The History of the VC Sheriff's Office

This month we have been doing a little research on the history of the Vernon County Sheriff's Office as part of a project the Missouri Sheriff's Association is undertaking.

They plan to print a book about the history of Missouri sheriffs and want information submitted from each county.

Our first place to look for information was the Vernon County Historical Society in Nevada. Their help was priceless as they already had much of the information we needed.

In 1851, an ineffectual attempt was made to organize Vernon County. Although the attempt was made to form the county, it never took place until 1855 when a new commission was appointed and selected what was then known as Nevada City.

In 1869, the word "city" was removed from the name and it has been referred to as Nevada ever since. Vernon County was named after Colonel Miles Vernon, who served under General Jackson in the Civil War.

The Sheriff's Office was founded in 1855 and has had 42 official sheriffs. The longest serving sheriffs in Vernon County were Leslie K. Hunt and Wayne Pursley, who both served 16 years as county sheriff.

There have also been two county sheriffs that have fallen in the line of duty. The first was Gen. Joseph Bailey, who survived the war by less than two years and moved with his wife and children to Vernon County. After being elected sheriff, he was shot and killed on March 21, 1867, near Nevada, after he arrested two people for stealing a hog.

The second was Sheriff Fred Dawes, who was shot and killed after arresting someone for stealing from a local business on the Square. The suspect shot Sheriff Dawes in the heart with a .32 caliber revolver.

The suspect ran from officers and engaged in a gun battle and was killed after the officers shot him four times.

Sheriff Dawes' wife, Sophronia Dawes, was appointed as county sheriff in her husband's place and served one year as county sheriff in 1919. Sophorina was the first and only female sheriff in Vernon County and according to some sources, the first female sheriff in Missouri. Fred and Sophronia Dawes had three daughters and one son.

There have been a lot of changes in the sheriff's office over the years. There have been three separate locations of the office with the Bushwhacker jail being the first.

The old jail is said to be the oldest structure in Nevada and one of the few buildings that was not destroyed when federal militia burned the city to the ground.

The second location was the old post office on Ash Street, which served as the sheriff's office for years until 2009, when the new jail was opened on East Hunter Street.

There are a few employees still working at the sheriff's office that remember the days when they had to drive their personal vehicles with magnetic signs stuck on them when on duty.

John F. Kennedy said, "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

The Office of Sheriff has come a long ways over the years and continues to make improvements each year.