Reynolds County, Missouri

Reynolds County is a county in the southeastern part of the state of Missouri, often included within the "Lead Belt" region. It had a population of 6,696 at the 2010 census, making it among the state's smallest counties by population.

The county was organized by the state on February 25, 1845, and named in honor of Thomas Reynolds, a former Missouri governor. Centerville is the county seat, and Ellington is the largest city.

History

Although what became Reynolds County, like much of southern Missouri, was at one point in the territory of various Indian tribes, the latest being the Osage, its known history really began in 1812, when Henry Fry, a native of Kentucky, arrived in the area and settled on the middle fork of the Black River: evidently the first American pioneer to make the region his home. Others followed in the next few years, mostly settling along the Black River and its numerous tributaries.

The territory during this first period was attached to Wayne County, then much larger than today; in 1830 it was transferred to Washington County, then to the newly-formed Shannon County. By the 1840s the local population had risen enough to be given its own jurisdiction, and in 1845 the Missouri legislature organized it as Reynolds County, naming it in honor of former governor Thomas Reynolds, who had died in office the year before. A small part of its territory would be detached in 1857 in favor of Iron County to the northeast; after this point, the county assumed roughly its current boundaries.

The county seat was originally located in the town of Lesterville, in the central part of the county; during the upheavals of the Civil War, however, the courthouse was burned by Confederate soldiers, and a new one was built in Centerville a few miles to the west. The new structure in turn burned in 1871 and had to be rebuilt. On account of these two fires, many documents relating to the county's early history are lost.

In the decades after the Civil War, with agriculture limited to the river bottoms, logging became a chief source of occupation, with Bunker and Ellington serving as important points for rail transport. Beginning in the 1920s, with much of the virgin timber cut, the economy and thus the population began to decline, only beginning to recover from the 1960s onward. The creation of Clearwater Lake, made by damming the Black River in the 1940s, has assisted by providing recreational opportunities, as has the more recent opening of lead mines in the northwest of the county.

Communities

Reynolds County is home to three cities (along with many unincorporated communities):

• Bunker (partly in Dent County)
• Centerville (county seat)
• Ellington