A still-flowing spring beneath this building drew early Indian tribes to camp there. The first known white man to claim land in the immediate vicinity of the spring was a hunter named Adams, who in 1839 sold his claim to Josiah Howell. Howell established the first permanent settlement, which became West Plains. County lines were defined in 1848, the first post office was established, the county seat was established at West Plains in 1857, and the first court house was built in 1860, when West Plains had 150 people.