[Publish date unknown. Colors described are from the original construction.]
Mississippi County Courthouse
Osceola
Classical Revival Style
Erected 1912
The floors throughout this building are the work of an artist. It is the only building in the county - and one of the few in the state - where baked stone tile has been used. The eight-inch tile on the second floor is red, blue, green, and pink; on the third, they are gray, green, rust, and black. The windowless first floor resists possible flooding by the Mississippi River and principal entry to the courthouse is, therefore, on the second floor. Symmetrical marble and wrought iron staircases from the second floor meet on the third outside the courtroom. The courtroom has wide plaster cornicing and exposed beams which form an arch in each corner of the room. At the end of each beam is a Roman olive branch decoration.
The courthouse is constructed of unusual brown brick twelve inches long but only 1¾ inches high. The flat roof supports a copper dome encircled by concrete terra-cotta decorations with large, round, polished inserts on each face. In addition to three flagpoles to commemorate the bicentennial and a Confederate veterans' monument of pink Vermont granite, identical to the marker on the Blytheville courthouse square, this square contains a memorial to one of the St. Francis basin’s "most valuable citizens," William J. Driver, United State Congressman and Circuit Judge. The memorial, reflecting his prominence as an authority on drainage and flood control, recognizes his role in the enactment of laws which curbed the mighty Mississippi.