Maysville's courthouse is a rare rural Moderne landmark

Maysville is the DeKalb County seat, so county errands run through Maysville, not through Cameron on the county’s east side. The recorder, collector, assessor, clerk, courts, and other county offices point back to the courthouse square.

The building itself is the better story. The DeKalb County Courthouse was built in 1939 at 109 W. Main St. It is a low, three-story red-brick building with concrete bands and Moderne-style details. A clock sits above the main block, and the words “DeKalb County” mark the entrance.

Inside, the courthouse carries its own memory. Slabs from the 1885 courthouse were placed in the entrance hall of the current building. A stone panel notes that the first courthouse was a log building from 1848, and that the second courthouse burned on December 25, 1878. That is the kind of detail that makes the square feel less generic: the current building is also a display case for earlier county seats.

The National Register file calls the courthouse one of the finest examples of Moderne architecture in rural northwest Missouri, partly because brick was used to keep costs down. For practical purposes, still use the county site when planning an office trip. A good courthouse story will not tell you which office has changed hours this week.