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Chapter 13: More on the First Courthouse |
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The total cost of the frame Courthouse is unknown to us. The only information available is the original appropriation of two hundred dollars plus a later appropriation of fifty-four and one half dollar when it was decided to weatherboard the building and to finish the interior with matched and dressed lumber, a total of $254.50. The Court minutes do not contain a record of the expenditures.
Since there was not a bank in the community, all money had to be carried "in hand" or "in pocket." Apparently the money appropriated for a specific purpose was given into the "hands" of the person appoined by the Court to supervise the project. Bills were paid directly in cash. Any money left over after the completion of the project was returned to the County Treasurer, who reported it as money charged to him. Probably the supervisor of the project made a verbal or written report of expenditures to the Court, but such reports were not entered in the minutes. After all, life and conditions were simple and uncomplicated. Everyone concerned know what was going on so why enter into the records information which already was known. When a scribe was writing with a quill, he was inclined to be sparing of words.
The name of the contractor who built the building is not in the minutes, so we cannot give him credit for his part in the history of our County. Neither is there any record that the building ever was painted.
The furnishings of the new Courthouse were few and simple. The Court appointed Jesse A. Gilley "to procure for the county twelve chairs and a table twelve feet long and a desk, to have at least twelve pigeon holes in it, and the said Jesse A. Gilley is to be paid for the above articles out of the County treasury of Butler County. Phillip L. Varner was appointed to supervise the construction of a judge's bench and bar and tables in the Courthouse. The cost of the furniture secured by Mr. Gilley and Mr. Varner is not recorded. The Court appropriated forty dollars and appointed Daniel L. Jennings, a young attorney who had recently come to Poplar Bluff, to supervise this purchase. (The purchase of two stoves is another indication that the Courthouse had two rooms). Finally on December 4, 1855, the Court ordered Mr. H.H. Bedford, an attorney of Bloomfield, Missouri, to contract for the making of a "Book case suitable for preserving the books and records belonging to this County." The cost of this book case cannot be identified in the Court records.
The frame Courthouse remained on the Public Square until 1867. By that date the second Courthouse, a brick structure, had been completed. On January 24, 1867, the Court made the following order, Sheriff sell for cash the old Court House, February 1, 1867, advertise same by 5 written hand bills, cash in hand, house to be removed from Public Square in 20 days from date of sale." On May 6, 1867, the Sheriff, James F. Tubb, reported receipt of $56.00 for sale of old Court House for which he was allowed a fee of three dollars. Apparently Benjamin R. Moore was the purchaser; for on May 8, 1867, the Court, in considerable annoyance because the building had not been removed, ordered as follows, "Benjamin R. Moore, failing to move old Court House ordered to do so within 30 days, and if not Sheriff to remove same at Moore's expense."
Richard L. Metcalfe, in "A View of a Growing town" states that the old Court House was torn down and the lumber used in building a frame residence on the corner of Sixth and Vine streets, owned in 1884 by Mrs. E.C. Biggers. The deed records of Butler county show that Benjamin R. Moore purchased Lot 97, Original Town of Poplar Bluff, located on the southeast corner of Sixth and Vine Streets. Later Mrs. Biggers purchased the west one-half of the above lot. We conclude that Mr. Moore used the old Courthouse in the construction of a residence building on the Southeast corner of Sixth and Vine streets, the present location of the Piggly Wiggly Store.
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