Hickory County, Missouri: History and Information

Hickory County, Missouri

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

County Seat: Hermitage
Year Organized: 1845
Square Miles: 399

Court House:

P.O. Box 3
County Courthouse
Hermitage, MO 65668-0003

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for United States President Andrew Jackson, nicknamed "Old Hickory."

Demographics:

History of Hickory County

Located near the center of southwest Missouri. It is bounded on the north by Benton County, on the east by Camden and Dallas, on the south by Polk, and on the west by St. Clair County. Organized February 14, 1845, the year of President Jackson's death. Named in honor of President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), who was known affectionately as "Old Hickory," because of the strength and toughness of his character. Jackson, victorious commander at the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815, was the seventh president of the United States. (1828-1836). He died at the "Hermitage" on June 8, 1845. Gannett says this name, alone or with suffixes, is borne by forty-six places in the United States. At least two others, towns in Newton County, Mississippi, and Catawba County, North Carolina, are known to have been named for "Old Hickory." Doubtless the county would have been named Jackson if Jackson County, Missouri, organized in 1826, just after Jackson's first unsuccessful candidacy for President, had not been twenty years ahead of it. Cf. also Jackson Township in Camden County. (Eaton (1917) 172; Century Dict., Gannett; J.O. Taylor)

Source: Overlay, Fauna R. "Place Names Of Five South Central Counties Of Missouri." M.A. thesis., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1943.

Neighboring Counties:

Insert Counties Here

Cities and Towns:

- Cross Timbers

city

Incorporated Area

- Hermitage (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

- Preston

town

Incorporated Area

- Weaubleau

city

Incorporated Area

- Wheatland

city

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."

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Hickory County, Missouri

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

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Demographics:

History of Hickory County

Neighboring Counties:

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

County Resource Guide