St. Charles County was organized in 1812, but present boundaries were not established until 1818. For several years the county rented quarters. Among them were rooms in Peck's Row, provided by Charles and Ruluff Peck, the same space the brothers rented to Missouri's first state government when officials met in St. Charles, from 1821 to 1825.
In 833 the county bought a house and lot from William Pettus for $800, on which officials planned to build a courthouse and jail. This became the site for the 1846-49 courthouse designed by Solomon Jenkins (see Figure 1). Little is known of Jenkins, who built three other courthouses in Missouri: Warren, 1838, Scotland and Callaway, 1856. Born in Virginia in 1808, he was active in St. Louis in the 1830s. In the census of 1850 he is identified as a house builder. The same census also recorded two carpenters living at Jenkins' address, one from Virginia, the other from Ireland, and a stone cutter from Scotland, bringing to Missouri several possible sources of influence.
This information is courtesy of Missouri Courthouses-St. Charles County- DCD- Univeristy of Missouri
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