Taney County Courthouse and Jail
Constructing a permanent seat for county government turned out to be no easy task for Taney Countians. According to Elmo Ingenthron, the first temporary seat of justice once Taney County was established was declared by special order to be the home of Jesse Jennings, located on the north side of the White River just upstream from Cedar Point (22). The initial tasks before the county were to organize townships and appoint justices of the peace in each; establish voting precincts and appoint election officials; and designate county roads.
While some of this business must have been conducted at Jennings' home, apparently other homes were used as well. Likewise, once the county began building an interim courthouse, evidence suggests much disagreement over where this seat should be, though many official county records were destroyed in a fire before the Civil War, and others lost in the fire of 1885. A log courthouse was apparently built at the mouth of Swan Creek (24). A later site commission selected a site at the mouth of Bull Creek to erect a second log courthouse (which was later to be used to house subscription schools). The building of the post office in 1837 at the mouth of Swan Creek made that location attractive to many residents, though the controversy surrounding the site location continued for some time.
Finally in 1845, John and Priscilla Danforth donated land for the construction of a permanent courthouse. It was upon this land that Forsyth, the present county seat, was planned, named after statesman and public official John Forsyth. In 1855, a state-of-the-art brick courthouse was built, providing a sense of permanence and authority for county government. That sense of order was short-lived, however. The courthouse was burned in 1863 by Union troops trying to keep the fortress out of the hands of Confederates.
Taney County had no permanent courthouse in the decade to follow; nor was there need for one in the anarchy and chaos of the bushwhacker era. Eventually, a post-Civil War courthouse was established in the same location as the brick courthouse had been, using what was left of that earlier edifice to provide the structure for the new building. That courthouse was burned again in 1885, during the Bald Knobber era.
A new structure was not built until 1890, when Colonel A.S. Prather successfully petitioned for a $5,000 state appropriation for building a new courthouse. By Dec. 10, 1890, the village of Forsyth was incorporated, and in 1891, Taney County's first bank leased the southwest room of the courthouse for $2 a month. In 1914, the courthouse was expanded, providing for a larger court room on the second floor and more office space on the first.
With this new structure and intensified efforts to establish an orderly community, there came the growing need for a new jail. Bids were taken, and the lowest bid was accepted at $4,225; the impressive county jail was built in 1913: a two-story building that was 30' wide and 40' long, with the sheriff's living accommodations on the second floor (45). This structure was built near present Shadow Rock Park. Though it is no longer used as a jail, efforts are currently underway for the restoration of the building by the White River Valley Historical Society.
This courthouse site remained the county seat of justice until 1950, when plans for constructing Bull Shoals Dam eighty miles downstream on the White River were initiated. After some mild controversy, the county seat was moved to a higher elevation two miles west to the present site of Forsyth. The federal government paid $75,000 for the old courthouse, and the county was free to get whatever they could out of salvageable materials. The stone blocks were sold to The School of the Ozarks for $2,000. The new courthouse was constructed as a Spanish-style edifice, with offices along the perimeter and a patio in the center. A new jail was constructed closer to this facility.
Works Cited
Ingenthron, Elmo. The Land of Taney: A History of an Ozark Commonwealth. Ozark Regional History Series, Book II. Point Lookout, MO: School of the Ozarks Press, 1974.
Photograph of new courthouse taken by Patsy Watts
Photograph of old court house, Godsey Collection, Lyons Memorial Library, College of the Ozarks
