 County officials shortly thereafter selected the contracting firm of Fitzpatrick & Hurt to construct a fifty-by-fifty foot brick courthouse at a cost of $5,000.This building served the county until being gutted by fire in 1861.The year 1856 also saw the establishment of Butler's first general mercantile store was established in 1856, with several others following in the years prior to the Civil War's outbreak in 1861.