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Washington County, Missouri (view source)
Revision as of 00:07, October 13, 2020
, 00:07, October 13, 2020Added to page
Washington County, owing to its economic importance and rapidly growing population, would be the first county organized in Missouri after the five original counties ([[Cape Girardeau County, Missouri|Cape Girardeau]], [[New Madrid County, Missouri|New Madrid]], St. Charles, St. Louis, and [[Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]]). It was created by the territorial legislature on August 21, 1813, from the western part of Ste. Genevieve County, and named in honor of America's first President. Israel McGready was the first man to represent it in the legislature. Mine a Breton initially served as the county seat, but after 1814 this position passed to neighboring Potosi.<ref>Robert Sidney Douglass, ''History of Southeast Missouri'' (1912), p. 153, 169.</ref>
Washington County, owing to its economic importance and rapidly growing population, would be the first county organized in Missouri after the five original counties ([[Cape Girardeau County, Missouri|Cape Girardeau]], [[New Madrid County, Missouri|New Madrid]], St. Charles, St. Louis, and [[Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]]). It was created by the territorial legislature on August 21, 1813, from the western part of Ste. Genevieve County, and named in honor of America's first President. Israel McGready was the first man to represent it in the legislature. Mine a Breton initially served as the county seat, but after 1814 this position passed to neighboring Potosi.<ref>Robert Sidney Douglass, ''History of Southeast Missouri'' (1912), p. 153, 169.</ref>
As one of the first counties organized in Missouri, Washington County was initially much larger than it is today, encompassing much of the northeastern Ozarks; its size was gradually reduced during the next several decades as more and more counties were formed from it. By 1870, it had approximately reached its current size and boundaries. Through the antebellum era, it counted among the most prosperous parts of the state thanks to its mining activity, and such communities as Potosi and Caledonia sported a number of stately homes and churches from an early date. Apart from some guerrilla action, it stayed largely in [[Union]] hands during the [[Civil War]]; after that point, though, the shift of lead mining to neighboring St. Francois County resulted in its being somewhat eclipsed. Nonetheless, Washington County remained a mining center of moderate importance--of [[iron]] and [[copper]] as well as lead--well into the 20th century.
In recent years, the county has benefited from the opening of a correctional center at Potosi, with the population growing by nearly 25% between 1990 and 2010.
==Geography==
==Geography==