Crawford County, Missouri: History and Information

Crawford County, Missouri

Crawford County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Steelville
Year Organized: 1829
Square Miles: 743

Court House:

PO Box AS
County Courthouse
Steelville, MO 65565-0620

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for William H. Crawford, Georgia senator.

Demographics:

History of Crawford County

Organized January 23, 1829. In the east-central part of the state, it is bounded on the north by Gasconade and Franklin counties, on the east by Washington and Iron counties; on the south by Reynolds and Dent counties; and on the west by Dent, Phelps, and Gasconade counties. Named for William Harris Crawford (1772-1834) of Georgia, prominent leader of the Democratic party, which was overwhelmingly favored in this part of Missouri. Crawford was a Senator from Georgia (1807-1813), United States Minister to France (1813-1815), and entered the cabinet of President Madison as Secretary of War in 1815. The next year, 1816, he was transferred to Secretary of the Treasury, a position which he held for eleven years, under Madison and Monroe. In 1824 he was nominated as Democratic candidate for the presidency. There being no choice by the electors, the choice was thrown into the House of Representatives, which finally chose the Whig candidate John Quincy Adams. President Adams invited Crawford to continue as Secretary of the Treasury, but he declined, and shortly afterwards retired from public life. In the next election of 1828 the Democrats came back into power with the resounding defeat of Adams by Andrew Jackson. It was just at this hour of Democratic victory, in 1829, the first year of Jackson's administration, that the Missouri legislature chose to honor their former leader by naming the new county for Crawford. (HIST. S.E. MISSOURI (1888) 175)

Source: Zimmer, Gertrude M. "Place Names Of Five Southeast Counties Of Missouri." M.A. thesis., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1944.

Neighboring Counties:

Insert Counties Here

Cities and Towns:

- Bourbon

city

Incorporated Area

- Cuba

city

Incorporated Area

- Leasburg

village

Incorporated Area

- St. Cloud

village

Incorporated Area

- Steelville (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

- West Sullivan

village

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Missouri State...

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Missouri Counties

Missouri Counties

Crawford County, Missouri

Crawford County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Demographics:

History of Crawford County

Neighboring Counties:

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

Online High Schools

County Resource Guide