Iron County Courthouse
As late as 1815, Arcadia Valley was the home of American Indians. A tribe of Delaware Indians were known to live at the foot of Pilot Knob Mountain until that year. These Indians and early French and Spanish explorers called this area the Lost Cove, and considered it famous hunting grounds. The first white settler in the valley was Ephraim Stout, in 1805. Stouts Creek still winds through the valley. The first iron works in Missouri and west of the Mississippi was erected on Stouts Creek in 1815.
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Iron County was formed in February, 1857, from sections of six surrounding counties - Washington, St. Francois, Madison, Wayne, Reynolds, and Dent. The two local merchants, David Carson and Hiram Tong, had purchased 112 acres of land that lay between Arcadia and Pilot Knob. They surveyed the land, marking off streets and town lots. Ironton received a majority of the votes and was chosen as the county seat in September 1857. In April 1858, the building of the courthouse was authorized with a cost of $14,000. The corner stone was laid July 4th, 1858, with a copy of the Declaration of Independence, a copy of the newspaper (The Iron Furnace), and various coins, etc. The courthouse was completed in October 1860. The bricks were from a local kiln, and the limestone foundation was quarried on a farm west of Ironton. The wood floors were all hewn in the county. Many immigrants from Prussia, Germany, Great Britain, and Ireland came to the area to work in the iron mines and granite quarries, and became citizens at this courthouse.
One of the Civil War's bloodiest battles took place on September 26th and 27th, 1864. General Sterling Price and 12,000 Confederate soldiers battled General Thomas Ewing, and his 1000 soldiers in and around Fort Davidson. Fort Davidson is one of the last well preserved battle grounds of the Civil War, west of the Mississippi.
The jail was authorized to be built in 1865. The gazebo was built and dedicated May 17, 1899. In 1964 a third story addition was added on the west side of the courthouse. On February 17th, 1980, the courthouse, gazebo, jail and residence were put on the National Register of Historic Places.
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