A recent graduate of the University of Missouri decided to take a round-the-state road trip to visit every county courthouse in the Show-Me State.
Jack Snelling, 22, says the trip took ten days, starting with the historic courthouse in downtown St. Louis, across from the Gateway Arch, and ending at the Boone County courthouse in Columbia.
“(It) made it really convenient for me to pick a route because I basically just — I mean — it’s about 30 minutes between county seat to county seat no matter which direction you’re going,” Snelling said. “I basically spiraled all my way around the state of Missouri and gradually worked my way towards the middle ending up in Columbia, which is where I live.”
In total, he drove around 4,300 miles, averaging just under 12 county seats per day. So why courthouses?
“I’ve always had a huge passion for maps and highways and road systems ever since I was a little kid…and eventually (it) became a passion for learning about Missouri’s historical highway system,” Snelling said. “What I learned through my research, which eventually culminated in a craft project for a geography class, was that the original point of the Missouri Highway System was to connect all of the county courthouses across the entire state to each other.”
Snelling said, though, that in towns where there was both a new, current courthouse and a historic, former courthouse, he opted for the historic ones. He also took selfies at every courthouse he visited and posted them to his Facebook page, for anyone who wants to see them.
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