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[edit]

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.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[3]

Geography[edit]

Reynolds County is one of the Ozarks counties of southern Missouri. Apart from a zigzag western border, it has a roughly trapezoidal shape, tapering toward the south. The county is bordered by Iron County to the northeast, Wayne County to the southeast, Carter County to the south, Shannon County to the west, and Dent County to the northwest. It has a total area of 814.41 square miles, including 808.48 of land and 5.93 of water.^[4]

The eastern part of the county is part of the St. Francois Mountains, a subdivision of the Ozarks that contains most of its highest peaks. These include Proffit Mountain near its northeastern corner, the county's highest elevation at close to 1,700 feet above sea level.^[5] Its western portion is part of the Salem Plateau, a somewhat lower, more rolling region with few elevations above 1,200 feet. Most of the land is heavily forested and rocky, so that the bulk of the population is concentrated in the narrow river valleys. The chief river in the county is the Black, which drains most of it; the lowest elevation (about 500 feet) is just below Clearwater Lake, as the Black continues southeast into Wayne County.^[6]

There are no interstate or federal highways in the county. The main roads are Missouri State Highway 21, which enters from the northeast and runs south through Centerville and Ellington; Highway 49, which loops through the northeastern area; Highway 72, which passes through Bunker and Centerville in a generally west-to-east direction through the north of the county; and Highway 106, which begins at Ellington and continues west into Shannon County.

In addition to the Clearwater Lake area, Reynolds County is also home to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, a popular recreation area on the east fork of the Black River. The Mark Twain National Forest encompasses much of the northern part of the county.

Demographics[edit]

At the 2010 census, Reynolds County had a total population of 6,696, with 2,778 households and 1,871 families; this was practically unchanged from its 2000 population of 6,689.^[7] The population density was 8.2 per square mile. There were 4,033 housing units, or about 5.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was about 96.73% White, 0.67% African-American, 0.61% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.01% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0.24% from some other race, and 1.55% from two or more races. Hispanics of any race were 0.96% of the population.

The median age in the county was 44.6 years. 22.88% of the population was under the age of 18, 6.44% was between the ages of 18 and 24, 21.16% was between the ages of 25 and 44, 29.47% was between the ages of 45 and 64, and 20.06% was 65 years old or older. The sex ratio was 51.0% male, 49.0% female.^[8]

As of 2018, the median household income in the county was $40,929, and the median family income was $51,514. Males had a median income of $47,138 versus $30,217 for females. The unemployment rate was 6.7%. The per capita income was $22,693. About 18.2% of the population was below the poverty line, including 24.5% of those under the age of 18 and 15.0% of those 65 years old or older.^[9]

Communities[edit]

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

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

Government[edit]

Local government in Reynolds County is provided by the elected officials. At present, all these positions are held by members of the Democratic party.^[10]

Countywide official	Name	Party
Assessor	Rick Parker	Democratic
Circuit Clerk	Brandi Freeman	Democratic
County Clerk	Mike Harper	Democratic
Collector	Kathy Hoffman	Democratic
Commissioner (presiding)	Joe Loyd	Democratic
Commissioner (District 1)	Doug Warren	Democratic
Commissioner (District 2)	Eddie Williams	Democratic
Coroner	Jeffrey McSpadden	Democratic
Prosecuting Attorney	Michael Randazzo	Democratic
Public Administrator	Robyn Gray	Democratic
Recorder	Brandi Freeman	Democratic
Sheriff	Tom Stout	Democratic
Surveyor	Ronald Schwarz	Democratic
Treasurer	Wanda Corder	Democratic

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

Most of the county, including the cities of Centerville and Ellington, is part of the 144th District, which also includes all of Iron County and portions of Washington and Wayne Counties. It is currently represented by Chris Dinkins (R-Annapolis), who was elected to her second term in November 2018 without opposition.

In the Missouri State Senate, Reynolds County is part of the 3rd District, which also includes Iron, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, and Washington Counties, and part of Jefferson County. It is currently represented by Elaine Gannon (R-De Soto), who was elected to her first term in November 2020 without opposition.

At the federal level, Reynolds 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 75.139% of the vote.^[11]

Political Culture

As the above numbers indicate, despite voting solidly Democratic on the local level, Reynolds 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 voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in all but two elections (1960 and 1972). The traditionally Democratic-leaning miners of the "Lead Belt" played a part in this, though less so than in the mining heartlands to the north and east. It 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 79.20% of the vote.^[12]

Like much of southern Missouri, Reynolds 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 85.41% support. In 2006, while the state narrowly passed an amendment to fund embryonic stem-cell research, the county decisively defeated the measure with 54.15% voting against. At the same time, it often supports economic measures that appear to favor the working and middle class. In the November 2018 election, the county supported a proposed increase in the state minimum wage, with 54.81% voting in favor (it passed the state at large). These results generally align with the rest of southern Missouri.

References[edit]