A Courthouse of German-American History : the Gasconade County Courthouse
The Gasconade County Courthouse sits proud atop a hill that overlooks both the Missouri River and the town of Hermann, Missouri. It’s a grand and beautiful building with five dome roofs, idyllic arches, and beautiful pillars that definitely add to the scenery of the quaint town, and definitely worth the visit if you ever come to Hermann (though the stairs leading up to it are killer). There is also a historical cannon right outside of the building that was left as a memento of skirmish that happened during the Civil War, but also makes a great picture.
The county courthouse has been located in Hermann since 1842, and has an incredibly rich history, especially reflecting the large German population of the area. When Missouri was the frontier of the US, many people left their homes in search of large, cheap land, and the German population was no exception. Hermann in particular was a hotspot for German immigrants, with many coming in from Germany itself as well as the German Settlement Society in Philadelphia.
While the town initially struggled to settle, it soon established itself as one of the biggest wine-producing towns in America and became the unofficial epicenter of Gasconade County. Because of this, the courthouse was unanimously agreed to be moved to Hermann from Mt. Sterling in 1842, and it has been there ever since. The first building looked a lot like a box. The flat sides with many windows seemed to be a popular architecture style for German-Americans during this time, and the courthouse was no exception.
But in 1896, Charles D. Eitzen donated $50,000 to the city for the building that we can see today. He was born in Bremen, Germany who immigrated to the US and quickly became a successful businessman, mayor of Hermann, and influential figure in the town’s founding. One of the architects, A. W. Elsner of Jefferson City, was also of German descent. The courthouse was planned, built, and paid for by Germans. The new courthouse was finished that year in 1896. The following picture is a postcard that shows us what the courthouse looked like before and after the building was razed and rebuilt:
What happened within the walls of the courthouse also reflected the huge German immigrant population of the town. Although legal English is what’s considered the official legal language in the US, apparently it was common for German translations to be in the papers, and sometimes the law was recited in German within the courthouse so that everyone could understand. The Hermanner Volksblatt was a newspaper published in Hermann, and written almost entirely in German. Oftentimes the only English in the paper would be court proceedings or other legal matters, and even then, the names mentioned in the proceedings were of obvious German descent.
An example of this is in a clipping I’ve taken from the Hermanner Volksblatt. Next to the German column, there is a list of settlements with names such as Hesemann, Engelbrecht, Pfotenhauer, and Whertvine. So despite the settlements being written in English, the heritage of Hermann and Gasconade County is visibly German.
The Gasconade County courthouse has a lot of German heritage in its history, both in its making and throughout its life. Built and designed by Germans, the history of the courthouse gives us a super interesting insight as to how legal proceedings were conducted and published in such a highly German-American population. It’s a beautiful building worth seeing for yourself, especially if you’re interested in German-American history and its role in Gasconade County.
