Old McDonald County Courthouse
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Old McDonald County Courthouse
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North elevation and west profile in 2010.
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| Location | 400 N. Main Street, Pineville, Missouri |
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| Coordinates | 36°35′36.4056″N 94°23′1.7808″W / 36.593446000°N 94.383828000°WCoordinates: 36°35′36.4056″N 94°23′1.7808″W / 36.593446000°N 94.383828000°W |
| Built | 1869-1871 |
| Architect | Z. P. Cogswell |
| Architectural style | American Foursquare |
| NRHP Reference # | 12000251 |
| Added to NRHP | May 1, 2012 |
The Old McDonald County Courthouse is a National Register of Historic Places listed building located at 400 N. Main Street in Pineville, Missouri, the county seat of McDonald County, Missouri. It is situated in the center of Pineville's town square and served as the county's courthouse from 1871 until 1978, when a new courthouse was constructed two blocks north of the square. The structure underwent a significant restoration from 2010-2015 and is currently operated as a museum by the McDonald County Historical Society. It is designed in the American Foursquare style and was featured in the 1939 film Jesse James, which starred Tyrone Power as the titular outlaw and Henry Fonda as his brother Frank James. It is one of three sites in the county on the National Register of Historic Places, which also includes the Powell Bridge in the rural community of Powell, Missouri.
The main, two-story section of the building is three bays on the east and west and five bays on the north and south. Its current stucco exterior, which was added in 1943, covers thick, load-bearing walls that consist of soft, locally made bricks, many of which were salvaged from the rubble of a previous courthouse on the site. The building is on a dressed and faced stone foundation with a stone water table and the hipped roof is slightly flared, with each slope containing a vented dormer. A paneled frieze circles the entire second floor of the structure and the courthouse’s numerous double-hung 2-on-2 windows appear original. The one story addition on the south side of the courthouse was added in 1943, at the same time the stucco exterior was applied, which was necessary to protect the soft bricks from deterioration.
Upon the creation of McDonald County from neighboring Newton County on March 3, 1849, two communities, Rutledge and Maryville (which was later renamed Pineville) vied to be the county seat. The competition included an 1850 confrontation in Rutledge that resulted in the death of three participants. As such, from 1849 until the winter of 1857 the county operated with two courthouses, the one in Rutledge being a log structure, and two sets of officials. Finally, the Missouri General Assembly appointed commissioners to select the permanent location of the county seat, that choice being Pineville.
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