Supreme Court Building           Date:  2007

Supreme Court of Missouri

The 100th year anniversary of the Supreme Court Building ornament, 1907-2007, is this year’s Cole County Historical Society design.  The 1905 General Assembly appropriated $400,000 from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition’s (St. Louis World’s Fair) unused funds to build the present Supreme Court building completed and operational in 1907.  Architectural design contest awarded $10,000 to architects Guy Mariner and Louis La Beaume.  Today’s building cost would be approximately $20,000,000.

The three-story, red brick building is of Revivalist French Renaissance architecture.  With the exception of the West Virginia slate roof, all materials are from Missouri.  White stone trim and pillars at each wing of the front façade and a massive marble staircase with ornamental ironwork and a brass handrail dominate the entrance.

The building contains two courtrooms furnished predominantly with the original walnut furniture and displays more than 80 portraits of former members of the Court including John D. Cook an original member of the 1821 Court from Cape Girardeau.  The offices of the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Attorney General as well as the judge’s offices are housed within the building.

The court’s library is two stories in height, extends the entire length of the building, and contains more than 110,000 volumes.  Historical documents are on display, including the original briefs of the famous Dred Scott Decision.

From 1682 until 1803 the French and Spanish controlled the Louisiana Territory legal system.  Army officers with broad authority to settle legal disputes were appointed over the vast territory.  Systems of appellate courts extending back to their mother countries were established.

The 1820 Missouri Constitution directed the General Assembly to divide the state into four judicial districts and formed the Supreme Court.  In the years when transportation was slow and difficult, three court members would “ride the circuit” to bring court to the districts located North East to South East along the Mississippi River.  Court sessions sat in Hannibal, St. Louis, St. Charles, and Cape Girardeau river towns.

From the original number of three members in 1820, the size of the Court increased to five in 1872 and to its present size of seven in 1890. 

Tours of the Supreme Court building are available to the public.

The Missouri Constitution of 1875 required the Supreme Court to hold all its sessions in the state capital of the City of Jefferson.  The Court building was constructed in 1877 at a cost of $17,000 and located east of the Capitol Building where the Missouri Department of Transportation building is today.

Today’s Supreme Court building is built on an eminence one-half block south of the state capitol grounds.  The site has major historical importance to the City of Jefferson.  Built in 1842, General Thomas Lawson Price, one of Missouri’s founding citizens, ante-bellum home.  Memorabilia furniture and photographs of the ‘Price Mansion’ may be seen at the Society.

Thomas Lawson Price was born in Virginia in 1809. In 1831, he came west, first to St. Louis and then to the City of Jefferson.  He invested in St. Louis real estate and farmlands; in 1938 he established the first stage line between City of Jefferson and St. Louis; he was elected as the first mayor of the City of Jefferson in 1839; in 1847, he was commissioned Brevet Major General of the Missouri Militia by Governor Edwards; he served as Lieutenant-Governor from 1849-1853; he was elected State Representative from Cole County; at the outbreak of the Civil war, he resigned his seat to accept the commission of Brigadier General by President Lincoln; 1862-1863 elected  to Congress; and upon his return home he was active in building railroads and was a promoter of the Pacific Railroad.  General Price died in 1870.