Old Courthouse
Historic site · St. Louis, Missouri
A courthouse within Gateway Arch National Park, its west-facing entrance on Fourth Street; no separate street-number address could be confirmed for it. The National Park Service maintains four history galleries at the site and has restored two courtrooms — Circuit Court #13 to its 1910 appearance and Circuit Court #4 to approximate 1850s detail. The building hosted the proceedings of Dred Scott v. Sandford; the United States Supreme Court ruled against Dred and Harriet Scott in 1857.
History
Construction began in 1816 and the initial Federal-style building was completed in 1828 by the firm Laveille & Morton. Henry Singleton designed a Greek Revival addition in 1839, Robert S. Mitchell redesigned portions from 1851, and William Rumbold added an Italian Renaissance cast-iron dome modeled on St. Peter's Basilica between 1861 and 1864. At 192 feet, it was Missouri's tallest habitable building from 1864 to 1894. The city abandoned the building in 1930 and the original donors' descendants sued for ownership; it became part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, now Gateway Arch National Park, in 1940.
Visit
Fourth Street, within Gateway Arch National Park, St. Louis, MO
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