Shannon County, Missouri

Shannon County is a county in the Ozarks of southern Missouri. It had a population of 8,441 at the 2010 census. Officially organized on January 29, 1841, the county was named for George Shannon (1785-1836), a western explorer and Missouri lawyer and politician. Eminence is the county seat, and Winona is the largest city.

History[edit]

At the time Missouri gained statehood, the area that became Shannon County was part of Wayne County, later being subdivided into Crawford County. In January 1841, it was detached from Crawford and organized as Shannon County. The Missouri legislature named it in honor of the late George Shannon, a native of Pennsylvania who had gained fame through his involvement in the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06, in which he had been the youngest member, and then as a lawyer and statesman in northeast Missouri.^[1]

Upon its formation, the new county embraced most of south-central Missouri, being reduced over time as all or part of Carter, Reynolds, and Texas Counties were carved from it. The first courthouse was built near Round Spring along the Current River; it was destroyed in the Civil War, after which the new courthouse and the position of county seat were moved a short distance away, to Eminence. However, three successive courthouses in Eminence were likewise lost to fire, in 1871, 1895, and 1938, owing to which most records relating to the county's early history no longer exist. After a bid to move the county seat to Winona failed, the fourth (and current) courthouse in Eminence was constructed and dedicated in 1941.^[2]

For many years after its creation, Shannon County was among the most sparsely populated in the state; apart from the mining of a few metals, principally copper, from the 1840s onward, most of the settlers relied on subsistence farming and herding for a living. Beginning around 1880, though, it enjoyed a relative boom, thanks in large part to the arrival of railroads in southern Missouri, which in turn made it profitable to cut the vast Ozark forests for their timber. This economic activity was briefly supplemented during World War II, when Missouri's only manganese mine was opened to provide resources for the nation's wartime industries. After the end of the war, though, with the forests cut and the mines largely exhausted, the local economy collapsed and the population dropped sharply, by some 40% between 1940 and 1960. Since then, it has recovered somewhat, thanks to tourism in the Ozarks and along the Current River, but it remains one of the least-populated and lowest-income counties in Missouri. At the 2000 census, it had the 46th-lowest median household income among counties in the United States.

Geography[edit]

Shannon County lies in south-central Missouri, within the Ozark Mountains (alternately known as the Ozark Plateau). It is mostly rectangular in shape, except for an eastward-jutting wedge of significant size to the east of Eminence. It is bordered on the northeast by Reynolds County, on the southeast by Carter County, on the south by Oregon County, on the southwest by Howell County, on the west by Texas County, and on the north by Dent County.

The county has a total area of 1,004.0 square miles, including 1,003.82 of land and 0.18 of water. This makes it the second-largest county in Missouri by land area (after neighboring Texas County).^[3] Though rugged, it is not among the more mountainous of the Ozark counties, at least in terms of differences in elevation. The most noticeable peaks occur in the east of the county, part of the outliers of the St. Francois Mountains. Thorny Mountain, the highest point in the county at 1,359 feet, falls into this category, lying a short distance southwest of the Current River. The narrow valley cut by the Current itself is arguably the lowest part of the county, dropping to about 500 feet as it flows southeast into Carter County. The western half of Shannon County, though elevated, tends to be more gently rolling, transitioning into the broader Springfield-Salem Plateau that characterizes the north-central Ozarks.^[4]

The chief waterway is the Current River, which drains most of the county (except for the southwestern corner, which falls into the Eleven Point River's watershed). Its main tributary is Jacks Fork, which flows into the Current a few miles east of Eminence; significant portions of both streams are part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. These and other local rivers are fed by numerous large natural springs, including Alley Spring, Powder Mill Spring, and Round Spring, among others.

The most important highway in the county is U.S. Route 60, which runs west to east through its southern portion, passing the cities of Birch Tree and Winona. Other significant roads include Missouri State Highway 19, which runs north to south through Eminence and Winona, where it intersects U.S. 60; State Highway 99, which has its northern terminus at Birch Tree; and State Highway 106, which passes west to east through Eminence and the central part of the county.

Demographics[edit]

At the 2010 census, Shannon County had a total population of 8,441, with 3,448 households and 2,327 families; this represented a slight increase from its 2000 population of 8,324.^[5] The population density was 8.4 per square mile. There were 4,164 housing units, or about 4.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was about 96.00% White, 0.20% African-American, 0.91% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.44% from some other race, and 2.27% from two or more races. Hispanics of any race were 1.65% of the population.

The median age in the county was 43.4 years. 23.35% of the population was under the age of 18, 7.96% was between the ages of 18 and 24, 20.65% was between the ages of 25 and 44, 30.72% was between the ages of 45 and 64, and 17.32% was 65 years old or older. The sex ratio was 49.8% male, 50.2% female.^[6]

As of 2018, the median household income in the county was $32,180, and the median family income was $44,692. Males had a median income of $34,138 versus $24,777 for females. The unemployment rate was 6.3%. The per capita income was $18,066. About 28.5% of the population was below the poverty line, including 40.6% of those under the age of 18 and 18.3% of those 65 years old or older.^[7]

Communities[edit]

Shannon County is home to five incorporated communities, including four cities and one census-designated place (CDP).

Cities[edit]

• Birch Tree
• Eminence (county seat)
• Summersville (partly in Texas County)
• Winona

CDP[edit]

• Montier

Government[edit]

Local government in Shannon County is provided by the elected officials. At present, a slight majority of these positions are held by members of the Republican party.^[8]

Countywide official	Name	Party
Assessor	Jimile Voyles	Democratic
Circuit Clerk	Melany Williams	Democratic
County Clerk	Shelly Bland	Republican
Collector	Susie Needels	Republican
Commissioner (presiding)	Jeff Cowen	Democratic
Commissioner (District 1)	Dale Counts	Democratic
Commissioner (District 2)	Herman Kelly	Republican
Coroner	Samuel Murphy	Independent
Prosecuting Attorney	Jodie Brumble	Democratic
Public Administrator	Teresa Acord	Republican
Recorder	Melany Williams	Democratic
Sheriff	Darrin Brawley	Republican
Surveyor	Robert Ross	Republican
Treasurer	Michelle Shedd	Republican

At the state level, all of Shannon County is part of the 143rd District in the Missouri House of Representatives, which also includes all of Dent and Oregon Counties and part of Reynolds County. It is currently represented by Jeff Pogue (R-Salem), who was elected to his fourth and final term in November 2018 without opposition.

In the Missouri State Senate, Shannon County is part of the 25th District, which also includes Butler, Carter, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, and Stoddard Counties. It is currently represented by Doug Libla (R-Poplar Bluff), who was re-elected in November 2016, defeating Democratic candidate Bill Burlison.

Candidate	Party	Votes	Vote Percentage
Doug Libla	Republican	44,373	69.354%
Bill Burlison	Democratic	19,607	30.646%

Libla roughly matched his overall total in Shannon County, winning 2,570 votes to 1,103 for Burlison.

At the federal level, Shannon County is part of Missouri's 8th Congressional District, which includes most of southeast and south-central Missouri. It is represented by Jason Smith (R-Salem), who won re-election in November 2018, defeating Democrat Kathy Ellis.

Candidate	Party	Votes	Vote Percentage
Jason Smith	Republican	194,042	73.39%
Kathy Ellis	Democratic	66,151	25.019%
Jonathan Shell	Libertarian	4,206	1.591%

Smith slightly overperformed his average margin in Reynolds County, winning 76.270% of the vote.^[9]

Political Culture

As the above numbers indicate, despite sometimes voting Democratic on the local level, Shannon County is at present a fairly reliably Republican county at the state and national level. This is a somewhat recent development; during the 20th century, it generally voted for the Democratic presidential candidate (though not always: Richard Nixon won it in 1960 and 1972, as did Ronald Reagan in 1984). Some of this is attributable to the presence of mining operations, whose workers tend to support labor unions and the Democratic Party, as reflected in electoral trends in other mining districts. The county voted for George W. Bush in 2000, however, and has steadily trended Republican since then, as blue-collar workers became alienated by the Democratic Party’s social radicalism. In 2016, Donald Trump carried the county with 75.97% of the vote.^[10]

Like much of southern Missouri, Shannon County can be included within the Bible Belt, combining social conservatism with economic populism. In 2004, it voted overwhelmingly in favor of Constitutional Amendment 2, which recognized marriage as between a man and a woman only--the measure passed in Reynolds County with 85.64% support. In 2006, while the state narrowly passed an amendment to fund embryonic stem-cell research, the county decisively defeated the measure with 55.87% voting against. At the same time, it often supports economic measures that appear to favor the working and middle class. In the November 2006 election, the county, like the state, supported a proposed increase in the state minimum wage, with 74.62% voting in favor, though in November 2018, a similar measure (which passed the state at large) was very narrowly defeated, with 50.46% voting against. These results generally align with the rest of southern Missouri.

References[edit]