Saline County is a
county located along 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 ...
in the
U.S. state of
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 ...
. As of the
2020 census, the population was 23,333. Its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is
Marshall.
The county was established November 25, 1820, and named for the region's salt springs.
Settled primarily by migrants from the Upper South during the nineteenth century, this county was in the region bordering the Missouri River known as "
Little Dixie". In the antebellum years, it had many plantations operated with the
forced labor of
enslaved workers. One-third of the county population was African American at the start of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, but their proportion of the residents has declined dramatically to little more than five percent.
Saline County comprises the
Marshall, Missouri Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Saline County was occupied for thousands of years by succeeding cultures of
Missouri Native Americans. Saline County was organized by European-American settlers on November 25, 1820, and was named from the
salinity
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...
of the springs found in the region. After periods of conflict as settlers competed for resources and encroached on their territory, the local Native Americans, including the
Osage nation, were forced by the U.S. government to move to reservations in Indian Territory, first in Kansas and then in Oklahoma.
Saline County was among several along the Missouri River that were settled primarily by migrants from the
Upper South
The Upland South and Upper South are two overlapping cultural and geographic subregions in the inland part of the Southern United States. They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, economics, demographics, ...
states of
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
,
Tennessee and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. The settlers quickly started cultivating crops similar to those in
Middle Tennessee and Kentucky:
hemp and
tobacco; they had brought enslaved people with them to central Missouri, or purchased them from slave traders. These counties settled by southerners became known as "
Little Dixie." By the time of the Civil War, one-third of the county population was
African American; most of them were
enslaved laborers on major
plantations, particularly for labor-intensive tobacco cultivation. In 1847 the state legislature had prohibited any African Americans from being educated.
After the war,
freedmen and other residents had a hunger for education. The state's new constitution established public education for all citizens for the first time. It was segregated, in keeping with local custom. Each township with 20 or more African-American students were supposed to establish a school for them, but rural areas lagged in the number of schools and jurisdictions underfunded those for blacks. By the early 20th century, Saline County had eighteen schools for black students.
[''Rural and Small Town Schools in Missouri''](_blank)
Dept. of Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Officer, 2002, p. 10, accessed March 15, 2015 The remaining black schools from the
Jim Crow era have been studied by the State Historic Preservation Office and many are being nominated to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.5%) is water.
Its northern border is 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 ...
where it is increased by the confluence of the
Grand River.
Adjacent counties
*
Carroll County (northwest)
*
Chariton County (northeast)
*
Howard County (east)
*
Cooper County (southeast)
*
Pettis County (south)
*
Lafayette County (west)
Major highways
*
Interstate 70
*
U.S. Route 40
*
U.S. Route 65
*
Route 20
*
Route 41
*
Route 127
*
Route 240
National protected area
*
Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge (part)
Demographics
The largely rural county reached its peak of population in 1930, and has slowly declined since then since mechanization of farming has meant that fewer workers are needed; from about 1910 to the 1970s,
African Americans often moved to larger urban areas for work and better social conditions.
At the 2000
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 ...
,
there were 23,756 people, 9,015 households and 6,013 families residing in the county. 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 10,019 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 90.03%
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 ...
, 5.39%
Black or
African American, 0.31%
Native American, 0.35%
Asian, 0.21%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 2.09% from
other races, and 1.62% from two or more races. Approximately 4.42% of the population were
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. 28.7% were of
German, 18.2%
American, 9.8%
English and 9.3%
Irish ancestry.
There were 9,015 households, of which 30.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.90% were
married couples living together, 10.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.30% were non-families. 28.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.97.
In Age distribution was 24.30% under the age of 18, 12.00% from 18 to 24, 25.20% from 25 to 44, 22.30% from 45 to 64, and 16.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 96.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.70 males.
The median household income was $32,743, and the median family income was $39,234. Males had a median income of $27,180 versus $19,431 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 county was $16,132. About 10.50% of families and 13.20% 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 18.90% of those under age 18 and 8.60% of those age 65 or over.
2020 Census
Education
Public schools
K-12 school districts include:
[ ]
Text list
/ref>
* Glasgow School District
* Malta Bend R-V School Districtbr>
– Malta Bend, Missouri, Malta Bend
**Malta Bend Elementary School (PK-05)
**Malta Bend High School (06-12)
* Marshall School Districtbr>
– Marshall
**Eastwood Elementary School (PK-03)
**Benton Elementary School (K-01)
**Northwest Elementary School (K-04)
**Southeast Elementary School (K-02)
**Bueker Middle School (05-08)
**Marshall High School (09-12)
* Pettis County R-V School District
* Santa Fe R-X School District
* Slater Public Schoolsbr>
– Slater, Missouri, Slater
**Slater Elementary School (PK-08)
**Slater High School (09-12)
* Sweet Springs R-VII School Districtbr>
– Sweet Springs, Missouri, Sweet Springs
**Sweet Springs Elementary School (PK-06)
**Sweet Springs High School (07-12)
Elementary-only school districts include:[
* Blackwater R-II School District
* Gilliam C-4 School District – Gilliam
**Gilliam Elementary School (K-08)
* Hardeman R-X School Districtbr>]
– Marshall
**Hardeman Elementary School (PK-08)
* Miami R-I School District
* Orearville R-IV School District – Orearville ( Slater, Missouri, Slater postal address)
**Orearville Elementary School (K-08)
Private schools
Calvary Baptist School
– Marshall (PK-10) – Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
(Alternative School)
St. Peter Catholic School
– Marshall (K-09) – Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
Post-secondary
* Missouri Valley College – Marshall – A private, four-year Presbyterian university.
Metropolitan Community College has the Santa Fe school district area in its out of district service area, but not its in-district taxation area.
Public libraries
*Marshall Public Library
*Slater Public Library
*Sweet Springs Public Library
Communities
Cities
* Blackburn (small part in Lafayette County)
* Emma (partly in Lafayette County)
* Malta Bend, Missouri, Malta Bend
* Marshall (county seat)
*Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
* Nelson
* Slater, Missouri, Slater
* Sweet Springs, Missouri, Sweet Springs
Villages
* Arrow Rock
* Gilliam
* Grand Pass
* Mount Leonard
Unincorporated communities
* Blue Lick
* Elmwood
* Fairville
* Hardeman
* Herndon
* Marshall Junction
* McAllister Springs
* Napton
* New Frankfort
* Norton
* Orearville
* Pennytown
* Ridge Prairie
* Saline City
* Salt Springs
* Shackleford
* Sharon
Government and Politics
Local
The Democratic Party predominantly controls politics at the local level in Saline County. Democrats hold all but four of the elected positions in the county.
State
Gubernatorial
Missouri House of Representatives
Saline County is divided into two legislative districts in the Missouri House of Representatives, both represented by Republicans.
*District 48 �
Dave Muntzel
(R- Boonville). Consists of the communities of Arrow Rock, Gilliam, Miami, Nelson, and Slater.
*District 51 �
Dean Dohrman
(R- La Monte). Consists of the communities of Blackburn, Emma, Grand Pass, Malta Bend, Marshall, Mt. Leonard, and Sweet Springs.
Missouri Senate
All of Saline County is a part of Missouri's 21st District in the Missouri Senate and is currently represented b
Denny Hoskins
(R- Warrensburg).
Federal
US Senate
US House of Representatives
All of Saline County is included in Missouri's 5th Congressional District, which is represented by Emanuel Cleaver (D- Kansas City) in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Presidential
See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Saline County, Missouri
References
Further reading
* Napton, William Barclay. ''Past and Present of Saline County Missouri''. (1910
full text
External links
from University of Missouri Division of Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books
Saline County Sheriff's Office
{{authority control
Little Dixie (Missouri)
Missouri counties on the Missouri River
1820 establishments in Missouri Territory
Populated places established in 1820