| PB Community Buildings |
 |
 |
 |
| The five photos below are of the old pre-tornado Butler County Courthouse. It was Butler County's third courthouse building. Built in 1887, it was damaged beyond repair by the tornado of 1927. It stood on the site of the present-day courthouse. |
| ********************************************************************************************* |
 |
 |
 |
| These three photos are of the present Butler County Courthouse. While the courthouse is the same, the buildings you see in the background may be gone today. |
| ********************************************************************************************* |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The old National Guard Armory near First United Methodist Church |
| The photo below is rare, and its quality is not too good, but this is the old City Hall and Fire Station. It was on Broadway, across the street from the present-day fire station. The arched doorway on the right was the bay where the firetruck was parked. Though the buiding is long gone, the concrete ramp driveway for the firetruck is still there, |
| This photo shows the Library before the annex was built. At that time, the main entrance to the library was from the Main Street side. The doors you see in this picture have been replaced with windows now. |
| This is truly an awesome picture. If you click on it and view it full size, it looks really sharp! This is the old Post Office, at the corner of Broadway and Poplar, which was torn down years ago to make room for the downtown parking garage. Many people were sad to see it destroyed, but the downtown parking garage promised to revitalize shopping in the downtown area. The columns from this building were salvaged, and are presently located at the Poplar Bluff History Museum, the former Old Mark Twain School Building |
 |
| Notice that the Municipal Pool building was made of rock at the time of this photo. |
 |
| ********************************************************************************************* |
 |
 |
| The two recently acquired photos at the right give a better view of the old City Hall and Fire Station building. The upper one is looking toward the south on Broadway (4th St.), and the lower one is looking toward the north. |
 |
 |
| These 2 photos courtesy Charles F of Poplar Bluff |
| This was the first Butler County Courthouse. It was a wooden structure, built in 1851. |
| This was the second Butler County Courthouse. It was a brick structure, started in 1859, but not completed until after the Civil War. It was destroyed by fire in 1886. |
 |
 |
| The Butler County Courthouse steps provide the setting for this 1934 campiagn photo of Harry Truman. This photo was taken during Harry's successful bid for the U.S. Senate, when he was 50 years of age. We were granted permission by the Truman Library to use this photo in our collection. |