The temporary county seat of Pope County was established at John Bolinger's, on the Arkansas River, near Hon. John R. Homer Scott's 'Scotia' farm, and the courts were held there in 1829-30. One early court was held at the old Dwight Mission, on Illinois Bayou. Some time in 1830 the county seat was established at old Norristown and remained there about ten years. No county buildings were ever erected at Norristown. The courts were held in a small frame building leased for the purpose, and prisoners were confined in the jail of neighboring counties.

The first court-house at Dover was a log structure. It was repaired and improved from time to time and served the county until some time during the war, when it was burned. Courts were for a time held in churches, until the erection of the brick courthouse, which stands there still, now in use as a school-house, it having been sold by the county to Dover for the nominal price of $100. There is also at Dover a now (1890) useless log jail. The construction of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad built up Russellville and Atkins and drew away from Dover the local commerce that had made it the business center of the county. The removal of the seat of justice to some point on the railroad followed as a most natural consequence.

July 21, 1886, upon the petitions of C. S. Bell and 1,500 others and L. D. Ford and 2,100 others, legal voters of Pope County, it was ordered by the county court that an election be held September 6, 1886, at which the following questions should be submitted to the people:

First, shall the county seat be removed or changed? Second, shall the county seat be removed from Dover to Russellville? Third, shall the county seat be removed from Dover to Atkins?

Each of these petitions contained a proposition to build a court-house at the town mentioned therein in case the county seat should be removed thereto, and the people of Russellville and Atkins proposed for their respective towns to execute a good and sufficient bond for the use of Pope County, payable to such commissioners as might be by the courts appointed to erect without cost to the county a comfortable and convenient building suitable and sufficient for all county purposes and donate the same to the county.

The court appointed R. O. Morton, W. M. Bell and Joseph Howard, commissioners, to whom said bonds should be made payable for the use of Pope County, and ordered that said bonds should be filed with the clerk of the court. This election did not result in a choice of a new location for the county seat, though there was a majority for removal from Dover. At the October term of the county court, 1886, T. M. Neal and others, after due notice, filed their petition contesting said election, and the court, upon hearing, sustained the contest and set aside the election, and J. L. Shinn and others, as contestees, appealed to the Pope Circuit Court. The time for holding the Pope Circuit Court, as fixed by law, was the first Monday (the first day) of November, 1886; but the court was not opened until the third day (Wednesday), when the circuit judge appeared and proceeded to open and hold the court. On the fifth day of said month M. L. Davis was elected special judge, and on the twelfth he proceeded to try the contest upon the amended petition of the contestants and demurrer of the contestees thereto, and sustained the demurrer and so rendered judgment; and thereupon ordered an election to be held March 19, 1887.

Such an election was then held, and a majority of the voters of the county voted to locate the county seat at Russellville, the ballot standing 1,399 for Russellville as against 1,271 for Atkins. In July, 1886, J. L. Shinn presented to the county court a deed conveying to Pope County 'all that portion of Lot 13 beginning on Oak Street on the east and running back west to a point parallel with a line running through the center of Lot 18; also the east half of said Lot 18; also Lots 19, 20 and 21, all of said lots being in Block ‘K’ in J. M. Shinn's Addition to the town of Russellville.' At the same time Mr. Shinn offered another site, but the one above described was chosen and accepted by the county court, April 1, 1887.

It was ordered that the county court-house and jail should be built on this site, and J. M. Haney, M. H. Johnson and L. D. Ford were appointed commissioners to inspect said structures and receive them in behalf of the county when they should be finished. July 5, 1887, J. L. Shinn, R. J. Wilson, W. G. White and others represented to the court that they were preparing to erect the jail and court-house in compliance with the obligation of their bond, filed with the county clerk August 17, 1886, and that they had procured and then tendered to the court for the temporary use of the county, while the buildings should be in course of erection, free of cost or rent to the county, suitable apartments for the holding of the courts and the safe keeping of the records of the county, located on the second floor of R. J. Wilson's brick building at the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets in Russellville.

This proposition was referred by the court to the commissioners above mentioned, who were instructed to meet at Russellville July 9, 1887, and inspect the apartments so tendered and report to the court, July 12, whether they were suitable and safe for the temporary use of the county. The report of the commissioners being favorable, on July 25, 1887, it was ordered that 'the clerk of the circuit court and ex-officio clerk of the county and probate courts and recorder of Pope County remove his office and the records, papers and seals therein contained from Dover to said apartments so tendered;' and it was further ordered that thereafter the county court and all other courts of record of Pope County be held 'at said temporary courthouse' until the completion of the permanent court-house.

May 16, 1888, the commissioners reported to the county court the completion and acceptance of the new court-house and jail, as follows: 'The undersigned commissioners, heretofore by this court appointed to examine and receive the new courthouse and jail, proposed to be erected for the use of the county at Russellville, in said county, by the citizens of said town, the erection of which was secured by the bonds of J. L. Shinn and others, respectfully report that, pursuant to the order of this court heretofore made, they have examined and received said court-house and jail erected for Pope County pursuant to said bond, and find that said court-house and jail are well and substantially built in compliance with the terms of said bond, and we for said county accept the said court-house and jail as being in full compliance with the requirements of said bond and recommend that the obligors on said bond be discharged from liability thereupon.'

The court accepted and acted upon the recommendation of this report and ordered that the county offices and the various courts should be removed to the new court-house, and that the next, and all other terms of the county court, and of all other courts of record of the county be there held. The county buildings are among the finest in the state, and reflect great credit upon the many enterprising citizens who contributed toward their erection.