Daviess County Courthouse

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The Daviess County Courthouse

As settlement in the area grew, the people began to talk about declaring the area an official county. At this point, the population was largely scattered around the area in small settlements. This meant that there "did not seem to be much strife in the location of the county seat, although something of a town had been made at both Cravensville and Millport." (241) As such, Gallatin was declared the county seat in 1837. Note that Cravensville does not exist anymore, and Millport has a minimal population today. It is likely that most of the residents of these growing towns moved to Gallatin when it became the county seat, as there would have been more work there from then on.

The first elections in Daviess County took place in 1838 as numerous local townships made requests for their own judges. Over the course of the spring and early summer, several townships voted in about ten of them. Philip Covington, the same man who chose the county seat, was appointed to draft up plans for a courthouse and jail, which were proving more and more necessary as time went by. He raised $6000 for the courthouse and $400 for the jail, which in total is equivalent to more than $200,000 in today's money. The small yet expensive finished product was completed by 1843.

Today's Courthouse

It is not known what became of the first courthouse, but by 1858, it was gone, with an even smaller new one built in its place. The new building, which was close to the site of the modern courthouse, had only two rooms. There were no vaults, and county employees had to keep important documents in their desks. Understandably, this was "a source of public complaint," and plans were made to modernize with a new court building.

The impressive new building was built between 1906 and 1908 after being designed by P.H. Weathers, a famed Kentucky architect. He based his design on the popular Second Renaissance Revival tradition. This style, which was very popular from 1890 to 1920, borrowed from Renaissance architecture found in places like Florence and Rome, which in turn took aspects from classical Greek styles. The building features arched facades and entryways with Greek-inspired columns. It is topped by a wooden clock tower, supported by Doric columns, on the center of the roof.

Gallatin, Missouri, The Joseph Smith Papers. Accessed October 21st, 2022. https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/place/gallatin-missouri.

Home, Daviess County Historical Society. Accessed October 21st, 2022. https://daviesscountyhistoricalsociety.com/.

LeSuer, Stephen C. The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. University of Missouri, 1987.

Durham Jr., Reed C. The Election Day Battle at Gallatin, BYU Studies. Accessed October 21st, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220721132617/https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-election-day-battle-at-gallatin/.

Carneal, Thomas W. Daviess County Courthouse - National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form, Missouri State Parks. May 30th, 1980. Accessed October 22nd, 2022. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Daviess%20Co.%20Courthouse.pdf.