County Seat: Hillsboro

Courthouse Address:

County Courthouse
300 2nd Street
Hillsboro, MO 63050

As early as 1832 the court considered moving to Monticello, a more central location, but this suggestion met defeat at the polls. A persistent effort to relocate caused the court to appropriate $400 in July 1836 for building a 20-by-25 foot, 1-1/2-story, hewn-log courthouse, but because of continued opposition, the project did not materialize.

In November, J. J. Parnell was appointed commissioner and asked to determine whether stone or brick would be best and least expensive for the courthouse. This time the court considered a 30-foot-square building and appropriated $1,000. Still the courthouse seems not to have been built, probably because of continued dissatisfaction with the site.

Hillsboro became permanently established as the county seat in 1838. Samuel Merry and Hugh O'Neil donated the site of 50 acres; the deed is dated April 7, 1838.

The county surveyor laid out the county seat in June 1839. An advertisement for sealed bids, published in the St. Louis Argus Weekly in 1839, described the proposed courthouse as a brick structure, 50 by 33 feet, with stone basement, and two feet above ground. There were to be four rooms on the first floor and a 31-by-37-foot courtroom on the second floor with a 10-foot lobby. Roche and Erisman submitted a bid of $3,800, which the court accepted. Subsequent appropriations raised the cost to over $4,000. This building apparently continued in use until the 1863-65 building replaced it.

Charles H. Pond built the second courthouse, a 40-by-60-foot building, at a cost of $16,500. It was placed on a different location in Hillsboro. Scales of justice recessed in a circle above the entry at the roof line distinguished this simple brick courthouse. The court accepted the completed building on July 5, 1865. County offices were on the first floor, the Circuit Court room on the second.

A fireproof addition east of the courthouse was built in 1892 with a second-story connecting walkway. Joseph Hoeken was contractor and builder of this $5,000 structure.

The court dispelled rumors of building a courthouse in one of the larger areas of Jefferson County in July 1953 when they appointed Howard Donald to get plans and estimates for repairing and modernizing the courthouse. On September 14 the court examined a proposal and preliminary drawings prepared by Bruce Barnes and Associates, architectural engineers from Poplar Bluff. Barnes estimated a cost of $280,000-$300,000 to increase the space by three-fourths.

Originally, the plans called for features reminiscent of the 1865 courthouse: round, arched, multipaned windows and ornate cornice. Wings were to be added on either side of the principal entrances, which featured pilasters (shallow rectangular projections from the wall) designed to suggest a columned temple front. However, alterations changed the final appearance.

The court reached an agreement with Barnes that he would receive no compensation for his plans unless the bond issue passed. If it passed, the architect was to receive 7 percent of the total cost of the building. The issue passed in December 1953.

The court received bids on July 15, 1954, and early in August accepted the bid of $233,700 for general contracting from Plez Lewis. Separate bids for heating, plumbing and electrical work came to about $62,250. Dedication ceremonies took place May 5, 1957; a crowd of 600 attended the ceremonies that included the presentation of a flagpole, flag and keys to the court.

Jefferson County, just south of St. Louis, has grown rapidly. The courthouse's several stages of renovation and expansion continued in 1975-76 when a $950,000 project provided space for a third Circuit Court and law enforcement facilities. Architect was Jack Stefanski of the firm Hastings and Chivetta, Clayton.

Copyright 2002 University of Missouri. Published by University Extension, University of Missouri-Columbia.

Jefferson County was formed on December 8, 1818 with Herculaneum being designated as the first county seat. In 1832 it was proposed that the county seat be moved to a more centralized location. This undertaking took a number of years even though a site was agreed upon. (A tract of land, which was to become Hillsboro, was donated by Samuel Merry and Hugh O'Neill.) Following endless debate, a vote of the people, and an act of the Missouri General Assembly, Hillsboro became the county seat on February 8, 1839.

The name Monticello, in honor of Thomas Jefferson's home, was originally selected but another community in northeast Missouri had already taken this name. Therefore, Hillsboro, a liberal English translation of Monticello, became the name of our town.

In 1840, Hillsboro's first courthouse was built at Second and Oak Streets. Then in 1865, a new site was purchased and a new courthouse was erected. With remodeling and numerous additions, this courthouse has continued in constant use at this same site to the present day.

Recorder of Deeds: Index to deeds, 1819-1904; Deed records, 1819-1908; Index to warranty deeds, 1881-1885; Index to chattel mortgages, 1866-1904; Index to deeds of trust, 1866-1904; Deeds of trust, 1867-1887; Index to marriage records, 1825-1849; Marriage records, 1826-1915; Register of marriage license, 1881 -1885. Marriage commissions,1826-1838; Negro/colored marriages, 1849-1871.

Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and Chancery Court: Chancery records, 1826-1851.

Clerk of the County Court: Permanent record of births, 1890-1892; Register of births and stillbirths, 1883-1892; Permanent record of deaths, 1883-1892.

Clerk of the Circuit Court: Index to circuit court records, 1831-1886; Circuit court records, 1819-1895.

Clerk of the Probate Court: Probate records, 1822-1 885; Administrator’s/executor’s letters, bonds and records, 1858-1910; Guardian’s/curator’s records, 1873-1895; Will records, 1872-1921.