, 1922, and the court accepted George H. Gassmann's bid of nearly $155,250. Cornerstone ceremonies took place in September 1922.
"The three-story, 90-foot-square building with four similar facades is built of reinforced concrete with Carthage and Bedford facing stone. Total costs amounted to more than $200,000. The court received the building in July 1923, and a dedication was held the following month.
"In 1975 a second courtroom for the second division of Circuit Court was created in a $42,550 remodeling project, financed by federal revenue sharing funds." ~ University of Missouri, Extension