Mansfield is a city in Wright County,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, United States. The population was 1,296 at the 2010 census.

History

Mansfield was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted in 1882 by F. M. Mansfield, and named for him. A post office called Mansfield has been in operation since 1882.

Geography

Mansfield is located in the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover ...

on the south edge of the Salem Plateau. The community is served by

US Route 60 U.S. Route 60 is a major east–west United States highway, traveling from southwestern Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Virginia. The highway's eastern terminus is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where it is known as General Booth Bouleva ...

and

Missouri Route 5 Missouri Route 5 is the longest state highway in Missouri and the only Missouri state highway to traverse the entire state. To the north, it continues into Iowa as Iowa Highway 5 and to the south it enters Arkansas as Arkansas Highway 5 as pa ...

. The town sits on the

drainage divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

between the White River

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

to the south and the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

tributaries to the north. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Climate

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 1,296 people, 568 households, and 322 families living in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 646 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.6%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.6%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.5% Asian, and 0.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.9% of the population. There were 568 households, of which 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 43.3% were non-families. 38.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 3.07. The median age in the city was 38.1 years. 27.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.3% were from 25 to 44; 24.4% were from 45 to 64; and 17% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.4% male and 52.6% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 1,349 people, 564 households, and 354 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 632 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.3%

, 0.2%

, 0.8% Native American, 0.3% Asian, and 1.4% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.6% of the population. There were 564 households, out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were

living together in Mansfield, Mo 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present 37.1% were classified as "non-families" (a U.S. census term for one individual living alone, or a group of individuals who are not all related by blood, marriage, or adoption). 34.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.07. In the city the population was spread out, with 29.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 17.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 83.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $21,875, and the median income for a family was $27,734. Males had a median income of $27,143 versus $15,216 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $11,303. About 20.9% of families and 24.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 29.8% of those under age 18 and 33.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Public education in Mansfield is administered by Mansfield R-IV School District. In 1973 voters accepted a bond to have a new elementary school built. Mansfield has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Public Library.

Notable people

In 1894,

Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer, teacher, and journalist. She is best known as the author of the children's book series ''Little House on the Prairie'', published between 1932 and 1 ...

, along with her husband, Almanzo, and their daughter

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

moved from

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

to Mansfield. They remained in the area for the next 60 years and established Rocky Ridge Farm, a large, successful poultry, dairy, and fruit farm on the outskirts of town. Today, their unique 10-room farmhouse is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

, and the home of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum, which attracts thousands of visitors to Mansfield each year. The Wilders also lived for a time in the Rock House built for them by their daughter Rose. As a young man, future actor

Ken Osmond Kenneth Charles Osmond (June 7, 1943May 18, 2020) was an American actor and police officer. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of four, Osmond played the role of Eddie Haskell on the late 1950s to early 1960s television situation com ...

, of ''

Leave It to Beaver ''Leave It to Beaver'' is an American television sitcom that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It starred Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers. CBS first broadcast the show ...

'', was a neighbor of the Wilders. File:Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, Mansfield, MO IMG 1758.JPG, Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Mansfield File:LauraIngallsWilder-RockyRidgeFarm-MansfieldMO.JPG, Rocky Ridge Farm File:Rock House, Mansfield, MO IMG 1756 (2).JPG, Rock House at Wilder complex Evangelical theologian Timothy Paul Jones was born in Mansfield, Missouri.Jones, Timothy Paul. (2003). An analysis of the relationship between Fowlerian stage-development and self-assessed maturity in Christian faithfulness among evangelical Christians. Dissertation. https://repository.sbts.edu/bitstream/handle/10392/243/3120603.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

References

External links

Mansfield, Missouri website

Mansfield, Missouri Chamber of Commerce

Official website of the Bakersville Pioneer Village, a reconstructed late 19th-century village strip located at Baker Creek Farm just north of Mansfield

Official website of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum, a local tourist attraction
* Historic maps of Mansfield in th
Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection
at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

{{authority control Cities in Wright County, Missouri Cities in Missouri