Gasconade County was created by an act of the Missouri legislature on November 25, 1820. Daniel Morgan Boone, son of Daniel Boone, was appointed the county's first commissioner to locate the site for the county seat and county jail. Gasconade City was selected as the first county seat, but the county seat moved to Bartonville in 1825, to Mount Sterling in 1828, and to Hermann in 1842, when the first building was erected on this site. The present building was dedicated in 1898. It was a gift from local merchant Charles D. Eitzen, who left $50,000 in his will for the new building, and it is believed to be the only courthouse in the United States built entirely with private funds.