Figuring out the courthouse in St. Charles was a bit of a nightmare.  Two buildings showed up on the map as the courthouse, both across from one another and St. Charles City Hall, which was the county clerk works from.  However, I ended up choosing a third building on the final corner because it had … Continue reading 978. St. Charles, St. Charles County (MO039) →

St. Louis County was the opposite case from the City.  When we arrived the day before, my daughter and I went to the “courthouse,” but didn’t find a cache in the county, while in the City we found a cache but didn’t hit City Hall.  We resolved all that after returning from Cahokia Mounds, but … Continue reading 977. Clayton, St. Louis County (MO038) →

For my third independent city, I made it to St. Louis. I originally wasn't entirely enthused about it. It's not one of those cities that you find yourself dreaming about going to. I was pleasantly surprised, dare I say impressed, by it though. It felt like being in an East Coast city in the middle … Continue reading 976. City Of St. Louis (MO037) →

Unfortunately, Saint Clair County doesn’t have a courthouse.  I had hoped it would considering the one in Edwardsville, but I just had to content myself with a county building.  For a few minutes, I didn’t think I had the right building, but the county ballot box was a pretty good indication that I was in … Continue reading 975. Belleville, Saint Clair County (IL010) →

Welcome back to Illinois, folks!  I was greeted back to the state by a gorgeous chonker of a courthouse!  It was such a nice departure from the many disappointing courthouses of the day before.  I also noted that Edwardsville was the nicest Illinois town I had ever seen in sunlight.  All the others had been … Continue reading 974. Edwardsville, Madison County (IL009) →

Finally!  Franklin County had a nice piece of classical revival if ever there was one!  I couldn’t help but look at Ben himself, seated before it in statue form with his rakish purple bow, smugly enjoying how cool his courthouse is…  After driving around for a bit like we were the Keystone Cops, we went … Continue reading 973. Union, Franklin County (MO036) →

For a moment, I wasn’t even sure if the Crawford County Courthouse actually was the building that I was looking for.  Luckily, one of the monuments outside bore the name that the pediment did not.  That said, setting aside obvious issues of separation of church and state, what is up with these courthouses?  In the … Continue reading 972. Steelville, Crawford County (MO035) →

This was not my first time in Rolla.  A thousand years ago, back before the sky was blue and water was wet, I went to Basic Training at nearby, scenic Fort Lost In The Woods, Misery.  But that was a long time ago and I was a very different person.  I received the courthouse a … Continue reading 971. Rolla, Phelps County (MO034) →

I approached the courthouse with a little bit of dread. I could see it from a ways off and I knew it would not be what I might have hoped. I was starting to get a little disheartened. The courthouses on the trip thus far had not been what I was hoping and this ... … Continue reading 970. Waynesville, Pulaski County (MO033) →

The Camden County Courthouse was perfectly cromulent as courthouses go, a nice and solid piece of art deco. Not great, not bad. My only real objection was the front awning. It seemed to clash with the rest of the building, but being that it's a functional courthouse, that shouldn't be a big deal for me. … Continue reading 969. Camdenton, Camden County (MO032) →