Montgomery County Courthouses

In December of 1818, The Territorial Legislature of Missouri held a session at St. Louis. The following counties were organized from this session: Jefferson, Franklin, Wayne, Lincoln, Madison, Pike, Pulaski, Cooper and Montgomery. Montgomery County was official formed on December 14, 1818 and included parts of Warren, Audrain and Callaway Counties.

With the formation of the County of Montgomery came the need for a central point for the county government. The following will chronicle the first, second and third county seats of Montgomery County Missouri.

PICKNEY

The first county seat of Montgomery County was located in a town named Pickney; it was located on the Missouri River within the present day boundaries of Warren County. The town was named after for Miss Attossa Pickney Sharp, daughter of Major Benjamin Sharp.

The land on which the town was built, originally was granted to a Mr. John Meek, by the Spanish government, but he failed to comply with the terms and it reverted back to the United States Government due to the Louisiana Purchase. It was then sold at land sales in 1818 to a Mr. Alexander McKinney, who sold 50 acres of it to the county commissioners for $500.00. The commissioners were David Bryan, Andrew Fourt and Moses Summers.

The first public building erected was the jail in 1820, at the cost of $2500. During the summer of that same year, Nathaniel Hart and George Edmondson built a 25X30 frame house, the first in the county. They rented it to the county for a courthouse at $100 a year. The same year Frederick Griswald built a log building and opened the first store in Pickney, followed by a Mill that same year.

The following is a description of Pickney as printed in "Beck's Gazetteer of Missouri" (An early Missouri Publication) in 1823:

"Pickney, a post town, and the seat of justice of Montgomery County, on the north bank of the Missouri river, about two and a half miles above where the line dividing ranges 2 and 3, west of the fifth principal meridian, strikes the said river. The site is low, and in some seasons of the year it is difficult to reach, because of the number of sloughs and ponds by which it is surrounded. It contains eight or nine houses and cabins. The County Seat will probably be removed to a more central and eligible situation. This town is in latitude 38 degrees, 35' north; eight miles above Newport, and about 55 miles southwest of St. Charles. It is surrounded by a fertile district of country, watered by Lost and Charrette creeks."

The first judges of the county court were Isaac Clark, Moses Summers and John Wyatt. At the first meeting of the court, Isaac Clark resigned and Major Benjamin Sharp was appointed to fill the vacancy. Soon afterward he also resigned and Hugh McDermid filled the vacancy and served the rest of the time the county seat was located at Pickney. Irvine S. Pitman was the first Sheriff of Montgomery County. John C. Long was appointed county and circuit clerk by governor McNair after the admission of the territory into the Union. He sold the offices to Jacob L. Sharp before assuming his duties and Mr. Sharp became the first incumbent of both offices, which he held by election for many years. Robert W. Wells was the first Prosecuting Attorney and Alexander McKinney was the first county surveyor.

At present day, there is no trace of this town and the area where it was situated is part of the Missouri River.

LEWISTON

In 1826 or 1827(What I have found so far can not confirm which date is correct) the county seat of Montgomery county was removed from Pickney, to Lewiston a new site more central to the county at that time.

The new county seat was laid out on the Boone's Lick road, between current day New Florence and High Hill. The exact location is open for debate and may be lost to history, the above is more accepted in my research.

Lewiston was named in honor of Merriweather Lewis of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition and the second Governor of the territory of Louisiana.

The land on which the town was built had been in the possession of Amos Kibbe since 1818. He donated a tract of land to the county enough to build the public buildings needed at the time.

The first terms of the County Court, at Lewiston, were held in the house of Mr. Kibbe, until the courthouse and jail could be erected. The court house and jail were built of logs, the court house was floored with puncheons and the roof was of clap-boards held on by weight poles, it was only 16 feet square in size. It is written that Mr. Kibbe used the courthouse as a sheep stable between court sessions.

The jail was the same size as the courthouse, two of the four walls had hewn timber stood on end; it was built by Charles Allen. The materials for the court house and jail were furnished by different people throughout the county who were paid off in county warrants, some were said to not have had to pay their county taxes for up to 10 years.

Mr. Kibbe laid off and sold lots in Lewiston and a small town soon came into existence. George Bast and William Knox opened the first store and sold primarily skins and furs. They flourished for awhile until one day when they went to St. Louis to purchase goods for the store and on they're way back, their wagon, team and supplies all sank with a ferry at St. Charles. This ruined them and soon after went out of business.

Lewiston continued as the county seat until1834 when it was moved to Danville. The main blow was the formation of Warren County, which took a good portion of the eastern side of Montgomery county, no longer making Lewiston a central location. Lewiston was never a place of any considerable size or importance. I disappeared totally not many years after the county seat was removed.

DANVILLE

In 1833, the eastern portion of Montgomery County was used to form the new county of Warren. This no longer made the current county seat at Lewiston central to the county, so it was decided a new county seat was needed. After much debate a site on the Boones Lick road was chosen. In 1834, the site for the new county seat was donated by Conrad Carpenter, who owned the eastern part of what would become Danville and Henry Devault who owned the western portion. Judge Olly Williams, who first settled the Conrad carpenter property and opened a Tavern on the site, laid off the new town. Colonel Charles P. Harper suggested the new town be named Danville, after Danville Virginia, the town in which he had come from.

Conrad Carpenter built one of the first houses in the new town; it was built of brick and sat on the eastern border of town. Dr. William Newland soon followed with a house on the western border of town. Charles Drury opened the first store in town, which he had removed from Loutre Lick (present-day Mineola), in a log house on the eastern border of town. His daughter Susan was the first child born in the town of Danville.

The new town grew rapidly and soon became a place of much notoriety and considerable importance. Around the Town Square, were blocks of respectable size businesses and many elegant homes were situated on the back streets. In 1836 the construction on the yet unfinished courthouse was far enough along for the county officials to occupy the structure, the interior would never be completed. As soon as the courthouse was occupied, construction on the jail began by two men by the name of McClinitic. It was a two-story log structure and it served the county for many years.

The first courthouse at Danville served the county until 1864, when it was condemned. It was torn down and DR Knox bought the brick and built a residence with them in town. During this time the county records and court was convened in the second story of the Watkins and Drury store, the other offices were located in various buildings throughout the town. On October 14^th, 1864, "Bloody" Bill Anderson raid the town and burned the building containing the records and most of town. (See my civil war section for more detail on this raid) Soon after the raid, the fall terms of court were held in the front room of the Nunnelly house, west of the courthouse on Main Street. The clerk's offices were held in the Tom Johnson house. Later the county court was held in the second story of the old log jail. After this the permanent quarters for the courts were held in the brick church located west of the courthouse facing Locust street, (present day hwy. 161) they were held there until the new courthouse was built.

In 1865, an architect by the name of Gustave Bachmann prepared plans for the new courthouse. On October 12, 1865, the court awarded the contract to build the new courthouse to James Getty, of St. Louis, for the cost of $27,700. The building was complete by August of 1867 and it was the pride of the town. (See picture gallery for a picture of this structure)

A sign of things to come became apparent in 1866 when the first attempt was made to remove the county seat to Montgomery City, the proposition lost by only 60 votes. Montgomery City had been founded in 1854 due to the North Missouri Railroad and began to prosper when the railroad reached the town in 1857. Danville had tried to get the railroad through there town but lost out on the fight, thus leaving Danville cut off and giving nearby Montgomery City and New Florence a distinct advantage. The railroad to these two towns was much of what the Boones Lick Road had done for Danville's prosperity in the early days. This marked a decline in Danville, one which they would never recover. Many of the time underestimated the old town and it would take many years to take the county seat prize from Danville.

In 1870, a second attempt was made to remove the county seat from Danville to New Florence, 5 miles to the east. The proposition lost by a large majority at the polls.

In 1876, a third attempt was made to remove the county seat to Montgomery City again. The proposition lost by several hundred votes. After this attempt, several events and underhanded political moves occurred which would seal Danville's fate in the future but not without a fight.

In the election of 1888 W.A. Hogsett, a republican of Gamma ran for legislator on the issue of county seat removal. W.A. Carter a Democrat took up the fight against removal. Montgomery City normally being a democratic town cast all but 30 votes for the republican and W.A. Hogsett was elected.

A bill was presented to the general assembly in 1889 by Senator H.W. Johnson of Jonesburg. The bill was to allow Montgomery county to hold the circuit, probate and county courts at Montgomery city in the newly erected courthouse built by citizens of the town. The bill was opposed by Champ Clark a member of the legislator from Pike county. While Hogsett was the moving spirit behind the bill he was not an experienced debater and Thomas Dunn a representative from Lincoln county was chosen to go against the from Pike on behalf of Montgomery city. The bill did not purpose the abolishment of Danville as the county seat, just the removal of the courts. That of course meant the most important affairs of the county would be done in Montgomery City. The bill passed and from then on, the courts were held at the Montgomery City courthouse.

Here a curious situation developed. Danville was still the county seat. The establishment of courts at Montgomery City made it non-the less mandatory that courts be held at the county seat. So every term it was the practice for the judge, clerk and sheriff to drive over to Danville and open court. They would open court and the judge would ask if there were anything for trial, finding nothing they would adjourn. Following adjournment, they would go to the tavern for dinner, then return to Montgomery City.

In 1894, a strong fight was made to remove the county seat to Montgomery City again. In casting up the vote, for some reason the Wellsville vote was thrown out because they did not arrive on time and the county court declared the proposition to remove carried. The records were hauled to Montgomery City with a large celebration. This would be short lived, Danville's lawyer John M. Barker, took the case to the Missouri Supreme Court. The court said the county had no right to throw out Wellsville's vote and ordered it counted. This gave Danville its victory once again. They ordered the records hauled back to Danville, where they were met with a celebration.

On April 12, 1901the courthouse was burned by an arson. (See picture of this in my picture gallery) All county records except the consolidated real estate tax book were lost in the fire. For the second time in less than 40 years, the county records were burned at Danville. The county officer, still at Danville, had temporary offices set up in each of their homes at Danville until new offices could be built or Montgomery City won the county seat prize.

A small courthouse was built on this site soon afterward which housed the deputy county clerk and treasurer, which were required by law to remain in the countyseat. The last courthouse of Danville still stands on this site today.

Some ten years after the burning of the courthouse, Montgomery City once again tried to remove the countyseat. This time Montgomery City carried two thirds of the vote, but not the two third majority required by law. This was once again decides by the Supreme Court of Missouri

Finding the two-thirds majority law an almost insurmountable barrier, a Senator from Jonesburg a friend of Montgomery City presented a bill requiring on a simple two-thirds majority of those voting on the proposition. This bill passed and amended the previous law giving Montgomery City an advantage that would prove too much for Danville.

The elections of November of 1824 brought the countyseat fight to its last battle. The proposition had been brought to a vote one last time. When the votes were counted Montgomery had won by 3192 votes for removal and 1022 against. It became official in January of 1825 and all records and the remaining offices at Danville were removed to the new county seat at Montgomery City.

Danville had put up nearly a 60-year battle to retain the county seat and served Montgomery County well through its 91 years as the countyseat. Unlike the previous countyseats of Pickney and Lewiston, Danville still remains, 166 years after its founding waiting for a new generation to discover what the early residents seen in this wonderful old town.

Currently, like the Boones Lick Road did for Danville, Interstate I-70 runs right through the T.J. Powell Addition of town. The possibilities could favor this town in the future and perhaps recapture part of its glorious past.