The floor on the east side of the first floor, for the judge's bench, was elevated and laid with brick, the remainder of the floor laid with oak plank. Woodwork was painted white, the doors mahogany. Specifications called for four interior wood columns to be painted marble. The clerk recorded a description of the building in the County Court Record. Work began in September 1839.
Costs are difficult to estimate.
Although original plans called for a cupola, apparently it was not built until citizens petitioned for construction in 1855. Commissioners presented a plan for a cupola in August 1855 similar to the one on the seminary, which had been built in 1854. The commissioners reported in December 1856 that the work by Thomas Tweedy was not completed as required by contract and ordered him to comply or the county would sue him. The work seems to have dragged on, for a new commissioner, Joseph Troxel, was appointed in April 1857. Samuel Turner and S. A. Clark's Twentieth Century History of Carroll County, Missouri .