Update: The courthouse was demolished and replaced with this building. In January of 2011, then-Missouri State Attorney General Chris Koster sued the Clark County Commissioners for demolishing the courthouse after having been giving a historic rehabilitation grant to renovate the old building. The Clark County Commissioners consented to a judgment on April 10, 2011, agreeing to repay $20,000 of the $57,500 grant they had received from the State of Missouri to renovate the courthouse they had demolished. Your tax dollars at work.

Proceeding into Northeast Missouri, the county seat of Clark County, Kahoka, features an old courthouse, dating to 1871.

The courthouse is brick, with a stucco veneer that is flaking off very badly in the back (not shown)

Regardless, I definitely want to find out more about this building.

What is very fascinating is that the courthouse sits around the corner from the town square; most Midwestern county seats I know of always feature the courthouse in the middle. Instead, Kahoka’s main square has only a bandstand (not pictured). The old hotel on the square is a fascinating example of pressed tin store fronts.