Howell County, Missouri

Howell County is a county located in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri. It had a population of 40,400 at the 2010 census. One of the larger counties in the Missouri Ozarks, by both land area and population, it was formally organized on March 2, 1857, and named for Josiah Howell, a local notable and a member of one of the first families to settle in the region. West Plains is the county seat and the largest city.

History

The area that would become Howell County was first inhabited by a number of Indian tribes, including many members of the Osage nation. They were drawn by the fertile prairies in this part of the Ozarks, to which they occasionally added by the burning of trees and other vegetation.

The first American pioneers to settle in the region had begun to trickle in by the late 1830s, also attracted to the prairies with their potential for livestock grazing. Among the most important of these was the Howell family from Tennessee, whose leader, Josiah, purchased a plot of land near the center of what is now West Plains. One of his sons, Thomas Jefferson Howell, would later represent Oregon County (to which most of the area was still attached at that time) in the Missouri legislature, and the family as a whole was prominent enough for many nearby landmarks to bear their name (such as Howell Spring, Howell Valley, etc.). It was natural, then, that when the legislature organized this part of the state as a new county in 1857, it would be named for the family: specifically for Josiah, still regarded as the family patriarch.

At the time of the 1860 federal census, Howell County had a population of a little over 3,000, and West Plains had already come into existence as a flourishing farming community and the permanent county seat. It was hit especially hard, though, by the subsequent Civil War; no significant battles were fought within the county, but there was constant guerrilla warfare, and West Plains was mostly burned to the ground. By 1865, over 90% of the original population had fled. The immediate post-war era saw a slow rebuilding, but this was soon accelerated by the arrival of the railroads in the 1880s, creating a boom for agriculture and timber harvesting and making West Plains a significant rail hub, as well as the center of such industries as canning and the making of bricks and cigars. The county's population soared from only about 4,200 in 1870 to almost 22,000 in 1900.

Though Howell County's growth and overall prosperity were hampered somewhat by the onset of the Great Depression, it continued to be among the most populous areas of the central Ozarks, and the extension of the federal highway system, including U.S. 60 and 63, which provided direct connection to major cities like Springfield, brought a renewed surge. Despite several setbacks, such as a devastating 1928 explosion in West Plains that destroyed much of the downtown area, and a deadly 1982 tornado, it has continued to expand, nearly doubling its population since 1960.

Howell County briefly drew national attention in 2008, due to a billboard outside West Plains that drew attention to then-candidate Barack Obama's murky religious loyalties by displaying an image of him wearing a turban. Media outlets such as the Washington Post insinuated that the billboard's message was racist.

Geography

Howell County is located in the center of Missouri's southernmost tier of counties, along the border with Arkansas. It is rectangular in shape, about 38 miles in extent from north to south compared with about 24 miles from west to east. It is bordered on the northeast by Shannon County, on the east by Oregon County, on the south by the state of Arkansas, on the west by Ozark County, on the northwest by Douglas County, and on the north by Texas County.

The county has a total area of 928.37 square miles, including 927.25 of land and 1.12 of water. It is the fourth-largest county in Missouri by area. Though located within the Ozark Mountains (sometimes called the Ozarks Plateau), most of Howell County, apart from some more rugged uplands in the northwest and extreme north, is generally level, characterized in many places by rolling prairies, especially in and around West Plains. The highest elevation, about 1,560 feet above sea level, is along the Texas County line northwest of Willow Springs; the lowest elevation is about 750 feet along the Eleven Point River as it flows east into Oregon County, but most of the terrain is closer to about 1,000 feet.

There are three federal highways in the county: U.S. Route 60, which crosses its northern edge, including the cities of Mountain View and Willow Springs; Route 63, which roughly bisects it from northwest to southeast and passes through West Plains; and Route 160, which crosses west to east through its center and intersects Route 63 at West Plains. Other major highways include Missouri State Highways 14, 17, 76, and 142.

Communities

Howell County is home to six incorporated communities, including four cities and two census-designated places (CDPs).

Cities

• Brandsville
• Mountain View
• West Plains (county seat)
• Willow Springs

CDPs

• Pomona
• South Fork