From the NationaL Register Application:
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The Cass County Courthouse is a three-story, Italian Renaissance style with Italian Villa elements, buff brick county courthouse. The building rests on a cut stone foundation and has a hipped roof. The first story is rusticated in appearance. The main entrance has modern aluminium doors and is located on the south facade. The entrance is covered by a flat roof portico with a box cornice and a frieze with the words "A Public Office is A Public Trust" supported by six Ionic columns.
From the plaque on the Courthouse:
Courthouse finished on Nov. 1 1897 W. C. Root Arct. Thos. Wilson Con't Downing Miller Ag't WB Harrison Sup't
From the Cass County Courthouse History website:
"She's a Grand Old Lady by Lenore Hutchison"
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She's one of many faces. She has been a log cabin; she has been built of brick that was burned in a kiln locally and she stands, as she is today, after several face lifts since 1897. The log courthouse was built in 1837 when the county was called Van Buren County.
She was a dream in the hearts of early pioneers. Cass County became "official in 1835 and in 1837 Fleming Harris was appointed Town Commissioner. In May of the same year the court received bids for the first building. It was composed of 1 room, 18 foot square and the other room 14 x 18 foot with …a good plank floor in each room well laid so that it will not rock nor shake nor rattle. A good chimney in each end put in and the fireplace well and complete fixed with stone or brick so as to secure the safety of fire." She was becoming a reality. She was completed in the early part of November 1837 and was located at 200 West Wall.
Harrisonville was growing and the Court wanted a permanent courthouse so in 1843 a plan " not to exceed $3000" was submitted and approved. To be finished by early fall of 1844, it was a 2 story brick building with the brick fired in a kiln on the public square by "brickmaster" Henry Baker. She was now the center and the heartbeat of the county.
Early in 1860 the courthouse was deemed unsafe and inadequate so the County Court appropriated $15000 to build a new one. But the Lady was required to wait for a while. Petitions of serious objections were filed with the Court from a worried public, concerning the expenditures of such a large sum when the entire country was in such a depressed condition. Circumstances were leading to a war and although new bricks were waiting to be laid, they were instead sold at public auction. The money was then used to repair the old courthouse. This substantial old building was then used for almost 40 more years.
She was a patient and gallant Lady. The present structure was built in 1897. She is a 3 story, yellow brick structure 93 feet long and 78 feet wide. She sits majestically in the center of-the town square. She has even outgrown her walls and spills over into other annexes in order to house all the offices necessary to keep a county running.
She has known her moments of sorrow and joy. She suffered the indignity of having horses stabled within her walls during the tragic Civil War. She wept tears of sadness when blood was shed within her shadows and men and women stood upon her sides in hatred. When autos were new to the community, the Lady must have smiled as the drivers of horse-drawn buggies and wagons and the automobile operators fought over the parking spaces. (Peace reigned when the horses settled for the East and West sides and those new-fangled cars won the North and South sides of the Lady).
Retaining walls were added to her "skirts" and trees have been her planted sentries. A statue guards her southwest corner and honors her boys and girls who defend her ground. She flies Old Glory with a proud patriotism. It was a hard-won battle for her. But she takes it all with quiet dignity and demands the respect that is due her. She's a grand OLE Lady.