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Oregon County, Missouri (view source)
Revision as of 02:58, December 24, 2020
, 02:58, December 24, 2020Added to page
The county grew more rapidly after its organization, reaching a population of about 3,000 in 1860; like much of Missouri, though, it suffered significant devastation during the [[Civil War]], in which the courthouse was destroyed and civilians were at the mercy of [[Union]] and [[Confederate]] [[guerrilla warfare|guerrillas]]. One notable event during the war was the destruction of a community of Irish Catholic settlers from [[St. Louis]], founded in the late 1850s; by late 1863, harassment by Union army officers as well as guerrillas and criminal gangs led to the settlement being abandoned--ever since then, the area has been known as the "Irish Wilderness."<ref>Mike Crawford, Father Hogan’s 1859 Irish Wilderness Settlement (Doniphan, Missouri: The Prospect-News)</ref>
The county grew more rapidly after its organization, reaching a population of about 3,000 in 1860; like much of Missouri, though, it suffered significant devastation during the [[Civil War]], in which the courthouse was destroyed and civilians were at the mercy of [[Union]] and [[Confederate]] [[guerrilla warfare|guerrillas]]. One notable event during the war was the destruction of a community of Irish Catholic settlers from [[St. Louis]], founded in the late 1850s; by late 1863, harassment by Union army officers as well as guerrillas and criminal gangs led to the settlement being abandoned--ever since then, the area has been known as the "Irish Wilderness."<ref>Mike Crawford, Father Hogan’s 1859 Irish Wilderness Settlement (Doniphan, Missouri: The Prospect-News)</ref>
Like much of the state, Oregon County was slow to recover from the effects of the Civil War. Its economy boomed beginning in the 1880s and '90s, as the arrival of the railroads made lumber-cutting profitable in the Ozark forests, and much of the arable land was devoted to fruit orchards. There was also an attempt to establish summer resorts along the many natural springs in the Thayer area, though this ultimately proved unsuccessful. From the 1910s onward, with the forests mostly cleared, the local economy and thus the population declined significantly, and continued to do so until at least the 1970s. In recent decades, however, tourism and recreation, especially along the scenic Eleven Point River, has led to a bit of a comeback for the area.
==Geography==
==Geography==