Old Courthouse (St. Louis)

The Old St. Louis County Courthouse was built as a combination federal and state

It was designed by the firm of Laveille & Morton, which also designed the early buildings at

In 1851, Robert S. Mitchell began a redesign of the courthouse in which the east wing was torn down and replaced. From 1855 to 1858, the west wing was remodeled. The famous Dred Scott citizenship case was heard in the west wing before the remodeling.

In 1861, William Rumbold replaced the cupola with an Italian Renaissance cast iron dome modeled on St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. The United States Capitol dome, built at the same time during the American Civil War, is also modeled on the basilica. The St. Louis dome was completed in 1864, and Karl Ferdinand Wimar was commissioned to paint murals, which are featured in the rotunda.^[6]

The last slave auction held at the Old Courthouse took place in 1861. Slave auctions were held in the Probate Courts of the Old Courthouse near the East Door. The Court ordered sales of slaves whose owners had died without a will or had declared bankruptcy. This was common practice in all Missouri courthouses.^[7][8]

Rumbold's dome in the courthouse is wrought and

Louis Brandeis was admitted to the bar in the Old Courthouse, in 1878.^[9]

When

• In 1846 the slave Dred Scott sued for his and his wife's freedom as they had been held as slaves in free states. All of the trials, including a Missouri Supreme Court hearing, were held in the Old Courthouse. The case was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford, which ruled against the Scotts, saying they did not have grounds as citizens to sue.
• In 1872
  United States Supreme Court in Minor v. Happersett
  (1875) upheld the male-only voting rules, as the Constitution did not address voting rules, which were set by the states.

• In Season 3 of the TV series
  United States government
  in the post-plague days of the Red Flu.
• The courthouse is destroyed in the disaster films Supernova and The Black Hole.
• The Old Courthouse is featured on many of Saint Louis's architectural tours.^[11][12]

Gallery

• 
  The old courthouse of St. Louis, as seen from the entrance to the Gateway Arch.
• 
• 
  Seen from the top of the Gateway Arch
• 
• 
• 
  park entrance sign

See also

• List of the oldest buildings in the United States
• Architecture of St. Louis

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. ^ No headline, ‘’St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat,’’ October 7, 1885, image 14
3. ^ The NPS site says the donation was from "Auguste Chouteau." Several members of the Chouteau clan have that name. It could also mean Auguste Pierre Chouteau.
4. ^ "Old Courthouse Architecture". nps.gov.
5. ^ Laveille and Morton - stlcin.missouri.org - Retrieved January 21, 2008
6. ^ ^{a b} "Old Courthouse", National Park Service
7. ^ "Slave Sales". National Park Service. National Park Service: Department of the Interior. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
8. ^ Thorsen, Leah (January 16, 2011). "Old Courthouse 'slave auction' serves as wrenching reminder". St. Louis Post- Dispatch. St. Louis Post- Dispatch. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
9. ^ Jefferson National Expansion Memorial application for National Register of Historic Places - dnr.mo.gov
10. ^ Lee Enterprises. "A Look Back • Ralph Clayton gave land for county seat". stltoday.com.
11. ^ "St. Louis Architectural Scavenger Hunt". letsroam.com. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
12. ^ "STL Cultural Tour=2020-01-14". discover-stlouis.com/.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Old St. Louis County Courthouse.

• NPS Old Court House
• The Old Courthouse in St. Louis: Yesterday and Today, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan