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Boone County, Missouri

Coordinates: 38°57′06″N 92°19′43″W / 38.951561°N 92.328638°W / 38.951561; -92.328638 (Boone County, Missouri)
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Boone County
The Big Tree in the Missouri River floodplain near the City of Columbia
The Big Tree in the Missouri River floodplain near the City of Columbia
Official seal of Boone County
Map of Missouri highlighting Boone County
Location within the U.S. state of Missouri
Map of the United States highlighting Missouri
Missouri's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 38°56′54″N 92°20′02″W / 38.9483°N 92.3339°W / 38.9483; -92.3339
Country United States
State Missouri
FoundedNovember 16, 1820
Named afterDaniel Boone (1734-1820)
SeatColumbia, Missouri Columbia
Largest cityColumbia, Missouri Columbia
Area
 • Total
691 sq mi (1,790 km2)
 • Land685 sq mi (1,770 km2)
 • Water5.6 sq mi (15 km2)  0.8%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
183,610
 • Density270/sq mi (100/km2)
Time zoneUTC−6 (Central)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional districts3rd, 4th
Websitewww.showmeboone.com

Boone County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Centrally located the state's Mid-Missouri region, its county seat is in Columbia, which is Missouri's fourth-largest city and location of the University of Missouri. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the county's population was listed as 183,610,[1] making it the state's eighth-most populous county. The county was organized November 16, 1820, removed from the former larger Howard County (now to the northwest) of the old federal Missouri Territory of 1812-1821, and named for the famous Western explorer and settler of Kentucky, then recently deceased Daniel Boone (1734-1820), whose kin largely populated the Boonslick area, having arrived in the 1810s on the Boone's Lick Road.[2]

Boone County comprises the Columbia Metropolitan Area. The towns of Ashland and Centralia are the second and third most populous towns in the county.

History

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Boone County was organized November 16, 1820, from a separated portion of the larger territorial Howard County, first designated under the former federal Louisiana Territory (1804-1812) and subsequent successor Missouri Territory (1812-1821). The central region of the state is known as Mid-Missouri and is also known as the cultural area of Boonslick or Boone's Lick Country, because of a nearby salt spring or "lick" which famed Western American frontier explorer, pioneer, settler Daniel Boone's (1734-1820) sons, Daniel Morgan Boone (1769-1839), and younger Nathan Boone (1780-1856), used for their animals stock.

The Boone County Courthouse of Greek Revival style architecture, built with three stories and basement, with front portico / pediment and columns, at the surrounding Boone County Government Complex, in the county seat town of Columbia, Missouri

Boone County was settled primarily from the Upper South states of Kentucky, Tennessee and further east of Virginia. The settlers brought slaves and idea of slave-holding with them, and quickly started cultivating crops similar to those in Middle Tennessee and the bluegrass state of Kentucky: hemp and tobacco. Boone was one of several counties to the north and south of the diagonal flowing southwestward Missouri River that was settled by mostly Southerners. Because of its culture and traditions, the area became known as Little Dixie, and Boone County was at its heart.[3] In 1860 slaves made up 25 percent or more of the county's population, Boone County was strongly pro-Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865).[4]

Shortly after the assassination / murder in April 1865, of 16th President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865, served 1861-1865), the leading citizens of the county and its county seat town denounced the killing. They also directed that all public buildings including the county courthouse and the nearby state university be draped in black mourning for thirty days.[5]

Geography

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 691 square miles (1,790 km2), of which 685 square miles (1,770 km2) is land and 5.6 square miles (15 km2) (0.8%) is water.[6] The Missouri River makes up the southern border of the county.

National protected areas

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Adjacent counties

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Major highways

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Demographics

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Historical population
CensusPop.Note
18203,692
18308,859140.0%
184013,56153.1%
185014,97910.5%
186019,48630.1%
187020,7656.6%
188025,42222.4%
189026,0432.4%
190028,64210.0%
191030,5336.6%
192029,672−2.8%
193030,9954.5%
194034,99112.9%
195048,43238.4%
196055,20214.0%
197080,91146.6%
1980100,37624.1%
1990112,37912.0%
2000135,45420.5%
2010162,64220.1%
2020183,61012.9%
U.S. Decennial Census[7]
1790–1960[8] 1900–1990[9]
1990–2000[10] 2010–2020[1]

As of the census[12] of 2000, there were 135,454 people, 53,094 households, and 31,378 families residing in the county. The population density was 198 inhabitants per square mile (76/km2). There were 56,678 housing units at an average density of 83 units per square mile (32/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 85.43% White, 8.54% Black or African American, 0.42% Native American, 2.96% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.69% from other races, and 1.93% from two or more races. Approximately 1.78% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 24.6% claimed German, 12.3% American, 11.2% English and 9.8% Irish ancestry.

There were 53,094 households, out of which 30.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.50% were married couples living together, 10.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.90% were non-families. 28.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.80% under the age of 18, 19.90% from 18 to 24, 29.90% from 25 to 44, 18.80% from 45 to 64, and 8.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $37,485, and the median income for a family was $51,210. Males had a median income of $33,304 versus $25,990 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,844. About 7.60% of families and 14.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.10% of those under age 18 and 5.90% of those age 65 or over.

There are 127,433 registered voters as of 2022.[13]

Religion

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According to the Association of Religion Data Archives County Membership Report (2010), Boone County is sometimes regarded as being on the northern edge of the so-called Bible Belt, with evangelical Protestantism being the most predominant religious faith represented. The most predominant denominations among residents in Boone County who adhere to a religion are the Baptists with the largest being from the conservative Southern Baptist Convention (20.81%), Roman Catholics (16.71%), and smaller / minor nondenominational or evangelical groups (13.23%).

2020 Census

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Boone County Racial Composition[14]
Race Num. Perc.
White (NH) 137,771 75%
Black or African American (NH) 17,882 9.7%
Native American (NH) 452 0.3%
Asian (NH) 7,772 4.23%
Pacific Islander (NH) 120 0.07%
Other/Mixed (NH) 11,561 6.3%
Hispanic or Latino 8,052 4.4%

Education

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Public schools

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  • Southern Boone (Ashland) R-I School District
    • Southern Boone Primary School
    • Southern Boone Elementary
    • Southern Boone Middle School
    • Southern Boone High School
  • Centralia R-VI School District – Centralia
    • Chance Elementary School (PK-02)
    • Centralia Intermediate School (03-05)
    • Chester Boren Middle School (06-08)
    • Centralia High School (09-12)
  • Columbia School District No. 93 – Columbia
    • Center for Gifted Education (01-05)
    • Cedar Ridge Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Thomas Benton Elementary School (PK-05)
    • John Ridgeway Elementary School (K-05)
    • Eugene Field/ Alpha Hart Lewis Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Midway Heights Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Ulysses S. Grant Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Two Mile Prairie Elementary School (PK-05)
    • New Haven Elementary School (PK-05)
    • West Boulevard Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Locust Street Expressive Arts Elementary School
    • Parkade Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Blue Ridge Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Fairview Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Russell Boulevard Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Shepard Boulevard Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Mary Paxton Keeley Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Beulah Ralph Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Eliot Battle Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Derby Ridge Elementary School (PK-05)
    • Mill Creek Elementary School (PK-05)
    • John B. Lange Middle School (06-08)
    • Ann Hawkins Gentry Middle School (06-08)
    • Smithton Middle School (06-08)
    • Oakland Middle School (06-08)
    • Jefferson Middle School (06-08)
    • West Middle School (06-08)
    • Warner Middle School (06-08)
    • David H. Hickman High School (09-12)
    • Muriel Battle High School (09-12)
    • Frederick Douglass High School (09-12) – Alternative School
    • Rock Bridge High School (09-12)
  • Hallsville R-IV School District – Hallsville
    • Hallsville Primary School (PK-01)
    • Hallsville Intermediate School (02-05)
    • Hallsville Middle School (06-08)
    • Hallsville High School (09-12)
  • Harrisburg R-VIII School District – Harrisburg
    • Harrisburg Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Harrisburg Middle School (07-08)
    • Harrisburg High School (09-12)
  • Sturgeon R-V School District – Sturgeon
    • Sturgeon Elementary School (K-04)
    • Sturgeon Middle School (05-08)
    • Sturgeon High School (09-12)

Private schools

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Post-secondary (colleges / University / community college)

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Public libraries

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Communities

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Cities

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Villages

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Unincorporated communities

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Townships

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Township boundaries have changed over time. See links at end of article for maps of Boone County showing boundaries of different dates. As a rule, older townships were split, with newer townships created from their subdivisions. This is significant for historical and genealogical research. Note that maps show changes in township boundaries between 1898 and 1930 were minimal.

Politics

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As a county anchored by a college town, Boone holds a Democratic tendency at the local, state, and federal levels. It is the only Democratic stronghold in Missouri outside of Greater St. Louis and the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Boone County is also very progressive on ballot measures, voting for Medicaid expansion in 2020 and legal abortion in 2024, unlike all of its neighboring counties. Both amendments only narrowly passed statewide, making Boone County's votes crucial.

No Republican has won Boone County at the presidential level since George W. Bush very narrowly did in 2004, let alone with a majority since landslide victor Ronald Reagan in 1984; at the U.S. Senate level since Roy Blunt in 2010; nor at the gubernatorial level since the popular John Ashcroft (who won the county both terms) in his 1988 landslide re-election.

United States presidential election results for Boone County, Missouri[18]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2024 39,673 43.90% 48,452 53.61% 2,250 2.49%
2020 38,646 42.32% 50,064 54.82% 2,616 2.86%
2016 36,200 43.16% 41,125 49.04% 6,543 7.80%
2012 37,404 47.10% 39,847 50.17% 2,171 2.73%
2008 36,849 43.22% 47,062 55.20% 1,340 1.57%
2004 37,801 49.71% 37,643 49.50% 602 0.79%
2000 28,426 47.69% 28,811 48.33% 2,372 3.98%
1996 22,047 42.46% 24,984 48.12% 4,889 9.42%
1992 19,405 33.52% 26,176 45.22% 12,309 21.26%
1988 22,948 48.35% 24,370 51.35% 140 0.29%
1984 26,600 57.87% 19,364 42.13% 0 0.00%
1980 16,313 42.00% 18,527 47.70% 3,997 10.29%
1976 16,373 46.92% 17,674 50.65% 846 2.42%
1972 17,488 56.13% 13,666 43.87% 0 0.00%
1968 11,917 46.36% 11,771 45.80% 2,015 7.84%
1964 7,695 34.27% 14,758 65.73% 0 0.00%
1960 10,453 47.59% 11,514 52.41% 0 0.00%
1956 8,197 44.07% 10,404 55.93% 0 0.00%
1952 7,545 42.42% 10,206 57.39% 34 0.19%
1948 4,289 29.27% 10,200 69.61% 164 1.12%
1944 4,195 30.12% 9,704 69.67% 30 0.22%
1940 4,869 29.43% 11,615 70.21% 59 0.36%
1936 3,624 24.28% 11,241 75.31% 61 0.41%
1932 3,241 21.64% 11,554 77.13% 184 1.23%
1928 4,876 36.61% 8,422 63.23% 21 0.16%
1924 3,547 28.67% 8,657 69.97% 169 1.37%
1920 4,077 31.63% 8,748 67.87% 65 0.50%
1916 2,180 27.81% 5,601 71.46% 57 0.73%
1912 1,350 18.86% 5,027 70.23% 781 10.91%
1908 2,149 29.63% 5,041 69.49% 64 0.88%
1904 1,857 29.35% 4,375 69.15% 95 1.50%
1900 1,672 25.38% 4,793 72.74% 124 1.88%
1896 1,705 24.99% 5,075 74.39% 42 0.62%
1892 1,495 25.75% 4,054 69.82% 257 4.43%
1888 1,512 26.79% 4,068 72.08% 64 1.13%

Public safety

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The Boone County Fire Protection District responding to a working structure fire.

The Boone County Sheriff has jurisdiction over the whole county. The Boone County Fire Protection District (BCFPD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services for a large portion of Boone County, Missouri.[19] The BCFPD is the largest volunteer fire department and third largest fire service organization in the state, protecting 492 square miles (1,270 km2) of residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural property and over 50,000 people.[19] The Boone County Fire District maintains 15 fire stations, a training center, and a headquarters facility.[20]

History

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Prior to 1964, there was no organized fire protection in Boone County. This changed after an elderly handicapped woman died in a house fire just west of the city limits of Columbia. A small group of CB radio enthusiasts, known as the Central Missouri Radio Squad, banded together to develop a fire protection system for Boone County.[21]

USAR Task Force

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Boone County Fire is the sponsoring agency of Urban Search and Rescue Missouri Task Force 1 (MO-TF1), which is one of 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces across the United States.[22] The team is made up of 210 members that are qualified in various aspects of urban search and rescue.[23]

Notable people

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "2020 Population and Housing State Data". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  2. ^ Eaton, David Wolfe (1916). How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named. The State Historical Society of Missouri. pp. 211.
  3. ^ The Story of Little Dixie, Missouri, Missouri Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans Archived July 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 3, 2008
  4. ^ T. J. Stiles, Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War, New York: Vintage Books, 2003, pp.10–11
  5. ^ PAPERS RELATING TO FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ACCOMPANYING THE ANNUAL MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE SECOND SESSION THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, PART IV, APPENDIX TO DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF 1865; THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD, SECRETARY OF STATE, AND FREDERICK W. SEWARD, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, ON THE EVENING OF April 14, 1865; EXPRESSIONS OF CONDOLENCE AND SYMPATHY INSPIRED BY THESE EVENTS; Foreign Relations of the United States; Washington DC, 1866, Document 1090
  6. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  7. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  8. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  9. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  10. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  11. ^ "Population and Housing Unit Estimates". Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  12. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Boone County, Missouri".
  15. ^ Breeding, Marshall. "Centralia Public Library". Libraries.org. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  16. ^ "Southern Boone County Public Library".
  17. ^ "Columbia Public Library".
  18. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  19. ^ a b "Fun Facts". Boone County Fire. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  20. ^ "Boone County Fire Protection District" (PDF). Bcfdmo.coma. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 15, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
  21. ^ "History". Boone County Fire Protection District. Archived from the original on November 7, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  22. ^ "US&R Task Force Locations". FEMA. Archived from the original on July 5, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2006.
  23. ^ "USAR Task Force". Boone County Fire. Retrieved May 22, 2015.

Further reading

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  • History of Boone County, Missouri: Written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources; including a history of its townships, towns, and villages. Together with ... biographical sketches and portraits of prominent citizens (1882) online
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38°57′06″N 92°19′43″W / 38.951561°N 92.328638°W / 38.951561; -92.328638 (Boone County, Missouri)