Editing Dunklin County, Missouri (section)

== History ==
The land comprising Dunklin County was previously inhabited by the [[Delaware Tribe of Indians]], who had lived in the area since the early 1800s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-09 |title=Shawnee & Delaware Settlements in Missouri |url=https://www.krcu.org/education/2022-03-09/shawnee-delaware-settlements-in-missouri |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=KRCU Public Radio |language=en}}</ref> The county was officially created from Stoddard County on February 14, 1845,<ref>{{cite book |author=Eaton, David Wolfe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfAuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA165 |title=How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named |publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri |year=1916 |page=165}}</ref> and named in honor of [[Daniel Dunklin]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Gannett, Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA110 |title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States |publisher=Govt. Print. Off. |year=1905 |page=110}}</ref> a [[Governor of Missouri]] who died the year before the county was organized.

The first courthouse, a two story log cabin, in the county was erected in 1847 by Hiram Langdon in Kennett. It burned in the mid 1860s, during or just after the [[American Civil War]] and took most of the county records with it. A second courthouse was constructed in 1872, but it also burned down soon after it was completed.<ref>{{Cite book |title=History of southeast Missouri |publisher=Goodspeed Publishing Co. |year=1888 |location=Chicago, IL |pages=368}}</ref> The county government rented a building on the south side of the court square from 1872 to 1892. In 1892, the third courthouse, a two story brick building, was constructed on the square. This building was replaced by the current courthouse in 1929, which was constructed by the Works Progress Administration.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dunklin County |url=https://courthouses.co/us-states/m/missouri/dunklin-county/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=American Courthouses |language=en-US}}</ref>