When Crawford County’s boundaries extended to include most of Phelps and part of Dent Counties, the county seat was located at the mouth of the Little Piney River, and the court met in the two-story hewn-log house of James Harrison. After a reduction in county size, a meeting to organize Crawford County took place on February 23, 1834. Liberty Hill served as a temporary county seat until the commissioners located the permanent seat at Steelville in 1835. County court records indicate no attempt to construct a courthouse until May 1837, when M. W. Trask, superintendent of the courthouse, provided a plan for a brick one-and-a-half-story building measuring about 26 by 30 feet. The court approved the plan, but the building apparently did not immediately proceed despite an $800 appropriation. In August 1837 a clerk’s office was being built for court use, but in November the court was paying Simeon Frost rent for a house in which to hold court. That same month the court authorized purchase of land for the public square, and Simeon Frost, acting as commissioner, paid $80 for the lot. By May 1838 the court authorized Trask to prepare a new plan for a 29-foot-square courthouse. In the spring of 1839 the two-story structure built by Obadiah Ferguson was completed, and courts met there in May although finishing continued for some time. The courthouse was completed in 1843-44. A second courthouse, built in 1857 on the same site, was a two-story brick building measuring 36 by 48 feet with a stone foundation, for which the court appropriated $6,000. Fire destroyed that building on February 15, 1873. The following month the court appropriated $10,000 for a third courthouse, with Joe Davis supervising the work. When the two contractors with the lowest bids would not provide bond, A. E. Dye and Sons received the contract for $9,775. This building also burned after a fire began in the cupola on January 5, 1884; the court carried $9,000 insurance on it. J. J. Upchurch designed the fourth and present courthouse, built in 1885-86. Hollow and Salzer received the construction contract for the 71-by-36-foot, two-story brick building, which cost about $7,500. An addition made in 1974 was designed by Dan Mullen and built by Cyrus Dace.