TOWNS
Lewis County Courthouse is located at 100 East Lafayette Street, Monticello MO 63457; phone: 573-288-3738.
On January 2. 1833. Lewis County, named for Meriwether Lewis, was organized from part of Marion County. Stephen Cleaver and Joshua Fensel were appointed commissioners for locating a county seat. While a seat of justice was being selected, the first two terms of the Lewis County Court were held at the home of John Bozarth. The next two terms were held at houses in Canton. In the meantime. Cleaver and Fensel selected a site in the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 6. Township 61 North. Range 7 East, and sixty acres were donated for a town site by Andrew P. Williams. The county seat, named Monticello in honor of Jefferson's home, was laid out in the fall of 1833, but it was not surveyed until a year later.