Old Courthouse

Old Courthouse was built in the Federal style and completed in 1828. It was the tallest habitable building in St. Louis from 1864 to 1894 until Union Station was constructed, and is now part of Gateway Arch National Park.

It was designed by the firm of Lavielle and Morton, which also designed the Old Cathedral, the next stop on the tour. Lavielle and Morton was the first architecture firm west of the Mississippi River above New Orleans. As street commissioner in 1823–26, Joseph Laveille devised the city's street name grid, with ordinal numbers for north-south streets and arboreal names for east-west streets.

In 1861, the original cupola was replaced by a wrought and cast iron dome with a copper exterior, modeled on St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. The US Capitol, constructed at the same time during the US Civil War, was also modeled on the Basilica. Four lunettes display paintings by Carl Wimer, portraying St. Louis history. In this same year, the last slave auction occurred in this building, near the East Door.

The first two trials of the famous Dred Scott case were held in this courthouse, as was the trial of Virginia Minor in 1872. When Minor attempted to vote in a St. Louis election, she was arrested. During her trial, the US Supreme Court upheld the male-only voting rules.