1854 Courthouse
Sketched in 1871 by A. R. Waud of Harper's Weekly, this drawings is the only known full sketch of the 1854 Courthouse. Built at a cost of $2,750 under the supervision of T. J. 0. Morrison, the wooden frame building was 45 by 60 feet (2,700 sq.ft.) and had a central courtroom, an array of offices on either end, a front porch and a side entrance on the north side. Due to the encroachment of the Mississippi River on the town, the building was moved twice from its original location on Jefferson (now Main) Street. In 1875 it was moved to its final location at Powell and Riley Streets. During the siege of New Madrid in March 1862 the Confederates built an artillery observation platform on the roof. Most of the records were taken to their private homes by the county officials before the military occupation and were returned when order was restored. A Union soldier repotted the building to 'have been ransacked. Concrete vaults were added to the building in the 1880s which was fortuitous, for the building burned to the ground on Sunday, September 24, 1905. Few permanent records were lost, and the origin of the fire was never determined During the period the courthouse was in use the population of the county doubled, being 5,541 in 1850 and 11,280 in 1900.
Architecture
The interior stained glass rotunda is the central interior architectural feature of the building. Located in the ceiling of the second floor, it can be viewed from the first floor through the central railed-portal between the two floors. Its design with a skylight eliminated a costly exterior dome typical of 1800s Missouri courthouses. The stained glass features interlocking vines with red roses and stylized stems and leaves that are framed and accented by tortoiseshelled-colored glass. The east portico is flanked by two classic Ionic columns, each with a diameter of nearly three feet and rise 25.79 feet. Classic in every detail save one: on each you will find eight strings of three opened cotton bolls hanging from the scrolling volutes at the top of the column. These strands of bolls are the only "local" architectural detail added to the otherwise very classical design of the building Cotton is still grown in New Madrid County.
New Madrid County Courthouse
Construction of the courthouse commenced in 1915 after years of elections and litigation over its location and financing bonds. A new courthouse was first proposed to the county's residents in 1898 because the needs of county government far exceeded the small 1854 courthouse. Voters twice rejected the proposal before the old courthouse burned in 1905. An election in 1912 settled the issue on where a new courthouse would be built, and in 1914 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in favor of the county in a suit challenging the issuance of $50,000 of voter approved bonds to finance construction. The building was designed by H. G. Clymer of St. Louis. It is 107 by 75 feet with each floor containing 8,025 sq.ft. Final construction costs, which included the construction of a new county jail at the location of the burned 1854 courthouse, exceeded $100,000. Citizens donated $20,000 and additional $40,000 was authorized by voters in 1917. Construction was moving along when the cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1916, but problems and delays occurred with the original contractor and a shortage of labor caused by the entrance of the United States into World War I in 1917. After the second bond issue in 1917 a new contractor could not be secured by bid to finish the building until W W Taylor of Cape Girardeau agreed to superintend its completion. All county government offices occupied the first and second floors in 1919. The new building included five concrete vaults with double-steel doors and was heated with a coal-fired steam radiator system. During the ensuing years the offices of the Sheriff, the Health Department, and Road and Bridges moved from the building Today (2015) the basement and first two floors are fully occupied with the attic used for records and archives storage. By 1920, the population of New Madrid County topped 25,000, five times its population in 1850. The county reached its peak population in 1940 at 39,787. The 2010 population was 18,956.
1919 Dedication Ceremony
Although some work remained on the building, in January 1919 a dedication ceremony was held and all of the county offices, which had been scattered in various buildings on Main Street since the 1905 fire, moved in. The County Court first met in the new building on Monday, January 5.
1821 Seal
Adopted by the County Court after statehood was granted in 1821, the New Madrid County Seal features the American Eagle as it was depicted at the time with 24 stars including the State of Missouri which became the 24th State of the Union on August 10, 1821.