Missouri Supreme Court building turns 100

The Missouri’s Supreme Court building is one of the oldest in the nation and still remains a vibrant part of life in Jefferson City and the broader legal community. Officials at the Missouri Supreme Court invited Missourians to celebrate the 100th anniversary Oct. 23 by hosting an open house and having a ribbon-cutting ceremony. As the building rings in its 100th year, the Columbia Business Times takes a look back at the building’s ups and downs.

• For its first 55 years, the Missouri Supreme Court’s three judges rode on horseback to towns around the state to hear cases.
• By 1875, the state supreme court comprised five judges and the state constitution was changed, requiring the judges to hear oral arguments in Jefferson City. Two years later, the first Supreme Court building was built southeast from the Capitol.
• After 1890, when Missouri voters increased the number of judges on the Court to its present size of seven judges, an annex was built to the side of this building for judges’ chambers and the Supreme Court library.
• By early 1900 it was clear that the Missouri Supreme Court judges had outgrown their digs, so the state held a contest for architects to submit designs for a new Supreme Court building. The winning architectural team Louis LaBeaume and Guy C. Mariner of St. Louis won $1,000 plus a nearly $10,000 contract to design the courthouse.
• The legislature appropriated $185,000 in proceeds from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition better, known as the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair to construct the new building. The board of commissioners that oversaw the new court’s construction included the state’s governor, treasurer, attorney general and two Supreme Court judges. Construction lasted 10 months longer than scheduled and was about $215,000 over budget. The total cost of the building was about $400,000; but today, it would cost at least $15 to $20 million to reconstruct the building. The building opened for business Oct. 23, 1907.

• The building is Missouri-made for the most part. The distinctive red bricks that make up the exterior are from Audrain County; much of the interior wood is from southwest Missouri; the prominent staircase in the lobby and the bases of the interior columns are made of marble from Carthage. The columns, because of the budget shortfalls, are made of reinforced steel, covered with plaster and painted to look like marble. The only major part of the building that was not from Missouri is the roof made of slate from West Virginia.