Jefferson County was organized by an act of the Legislature of the Territory of Missouri, approved December 8, 1818, as may be seen by the first section, thereof, which read as follows:
Section 1. All that part of the county of St. Louis, and all that part of the county of Ste. Genevieve, bounded as follows, to wit: Beginning at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River opposite the mouth of a creek on the west bank of said river called Isle au Bois; thence to the mouth of said creek, and up the principal northern branch thereof to its source; thence in a direct line to the source of a creek known by the name of Hazel Run; thence in a direct line so as to leave Dogget's Mines, in the county of Ste. Genevieve, to Grand River; thence down the said river to the mouth of the creek called Mineral Fork; thence with the county line between the counties of St. Louis and Washington to that point where said county line changes its course to the southwest; thence from that point to the corner of townships 42 and 43 in Range 2, and Townships 42 and 43 in Range 3 east of the fifth principal meridian; thence with the range line between Ranges 2 and 3 east of the fifth principal meridian to a point in the middle of the main channel of the Meramec; thence down the middle of the main channel of said river to a point at where the township line between Townships 43 and 44 north crosses the said river; thence due east with the said township line to a point in the middle of the main channel of said river Meramec; thence down the said river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point opposite the mouth of the said river Meramec, in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River; thence down the middle of the main channel of said river to the beginning, is hereby laid off and erected into a separate county, which shall be called and known by the name of Jefferson County.

L. B. Boyd, Thomas Evans, Jacob Wise, William Bates, William Null, Peter McCormack and Henry Metz were appointed by this act commissioners, with full power and authority to select and fix upon the most suitable place in the county whereupon to erect a courthouse and jail; and it was declared that the place agreed upon by them, or a majority of them, should be the permanent seat of justice for Jefferson County. The same commissioners were appointed commissioners of the courthouse and jail, with authority to purchase or otherwise acquire title in fee simple to a suitable tract of land on which to erect said buildings. They were fully authorized to sell town lots, and appropriate the proceeds derived therefrom to the construction of the public buildings. In case of any of the offices of the above named commissioners becoming vacant, it was made the duty of the circuit court to fill such vacancies by appointment. The act also provided that the first court should be held at Herculaneum, and afterward at such places as the court might select until a courthouse could be constructed, and that the county should belong to the Northern Judicial Circuit. Although the county of Jefferson was thus created December 8, 1818, it was not invested with full powers as a separate county until after January 1, 1819.

Some slight but no extensive changes have been made in the boundary lines of Jefferson County since its organization. The laws of 1870 give a more definite description of the boundary, but make so little change in the original that it is not necessary to insert the new description here.

Following is a copy of the caption of the record of proceedings of the first court held in Jefferson County:
MISSOURI TERRITORY, ) ss
NORTHERN CIRCUIT. )

At a court held in the county of Jefferson, in the town of Herculaneum, on Monday, the twenty-second day of March, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, being the fourth Monday of said month--present, Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, judge of the courts of the Northern Circuit.

The court being convened, Samuel Woodson and Andrew Scott presented their commissions from Frederick Bates, acting governor of Missouri Territory, the former as clerk, and the latter as sheriff of Jefferson County, and at once assumed the duties of their respective offices. Joshua Barton, circuit attorney for the Northern Circuit, not being present, Edward Bates was recognized as his deputy, and thus the court was fully organized. William Bates, Peter McCormack, Thomas Evans, Henry Metz, Jacob Wise and William Null, six of the commissioners appointed by law to select the site for the county seat, then presented to the Court their written report, fixing the town of Herculaneum as the permanent seat of justice for the county of Jefferson. These commissioners then resigned their office, and the Court appointed James Rankin, John Geiger and John Finley as county seat commissioners in their stead. At the same time James Rankin was appointed surveyor of the county. Elisha Ellis was authorized, upon the payment of $10, to keep a ferry across the Mississippi for one year, at his landing, opposite the town of Harrison, and his charges for ferriage were established as follows: Each man and horse, 75 cents; each footman, 25 cents; each single horse, 50 cents; each wheel carriage, 50 cents per each wheel; each head of neat cattle, 50 cents; each hog, sheep or goat, 61/4 cents. Mr. Ellis was also licensed, for the sum of $10, "to keep a tavern at his house in Herculaneum" for the period of one year. On the same condition James Rankin was licensed "to keep a tavern at his house in the town of Herculaneum." After transacting other business, which will be mentioned elsewhere, the Court adjourned to term in course.

James Bryant and Emily, his wife, donated the east half of Lot No. 129, in the town of Herculaneum, to the county of Jefferson as a site on which to erect the public buildings, and on the 24th of March, 1820, they executed a deed for the lot thus donated to James Rankin, John Geiger and John Finley, the county seat commissioners.

Organization of County Court.--During the first year of the existence of Jefferson County, and until Missouri was admitted into the Union as a State, the circuit court had jurisdiction of and transacted all the county business. When the State was admitted, the law provided for the organization of a county court in each county, and L. B. Boyd, Elias Bates and Samuel Hammond were appointed and commissioned by the Governor the first justices of the county court of the county of Jefferson. These officers met and organized their court, and held their first session in the town of Herculaneum commencing on the 14th of May, 1821, it being the second Monday of said month. James Rankin, deputy clerk, acted as clerk, and John Finley, coroner, acted as sheriff. All county business pending in the circuit court was transferred to the county court, and the circuit court had no further jurisdiction thereof. Among the transactions of business at this term, William Bates was licensed to sell merchandise for six months, upon his paying into the treasury the sum of $15, and Elisha Ellis was licensed to keep a ferry across the Mississippi at Herculaneum for one year, and Lawson Lovering was licensed to keep a ferry for the same of time across the Meramec on the St. Louis road. The latter licenses cost $10 each.

The first jail in Jefferson County was built by Josiah Craft, on the site for the public buildings at Herculaneum, and at this first term of the county court, James Rankin and John Geiger, two of the county seat commissioners, reported the jail completed, and then resigned their offices. The jail consisted of a small log building. John Finley, coroner, was allowed $6 for rent of his house, used by the court. After transacting the necessary county business the court adjourned to the next term in course. Subsequently Benjamin Johnson, Sr., and Clement B. Fletcher, were appointed commissioners of the county seat, vice Rankin and Geiger, resigned.

Removal of the County Seat.--Inasmuch as no steps were taken for the building of a courthouse at Herculaneum for a number of years after the county was organized, it seems evident that an early removal of the county seat was anticipated.

On the 9th of May, 1832, the Court appointed Minor Mothershead, Thomas Hurst, William Hurst, Jesse Phillips and Paschal Detchemundy commissioners to consider the question of moving the county seat to a more central point. On the first Monday of August, following, an election was held at the several voting places in the county to decide the question of moving the seat of justice to the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 3, Township 40 north, Range 4 east, it being the site of the present town of Hillsbore, and the place selected by the commissioners. The returns of this election were not canvassed by the county court (as it appears by the record) until February, 1833, when they were canvassed and disapproved. Afterward, at the September term, 1834, of the court, the returns were again examined, and it was then declared "that a majority of the qualified voters of the county voted in favor of the removal of the county seat to the place selected." Charles Mothershead was appointed commissioner of the new county seat, and afterward, at the August term, 1835, of the county court, Clifton Mothershead was appointed to "lay off and sell the lots at the new county seat, vice Charles Mothershead, resigned." In July, 1836, Bailey G. Martin was appointed to let the contract and superintend the building of a courthouse at Monticello, the name then given to the present site of Hillsboro, or rather the hill just south thereof. The building was ordered to be constructed of hewed logs, and to be 20x25-feet in size, and one and a half stories in height, and $400 was appropriated for its construction; but it was never constructed.

Strong opposition to the removal of the county seat was made, and the project thus delayed. Finally Hugh O'Neil and Samuel Merry, the owners of the site selected, donated the same to the county and passed the title thereto by deed of conveyance dated April 7, 1838. The tract thus conveyed consists of fifty acres, and lies in the northern part of Section 3, Township 40 north, Range 4 east, and is the site of the present county seat.

The deed from O'Neil and Merry was accepted by the county court and ordered to be recorded. Here the matter of the removal of the county seat seemed to rest, and, notwithstanding all the foregoing, the question was not definitely settled until it was declared by an act of the Legislature of the State approved February 8, 1839, that "the seat of justice of Jefferson County is hereby established at a place commonly called Hillsboro, the place heretofore selected for the seat of justice of said county, situated on a tract of land heretofore conveyed by Samuel Merry and Hugh O'Neil to said county for that purpose." This act settled the question, and the date of its approval may be taken as the time when the change of the location of the county seat was legally made. The act also provided that, until the necessary county buildings could be constructed, the county business should continue to be transacted at Herculaneum. The removal of the county seat was now undertaken in earnest, and in June, following, the town of Hillsboro, by order of the county court, was surveyed and laid out by George W. Waters, the county surveyor.

John J. Buren was then appointed commissioner of the new county seat and public buildings. In July, 1839, the contract for the building of the new courthouse was awarded to Messrs. Roche & Erisman for the sum of $3,800. The building was completed in time for the county court to hold its first session therein in April, 1840, when it was accepted from the hands of the contractors who were then allowed $500 over and above the contract price, for extra work. The furnishing of the building cost about $300 more, making the total cost thereof $4,600. This courthouse was a small brick structure, and stood near where the public schoolhouse now stands, in the west part of town. In April, 1841, the contract for the building of a jail was awarded to John W. Winer, for the sum of $1,500. This jail was erected on a lot near the courthouse, and was accepted from the hands of the contractor in August, 1842. In 1863 it became necessary to take steps for the construction of new county buildings, and a new location for them was also desired. Consequently, the county court, at its August session of that year, appointed J. L. Thomas and E. T. Honey to examine title, and contract for the purchase of suitable lots on which to erect the new buildings. Block 13, as shown by the plat of Hillsboro, was selected and procured. In October, following, the contract for the construction of a new courthouse and jail (the present buildings) was awarded to Charles H. Pond, for the sum of $16,500.73, and on the 5th of July, 1865, the commissioner reported the buildings completed and ready for occupancy, and they were then accepted by the court. The courthouse is a plain and substantial two-story brick building set upon a stone foundation, and is 40x60 feet in size. The first story contains the county offices, hall and stairs, and the second the court room, one office, a jury room and library.

The first story of the jail is built of stone, and contains six prison cells; the second story is of brick and contains the jailer's residence. The whole building is surrounded by a solid stone wall about twelve feet in height.

Poor Farm.--In December, 1851, the county court appointed Philip Pipkin, William S. Howe and B. Johnson commissioners "to select a suitable site for a poor farm." These commissioners selected the site of the present poor farm, a portion of which was purchased from the heirs of William Lemmons, deceased, and the balance from Philip Pipkin and others. The deed by the Lemmons heirs was dated August 27, 1852, and the deed made by Pipkin was dated December 21, 1853. The farm consists of 160 acres--120 of which lie in Section 5, and the balance in Section 8, in Township 49 [sic] north, Range 4 east, being about two and a half miles west of Hillsboro. The buildings consist of a comfortable frame house for the dwelling of the superintendent, and a large two-story hewed-log asylum for the paupers, and some other buildings, in all with sufficient capacity for the care of thirty paupers. The average number of inmates of the poor asylum is from twenty-two to twenty-five. The expense of the poor farm, including all the poor therein contained, for the year 1887, was $1,767.57, and the relief granted to poor persons outside of the poor asylum amounted to $1,209.72. This latter sum is several hundred dollars more than the annual average amount expended for those not confined in the asylum.

Municipal Townships.--When Jefferson County was organized its territory consisted of the municipal townships of Joachim, Plattin and Big River as they had been formed in the old counties. The Jefferson County Court at its first term held in May, 1821, divided Big River Township by an east and west line "taking its departure from the south side of James Gilmore's plantation," and all that part of the old township lying south of that line retained the name of Big River Township, and all north thereof was named Meramec Township. This then made the county consist of four municipal townships. Afterward, in June 1834, the county court divided Plattin Township by a line commencing at the "nine-mile house on the road leading from Herculaneum to Potosi, thence southerly to the dwelling house of Thomas Strickland, running on the west side of said house, thence still southerly along the west side of the house of Alexander Boyd, until it intersects the county line." This certainly was a very indefinite description. All of Plattin Township lying east of this line retained the original name, and that part lying west thereof was named Valle Township. At the same time the court ordered that so much of the old townships of Meramec and Joachim as lay north of the line dividing Townships 41 and 42 north, and east of the line dividing Ranges 4 and 5 east, should constitute a new township to be called Little Rock. This, then, made the county consist of six municipal townships.

In October, 1838, the county court made the following entry on the record of its proceedings, to wit: "In consequence of the burning of the clerk's office in Herculaneum some years ago, and the burning of the State house in Jefferson City last year, the records of the lines of the several townships in Jefferson County have been lost, and the Court therefore considers it best to lay off the county into six townships, as follows:

"Little Rock Township: Commencing on the river Meramec, at the northeast corner of Congressional Township 43, in Range 5 east; thence west with the line of St. Louis County until it intersects the range line between Ranges 4 and 5 east; thence south with said range line until it intersects the southeast corner of Township 42, Range 5 east; thence east with the township line between Townships 40 and 41, Range 5 east, and Townships 40 and 41, Range 6 east, until it strikes the Mississippi River; thence with said river and the river Meramec to the place of beginning.

"Meramec Township: Commencing at the northwest corner of the township of Little Rock; thence west with the line of St. Louis County to the Meramec River; thence with said river to where it intersects the Franklin County line; thence with said line until it intersects the township line between Townships 40 and 41 [sic], Range 2 east; thence with said township line until it intersects the range line between Ranges 4 and 5 east; thence north with said range line to the place of beginning.

"Big River Township: Commencing at the Franklin County line where it intersects the line between Congressional Townships 41 and 42, Range 2 east; thence with said county line until it intersects the Washington County line; thence with said county line until it intersects the sectional line between Sections 4 and 9, in Congressional Township 39, Range 3 east, the corner to be the southwest corner of said Section 4; thence with said section line east until it intersects the sectional line between Sections 3 and 4, in Township 39, Range 4 east; thence north with said sectional line until it intersects the sectional line between Sections 16 and 21 of Township 40, Range 4 east; thence east with said sectional line until it intersects the sectional line between Sections 14 and 15 of Township 40, Range 4 east; thence with said sectional line until it intersects the township line between Townships 41 and 42, Range 4 east; thence with said township line to the place of beginning.

"Valle Township: Commencing at the southwest corner of Big River Township, at the Washington County line; thence with said county line to the line of St. Francois County; thence with said county line until it intersects the sectional line between Sections 8 and 9 of Township 38, Range 5 east; thence north with said sectional line until it strikes the sectional line between Sections 14 and 23, in Township 40, Range 5 east; thence west with said sectional line until it intersects the line of Big River Township at the corner between Sections 15 and 21 of Township 40, Range 4 east; thence south with said sectional line until it intersects the sectional line at the corner of Big River Township between Sections 4 and 10 of Township 39, Range 4 east; thence west with said sectional line to the place of beginning.

"Plattin Township: Commencing at the St. Francois County line at the intersection of sectional line between Sections 8 and 9, Township 38, Range 5 east; thence east with said county line until it intersects the line of Ste. Genevieve County; thence with said county line to the Mississippi River; thence with said river to the mouth of the Plattin Creek; thence up said creek until it intersects the sectional line between Section 18 and 19 of Township 40 Range 6 east; thence west with said section line until it intersects the sectional line between Sections 20 and 21 of Township 40, Range 5 east; thence with said sectional line to the place of beginning.

"Joachim Township: Commencing at the mouth of Plattin Creek; thence up said creek until it intersects the section line between Sections 18 and 19 in Township 40, Range 5 east; thence west with said line until it intersects the section line between Sections 14 and 15 in Township 40, Range 4 east; thence north with said line until it intersects the township line between Townships 41 and 42, Range 4 east; thence east with said township line until it intersects or strikes the Mississippi River; thence with said river to the place of beginning."

In April, 1842, Central Township was created to embrace Congressional Townships 40 and 41 north, in Range 4 east. In March, 1887, the line between Valle and Central Townships was changed from the south to the north line of Sections 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36, in Township 40 north, Range 4 east, and Sections 19, 20, 29 and 30 in Township 40 north, Range 5 east, were taken from Valle and added to Central Township.