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Butler County has had four courthouses, the first being a small two-room frame building sided with matched weatherboarding and located on the southeast corner of the Public Square. Evidently this building was inadequate to the needs of the county as on April 13, 1858, the County Court ordered that Daniel L. Jennings select ten thousand acres of swamp land, sell same on most advantageous terms possible and use the proceeds, "in building of a commodious courthouse on the Square in the Town of Poplar Bluff."
Jennings was appointed commissioner to supervise the building of the
courthouse and was to advertise for construction bids in the St. Louis
Republican" and the "Southeast Democrat" in the City of Cape Girardeau.
Bids were to be received until the second Monday in July next. The
Justices of the Court at this time were John N. Yarber, James W. Morrow
and Nathan W. Hendrickson.
On Thursday, two days later, the Court rescinded the above order and, before the day's session was over, passed another resolution appropriating the same amount of swamp land but stipulating that none of the swamp land be sold for less than one dollar per acre. Instead of one commissioner the Court now appointed three commissioners, Jesse C. Walker, Daniel L. Jennings and James D. Dennis, to furnish plans and superintend the building of the courthouse. In August 1859, Walker resigned as a commissioner and was replaced by John L. Fitts. The commissioners were to advertise for bids "as they may deem fit." In addition to selling the swampland the commissioners also had power to trade land to the contractor as part of his compensation for constructing the building. The minimum price set on the land indicates the Court expected the courthouse to cost about $10,000.00.
The barter plan in swampland was about the only way the Court could pay for the new courthouse. The settlers in Butler County had so little cash income that a bond issue was out of the question. On April 15, 1858, Phillip L. Varner, county treasurer, made his annual report to the Court, showing a year's income in the County Fund of $786.80, and amount totally inadequate to the growing needs of the new Butler County.
Though the "swamp land" of Butler County is a story in itself, it should be told here that in 1850 the United States Congress gave to the states the swamplands within their boundaries. In 1852 the Missouri General Assembly gave the Missouri swamplands to the counties in which they were situated. Briefly, this explains how Butler County had swampland to trade for a new courthouse.
The records are not clear as to the name of the contractor for the new courthouse. Richard L. Metcalfe in "A View of a Growing Town" states that, "In 1859 Col. S. G. Kitchen and D. B. Miller secured the contract to build a brick courthouse and these gentlemen engaged the services of W. M. Ringer, of Stoddard County, who supervised the work, and before the war the walls were finished and the roof on. For this job the contractors received the sum of $10,000.00 in cash and lands together, all of which came out of the Swamp Land Fund of the county." However the County Court records do not mention D. B. Miller in connection with the courthouse, either in a transfer of land or in payment of money for services rendered. Nor is Mr. Miller mentioned later when the Court brought suit because the courthouse had not been completed.
On July 14, 1858, Daniel L. Jennings was appointed commissioner for Butler County by the County Court and ordered to convey 10,027.83 acres of land to Charles T. Arthur and Solomon G. Kitchen. One Thousand acres of these lands were in Township 24 Range 6 East, the remainder in Township 22, Range 6 East. We believe this transfer of land was in payment for building the courthouse. Solomon G. Kitchen was an attorney in Stoddard County, Missouri, and in the Civil War was a Colonel in the Confederate Army. We do not have any information on Arthur Miller. On August 7, 1860, the Court ordered that William Ringer be paid $700.00 out of the County Seat Fund and on August 29, 1860, he was allowed $40.00 out of the Swamp Land Fund. These payments may support Metcalfe's statement that William Ringer supervised the work on the courthouse.
Progress of work on the courthouse was exasperatingly slow, possibly because the contractor found it very difficult to turn the swamplands into money, even at one dollar per acre. On October 15, 1859, the Court ordered the foundation plans of the building changed from a four-foot wall to a three-foot wall. The next mention we find on the progress, or lack of progress, on the building is October 20, 1860. The order made that day indicates the Court was out of patience with the whole matter. We quote the order in full: "Ordered by the Court that the Contractors on their Assignees are hereby notified that the time specified in the Contract between the Commissioners and Said Town of Poplar Bluff in Butler County in the State of Missouri has now Expired and it is further ordered that the Said Contractors be notified that unless the obstructions and other damages be repaired and the rubbish removed from the Public Square in the said Town of Poplar Bluff in the County and State aforesaid Suit will be commenced against them by said Court for to recover damages thereon." This is the last order of the Court concerning the courthouse until after the close of the Civil War. Soon after the opening of the Civil War local government ceased in Butler County, and, of course, work ceased on the courthouse. The Justices of the County Court at the beginning of the war were John N. Yarber, Nathan W. Hendrickson and John S. Varner.
After the close of the war a new County Court, Simmons R. Harviell, Exum C. Scott and John J. Gilliam, reestablished local government and on January 18, 1866, turned its attention to the unfinished courthouse in the following order: "Ordered by the Court that Solomon G. Kitchen be notified to commence work on the Court House in Town of Poplar Bluff, Butler County, Missouri, immediately and continue said work with die diligence and without unnecessary delay until said Court House is completed according to contract and that unless said work be commenced against the next regular term of this court the said contract will be let to some other person."
On July 17, 1866, the Court employed John Emerson to prosecute a suit against Charles T. Arthur and Solomon G. Kitchen: "On their bond for contract for building Court House in Poplar Bluff or to recover the Ten Thousand acres of land conveyed to them by Butler County, for the building thereof, as he may deem best." The Court appointed John N. Yarber to contract with Mr. Emerson in the above matter.
At this point in the story several pages of writing in the Court record are so faded as to be illegible. We cannot determine the date of a new contract, but on October 11, 1866, W. H. Mitchell and Park H. Peters presented their bond for $8500.00 to do certain work on the court house the bondsmen were John W. Emerson, Robert Bryant and J. G. Whitworth. This bond was accepted. On December 17, 1866, the Court ordered the substitution of poplar lumber wherever pine lumber was specified in the contract.
To finance the completion of the building the Court appropriated an "additional" $3,000.00. We assume "additional" to mean in addition to the original allocation of 10,000 acres of swampland. On December 22, 1866, the Court found it still needed $100.00: "for the purpose of finishing the courthouse." Not having this amount of money in the proper funds the Court ordered that one hundred dollars be borrowed from the State School Fund and bond be given for the same. Finally January 24, 1867, the Court ordered the Sheriff to sell the old courthouse for cash and that it be removed from the Public Square within twenty days from date of sale.
By the above order we assume the building was now completed or at least could be occupied. After eight years and nine months of time, after four years of civil war, after the lifetime of three county courts and with a lawsuit still pending for non fulfillment of contract. Butler County had a brick courthouse. A new mark of status had been attained, for just as a carriage was a symbol of status above a wagon, as a frame house was status above a log house, so a brick courthouse was increased status, a mark of pride, for a pioneer county.
This was the courthouse shelled by artillery fire in the Civil War. In it occurred the famous "Poker Game" recorded in Chapter 29 of this series. This courthouse burned December 14, 1886. A picture of the building appears on the frontispiece of "A History of Butler County," by Judge D. B. Deem.
Notes: John W. Emerson was an attorney in Ironton, Missouri, and was once Judge of the Judicial Circuit in which Butler County was located. We do not have information on W. H. Mitchell and Park H. Peters. We may not have the correct spelling for the surname of Charles T. Arthur. In the records it is spelled Author, Arther, etc., as well as Arthur.
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