1901 Church picnic Clarkson Spring
Lawrence County is available for adoption.
If you have a local connection to Lawrence County
or an interest in Missouri in general,
Please consider joining the MOGenWeb as a County
Coordinator.
Requirements are simple, peruse them here.
https://mogenweb.org/moccguide.htm
MOGenWeb Policies and Procedures
https://www.mogenweb.org/pol-pro.htm
Contact Bob
Jenkins if you are interested.
In addition:, we would appreciate any
contribution that you would like to make to this
site: biographies, obituaries, birth,
marriage, death info, grave info,
photographs....etc
The MOGenWeb Project sincerely
thanks the dedicated former county
coordinator Vicki Kizer
who devoted so much time and effort toward making
this site a successful one.
Thank you for all you have done.
Lawrence County, Missouri
📜 Brief History of Lawrence County, Missouri
Lawrence County was officially organized on February 14, 1845, carved from parts of Barry and Dade counties. It was named in honor of Captain James Lawrence, a U.S. naval officer from the War of 1812 remembered for his rallying cry, “Don’t give up the ship!”.
- Early Settlement: The area was originally home to the Osage and other Native tribes. European‑American settlers began arriving in the early 1830s, many from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
- County Seat: By May 1845, Mount Vernon was chosen as the county seat for its central location.
- Civil War Era: As a border state county, Lawrence endured hardship during the Civil War. Bushwhackers and raids forced more than half of its residents to flee, leaving farms and communities devastated.
- Industry & Growth: The late 19th century saw the rise of lead and zinc mining, especially near Aurora and Stotts City. Agriculture, particularly cattle farming, became a cornerstone of the local economy and remains vital today.
- Transportation: The arrival of Route 66 in the 1920s and later Interstate 44 in the 1960s reshaped commerce and travel through the county.
- Community Landmarks: Lawrence County was home to Missouri’s first state tuberculosis sanatorium (1906–2014), and the Carnation Company’s arrival in 1924 boosted dairy farming.
