History of the Office
History of the Ralls County Sheriff's Office
| Ralls County was organized by the Missouri territorial legislature on November 16, 1820. The original county encompassed what are now nearly a dozen other counties but was reduced to its present size by 1836. New London was designated as the county seat. | |
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Sheriff Green DeWitt Green DeWitt was elected the first Ralls County Sheriff in 1821 and served for three years before heading to Texas for the adventures that would make him an icon of American history. During his tenure, the first courthouse and jail were housed in a log structure built in 1822. The jail was two rooms on the first floor, one a dungeon with no windows, the other a cell with a barred window. Both were entered by trap doors from the courtroom above. An area surrounding the jail a half Ralls County Courthouse mile square was marked off as "prison bounds" so that inmates could work outdoors. |
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