In 1900: Where to locate the new court house? Many shared views

The Marion County Courthouse at Hannibal under construction in 1901. To the west of the Courthouse (nearest the camera) is what was previously the home of Irving B. Brittingham, druggist. To the east of the courthouse (in the distance) can be seen the front of what was formerly the home of Dr. Littleton T. Brittingham and his wife, Susan W Brittingham. The Brittingham brothers’ father, Thomas E. Brittingham, arrived in Hannibal in 1837 and died in 1876. Dr. L.T. Brittingham died in 1901, and his widow went to Maryland to live with their daughter, Mrs. Edward S. (Lizzie M.) Coston. (The L.T. Brittingham house long stood as home to Smith Funeral Home.) Steve Chou collection.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Can you imagine Marion County’s Hannibal court house situated in Central Park?

It might have happened …

A little background: Marion County, Missouri, is among the minority of counties which have two courthouses: the first, located in the county seat of Palmyra, and the second, in the county’s population hub, Hannibal.

The buildings were constructed simultaneously at the beginning of the 20th Century, paid for with funds generously approved by county taxpayers.

Work began in early 1900 to select the sites on which the court houses would be located.

The question was rather quietly resolved in Palmyra: the existing courthouse lot would be used for the replacement structure.

The question wasn’t so clear cut in Hannibal, however.

Land owners, newspaper editors and even the Women’s Christian Temperance Union got involved in the discussion.

John A. Knott, editor of the Hannibal Morning Journal, put his pen into the race on Feb. 7, 1900, proposing that the eastern half of Hannibal’s Central Park would be a decent and fitting spot for courthouse construction.

Offering, with ink on paper: “The building would be an ornament that would enhance the beauty of the park. … It would be a monument to which every citizen could point with pride.

But the members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement felt differently.

At their regular business meeting on Feb. 2, 1900, the W.C.T.U. crafted the following resolution, which was subsequently published in the Hannibal Morning Journal:

“Resolved, That wishing to preserve our beautiful little park for the health, comfort, pleasure and recreation of our people, we hereby enter our most solemn and earnest protest against its desecration by the erection thereon of a county building, or by diverting it in any way, in whole or in part, from the uses intended in its dedication. Signed by all present with one exception.”

While the names of the membership were not divulged in this article, the individual names of some W.C.T.U. members were culled from various newspaper articles of the era:

Mrs. S.R. Carter; Mrs. Coontz; Mrs. W.B. Jones; Miss Mary Kaup; Mrs. J.R. Kennerly; Mrs. Leister; Mrs. Levi Marshall; Miss McCarty; Mrs. Theo. Parks; Mrs. W.T. Perkins; Mrs. Richcreek; Mrs. John A. Stone; Miss Lyda White; and Mrs. J.F. Williamson.

Mr. Knott, as the newspaper editor, explained his support of the park location:

“With the park improved, as it would be, should the court house be located there, it would be the most inviting spot in Missouri, a place where the people of Hannibal would not be ashamed to gather for fresh air and recreation.”

He described the condition of the city park as of February 1900: “a now dilapidated plat in the center of the city.

“In the opinion of this paper, it is the proper place to put it to best serve the interests of the city and the people,” he wrote.

Other sites

The location in Central Park wasn’t the only site under consideration by the county officials. Other’s included:

The “old Polk property” located on the north side of Broadway. (Southey A. and Mary Ann Houston Polk made their home at 806 Broadway in 1885. In 2025, the building on this lot, now numbered 800-802 Broadway, is owned by Marion County, State of Missouri, and is used as offices for the Missouri State Public Defender, Hannibal, District 10.)

A quarter block at the southwest corner of Third and Center, known as the Hampton property.

The site of the Fourth Street Stables, operated by Parks Livery Co., 104-116 S. Fourth.

Offered for consideration was the Lakenan residence at the northeast corner of Broadway and Eleventh Street, which had recently been damaged by fire.

And on Feb. 2, 1900, The Hannibal Morning Journal made known an offer by John W. Lear, a Hannibal contractor and builder, who made his home at 209 Fourth Street, South Hannibal.

“John W. Lear, one of the well known citizens of the Fourth Ward, has a lucrative offer which he will make to the county court. He owns 15 acres of land on Union street and states that he will donate five acres to the county providing the new court house is located on it. He authorizes the Journal to make the announcement.”

Ultimately a new site was announced in the Sunday, Feb. 25, 1900 edition of the Hannibal Morning Journal.

The county court finally announced it’s decision: the vacant lots between the E.M. Holmes and McCooey residences (formerly Brittingham properties) on Broadway between Ninth and Tenth streets. A portion of Out Lot 72.

The Marion County Herald in its April 6, 1900 edition, reported:

“George D. Clayton files with the County Court deeds and abstracts of property purchased to be used as site for Hannibal Court House, among of purchase price being as follows:

Mrs. Ann McCooey, $1,760

J.F. Williamson $2,000

Mattie R. Holmes $500

Total: $4,260.

J.O. Hogg Jr., an architect of Kansas City, son of J.O. Hogg of Hannibal, was the architect for the Hannibal court house; William Richardson was superintendent of construction. At the time, Richardson was engaged in superintending the erection of J.J. Cruikshank’s fine residence on Bird street.

Other smaller contracts:

William Jones was awarded the contract for installing granitoid guttering at the Hannibal court house, $80.

Contract for fence for Hannibal court house, William Kansteiner, $105.

As of July 20, 1901:

“Ordered by the court that by virtue of the sale of the old court house at Hannibal the same is hereby declared vacated and the Hannibal Court of Common Pleas in and for Mason and Miller townships will in future meet and hold the terms of said court in the new court house erected on Out Lot 72 in the city of Hannibal. Also ordered that the Probate Court of the County of Marion also hold all sessions at said new court house building, and the the offices of the clerk of Hannibal Court of Common Pleas, sheriff, collector, assessor, county attorney and probate clerk be also located in said new court house building.”

This is a illustration based upon the 1899 Hannibal Sanborn Map, showing Broadway in Hannibal, Mo. At far right, labeled 806 and 804 Broadway, was a considered site for the Marion County Courthouse in 1900. At 820 and 830 Broadway, are the houses which were long owned and occupied by the Brittingham Bros., Hannibal druggists. At 1000 Broadway was the G.W. Dulany mansion, which was later converted into use as Schwartz Funeral Home. Illustration by Mary Lou Montgomery.

Mary Lou Montgomery, Suburban Newspapers of America Editor of the Year, Dailies, 2010, retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,”  and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com