[2] In the early days before statehood, court sessions took place in private homes or the parish houses.

At first, there was a delay in building a court house as the population of Perry County had also been obliged to help fund the courthouse in Ste.

Commissioners were appointed to locate a seat of justice somewhere in the county, but no move was made toward the erection of a courthouse until 1825.

Genevieve and Cape Girardeau, the area just east of the Barrens was chosen to be the seat of Perry County.

Bernard Layton donated fifty-one acres of his land one-half miles east of St. Mary's Seminary for the site of a county-seat town, Perryville.

[4] In 1825, it was decided that a more permanent building was needed to house the county court and administration, so a contract was let for the first courthouse.

After county residents presented a petition calling for an election on September 1, 1903, voters approved a proposition for a $30,000 bond issue to finance a new courthouse.

From several plans submitted in November, the court selected the proposal of Caldwell and Drake, Columbus, Indiana, who were then contracted for construction.