The first and last legal executions in Butler County were carried out by Sheriff James R. For the next several years, sheriffs had their hands full, helping rebuild the county - and the county's government. At the start of the war, a judge had the foresight to bury every important paper in a casket. Most who remained had lost everything.Ībout the only things of value kept safe during the war were the county records. Roaming bands of guerrilla fighters destroyed property and robbed, maimed and murdered residents - so much so that at the close of the war, the county was in economic, social and political ruin. During the rebuilding process, prisoners were housed in Washington County's Jail.Įven though no major battles were fought in Butler County and fewer than 100 men enlisted to serve on either side, the Civil War took its toll. Then in 1870, the court ordered the jail be torn down and rebuilt one block east of the square. Not much is known about that early jail except that it was a small log building built on the public square at a cost of $500. Until then, prisoners were kept in city jails around the county. One of the nine indictments was for a member of the grand jury issuing the indictments.īutler County didn't build a jail until 1857 when John Lacks was serving as sheriff. The first meeting of the Butler County Grand Jury resulted in several indictments - one for forgery, three for failing to work the road and three for selling liquor without a license. The new brick court house eventually burned and its replacement was damaged beyond repair in the great tornado of 1927, which leveled most of the town and killed 85 Poplar Bluff residents.Ī lot of action took place inside the courthouse as well. Tubb to 'sell for cash the old courthouse.' Four months later, the sheriff reported receiving $56 for the building, $3 of which he kept for his fee.īutler County has had its share of disaster when it comes to courthouses. After that facility was completed, the court ordered Sheriff James F. In 1867, the court authorized funds from the sale of 10,000 acres of swampland to build the second courthouse. Later, Butler County held court in homes and various buildings until they built their first one room court house in the early 1850s with an appropriation of $200. He called to order one of the early Butler County court sessions from a tree stump that had been created by clearing along that bluff.

Missouri Governor, Austin Augustus King, appointed Newton (Newt) Wallace the first sheriff of Butler County. With a plentiful supply of hardwoods nearby, logging and related industries turned Poplar Bluff into a boom town. Commissioners also felt economic progress was impossible without transportation, so they chose an uninhabited bluff on the Black River for their seat of government and named it for the beautiful poplar trees that grew profusely on that bluff. Butler of Kentucky, a soldier in the War of 1812 who later served as a congressman and was a vice presidential nominee.Īlthough the majority of pioneers had settled in the area of 10 Mile Creek in western Butler County, the county needed a more centrally located county seat. Butler County Saw More Than its Share of Tragedyīutler County, established in 1849, was originally the southern part of Wayne County.

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