6, 1837, from Greene County and named for Roger B. Taney, Chief
Justice of the United States Supreme Court. County Seat: Forsyth
|Taney County officially organized in 1837, but most of the
official records were destroyed in a courthouse fire during
1885. The tumultuous years during and following the Civil War
add further obstacles to documenting the history of all Taney
County courthouses. There were at least five and perhaps six.
The sixth might more appropriately be called repair work on an
already existing courthouse. Chapter 2 of The Land of Taney by
Elmo Ingenthron provides the most complete history of Taney
County courthouses. First courts met in private homes until a
temporary courthouse site was established at the mouth of Swan
Creek, later the town of Forsyth. But commissioners appointed by
the state chose to move the county seat to a site at the mouth
of Bull Creek. County residents felt slighted by the
commissioners' decision, and in 1841 they succeeded in getting
legislation authorizing the electi