Carter County, Missouri

Carter County is a county in the southeastern part of the state of Missouri. It had a population of 6,265 at the 2010 census. The county was officially organized on March 10, 1859 and named for Zimri A. Carter, one of the region's first settlers. Van Buren is the county seat and largest city. Carter County is part of the larger Ozarks region.

History[edit]

Though it is one of the least populous counties in southeast Missouri, Carter County's past is among the best-documented, thanks to the work of local historians and genealogists.

The first settlement in the area was made by the Carter family, which moved to Missouri from South Carolina in 1807, initially settling in the Missouri River valley before relocating to a spot near the Current River and about eight miles southeast of present-day Van Buren, sometime between 1812 and 1820. These moves were undertaken by Benjamin Carter; however, he was soon joined by his son Zimri, who had previously spent time in the flatboat trade on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Zimri Carter soon became the leading figure in the area, attracting other settler families and later serving as a county judge.^[1]

At this time, the region was part of Wayne County, which then encompassed a large section of southern Missouri. In 1833, it and neighboring territory were separated to form the new Ripley County; that same year, the town of Van Buren was founded to serve as the county seat, with a log-cabin courthouse being constructed in 1853 (replaced by a wood-frame building in 1867). In 1859, as its population had increased significantly, the northern portion of Ripley County was split off by the state legislature to form a new county, named for leading citizen Zimri Carter. Van Buren continued to serve as the county seat for the district, to which adjoining portions of Shannon and Wayne Counties were also added.^[2] The new county still had a very low population; at the 1860 Census, it had just 1,235 persons, including 20 slaves.

Like most of southern Missouri, Carter County was torn by the Civil War, in which most of the residents appear to have sympathized with the South. Owing to its relative isolation and rugged terrain, no significant battles were fought within the county, though sizable Union and Confederate units did march through the area from time to time, and a few skirmishes did occur, especially in 1862-63 when a Union force was encamped in and around Van Buren. Most of the violence came from local guerrilla bands that feuded with the others and their sympathizers. Some freed or escaped slaves from across the region appear to have formed a community of sorts near the Current River, called "Carterville"; however, it only lasted a few months.

Post-war economic recovery was spurred by the timber boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as a number of businesses sought to make large profits from the vast virgin pine forests that still blanketed the county. The boom began in the late 1880s, when the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company extended a branch of the St. Louis-San Francisco ("Frisco") Railway to the new town of Grandin in the far south. Massive sawmills in and around Grandin produced, at their peak, some 60 to 70 million board feet of lumber every year, from trees felled in Carter and neighboring counties. In 1917, meanwhile, even as the timber boom was passing its peak, the Mid-Continent Iron Company provided another economic boost, opening a smelter on land north of Fremont to process iron ore shipped from Michigan. A large town called Midco sprang up on the site, with a population as high as 3,000 at one point, finding work in the smelter as well as in a short-lived chemical plant to supply the U.S. Army during World War I. These enterprises made Carter County an economic hub for a time, and many flocked to the area for employment; it hit an all-time population high of 7,482 in the 1920 census.^[3]

The county's boom years ended around 1920. The virgin timber had already been cut, and most of the sawmills had closed or relocated; and Mid-Continent Iron ceased its operations in 1921, with the community of Midco drying up and already a ghost town by the 1930s. In ensuing years, residents struggled to make a living, as the denuded land was of poor use for agriculture, and there was little wildlife remaining. The population steadily declined from its peak, hitting a low of 3,878 in 1970. However, outdoor tourism gradually succeeded in reversing the county's fortunes. The creation of federal and state parks, including Big Spring State Park and the Mark Twain National Forest, stimulated efforts to preserve and revive the local ecology, and improved conservation programs led to the regrowth of the forests. The inclusion of the Current River within the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in 1972 sparked interest in the river's potential for recreation, and Van Buren especially became a center for canoeing, swimming, and camping. Since the 1970s, Carter County has steadily risen in both population and economic prosperity.^[4]

Geography[edit]

Carter County is part of the Ozark Plateau that covers much of southern Missouri. It is bordered by Reynolds County to the north, by Wayne County to the northeast, by Butler County to the southeast, by Ripley County to the south, by Oregon County to the southwest, and by Shannon County to the northwest. It has a total area of 509.02 square miles, including 507.36 of land and 1.66 of water.^[5]

Most of the county is part of a subsection of the Ozarks known as the Courtois Hills, which separate the more gently rolling Salem Plateau to the west from the lower foothills to the southeast. These are among the most rugged portions of the Ozarks in Missouri, with steep ridges and deep, narrow river valleys; the difficult terrain accounted for the slow pace of settlement in the 19th century. The highest peak, Stegall Mountain near the border with Shannon County, rises about 1,348 feet above sea level, with a few of the southern river valleys plunging to as low as 400 feet.^[6] There are numerous limestone caves, sinkholes, and springs, the most prominent of the latter being Big Spring, south of Van Buren, which is the largest spring in the Ozarks and one of the largest in the United States, with an average discharge of 470 cubic feet per second.

The chief waterway in the county is the Current River, which flows generally north to south through the middle of the county. Important tributaries include Big Spring, Rogers Creek, and Mill Creek. Most of the county is drained by the Current, with the exception of the eastern section which is in the Black River watershed.

The most important highway is U.S. Route 60, which crosses the county from west to east and connects the communities of Fremont, Van Buren, and Ellsinore. Other important routes include Missouri State Highways 21, which passes through the county's eastern half from north to south, and 34, whose western terminus is at the intersection with U.S. 60 a few miles east of Van Buren.

Demographics[edit]

At the 2010 census, Carter County had a population of 6,265. The population density was 12.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was about 96.62% White, 0.11% African-American, 1.12% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 0.02% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0.40% from some other race, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanics of any race were 1.66% of the population.

The median age in the county was 41 years. 24.18% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.43% was between the ages of 18 and 24, 22.30% was between the ages of 25 and 44, 28.49% was between the ages of 45 and 64, and 16.60% was 65 years old or older. The sex ratio was 48.8% male, 51.2% female.^[7]

As of 2017, the county had a median household income of $40,148. The unemployment rate was 6.4%. The per capita income was $21,884. 18.1% of the population lived below the poverty line.^[8]

Communities[edit]

Van Buren is home to five incorporated communities, including three cities and two census-designated places (CDPs).

Cities[edit]

• Ellsinore
• Grandin
• Van Buren (county seat)

CDPs[edit]

• Fremont
• Hunter

Government[edit]

Local government in Carter County is provided by the elected officials. Traditionally, these have been dominated by the Democratic Party, but the Republicans have become more competitive in recent years and now hold just over half the elected positions.^[9]

Countywide official	Name	Party
Assessor	Gary Rector	Republican
Circuit Clerk	Mary Godsy	Republican
County Clerk	Leona Stephens	Republican
Collector	Lisa Goodwin	Democratic
Commissioner (presiding)	Ronald Keeney	Republican
Commissioner (District 1)	Andy Steiger	Democratic
Commissioner (District 2)	Lynn Murdick	Democratic
Coroner	Erik McSpadden	Democratic
Prosecuting Attorney	Hannah Pender	Democratic
Public Administrator	Heidi Truncone	Republican
Recorder	Pauline Peterman	Democratic
Sheriff	Richard Stephens	Republican
Treasurer	Velvet Ricker	Republican

At the state level, all of Carter County is part of the 153rd District, which also includes all of Ripley County and portions of Butler and Wayne Counties. It is currently represented by Jeff Shawan (R-Poplar Bluff), who was elected to his first term in November 2018, defeating Democrat Matt Michel.

Candidate	Party	Votes	Vote Percentage
Jeff Shawan	Republican	9,717	74.471%
Matt Michel	Democratic	3,331	25.529%

Shawan slightly underperformed within Carter County, winning by a margin of 1,617 to 671.

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

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

Libla somewhat overperformed within Carter County, winning by a margin of 2,016 to 692.

At the federal level, Ripley 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 somewhat overperformed his average margin in Carter County, winning 81.304% of the vote.^[10]

Political Culture

As the above numbers indicate, though it sometimes continues to vote Democratic at the local level, Carter County is solidly Republican at the state and especially the federal level. Its voting patterns mirror those in much of the South and lower Midwest, and generally reflect the political leanings of the Missouri Ozark counties overall. The last Democratic presidential candidate to win the county was Bill Clinton in 1992 (he very narrowly lost it in 1996). In the 2016 general election, the county overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump, who won 81.54% of the vote.^[11] In the past, the county did on occasion support Democrats for state office, and in fact the well-known Carnahan political family originated in the Ellsinore area; since 2000, however, these have been rare exceptions, due largely to alienation from the Democrats' increasingly leftist politics.

Like much of southern Missouri, Carter County can be included within the Bible Belt, and tends to combine 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 Ripley County with 86.59% support. In 2006, while the state overall narrowly passed an amendment to fund embryonic stem-cell research, the county defeated the measure with 56.45% voting against. At the same time, it frequently supports economic measures that appear to favor the working and middle class. In the November 2006 election, the county supported an increase in the state minimum wage, with 73.01% of the vote; however, a similar measure in November 2018 was defeated with 52.62% voting against. These results mark Carter County as one of the more conservative parts of Missouri.

References[edit]