St. Francois County ( ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the Lead Belt region in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. At the 2020 census, the population was 66,922. The largest city and

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 Farmington. The county was officially organized on December 19, 1821. It was named after the St. Francis River. The origin of the river's name is unclear. It may refer to St. Francis of Assisi. Another possibility is that

Jacques Marquette Jacques Marquette, Society of Jesus, S.J. (; June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Society of Jesus, Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. M ...

, a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

who explored the region in 1673, named the river for the Jesuit missionary

Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, Jesuits, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Kingdom of Navarre, Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus ...

; Marquette had spent some time at the mission of St. François Xavier before his voyage and, as a Jesuit, was unlikely to have given the river a name honoring the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

s. St. Francois County comprises the Farmington Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

– St. Charles–Farmington–

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Combined Statistical Area.

History

Seal

A former county seal, used from 2018 to 2022, was posted on the

subreddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

r/CrappyDesign where it received considerable attention and was covered by local and national news organizations. It was criticized for being "overdone" and "amateurish," though some said they felt it stood out and was "spontaneous." The 2018 seal was designed during a weekend deadline by

county commission A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States. A county usually has three to fiv ...

er Harold Gallaher and incorporated components from an older 1982 seal designed by a high school student in

needlework Needlework refers to decorative sewing and other textile arts, textile handicrafts that involve the use of a Sewing needle, needle. Needlework may also include related textile crafts like crochet (which uses a crochet hook, hook), or tatting, ( ...

. The seal was unanimously approved by the county commission and was used on government signage and vehicles. The seal featured

clip art Clip art (also clipart, clip-art) is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is creat ...

-style images of a

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

atop the

American flag The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

, a pickaxe and shovel, a

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

and

Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as representing the crucifixion of Jesus, is a religious symbol, symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix, a cross that includes a ''corpus'' (a representation of Jesus' body, usually three-dimensional) a ...

, and an outline of the county. It also featured the phrase "

In God we trust "In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, official motto of the United States as well as the motto of the U.S. state of Florida, along with the nation of Nicaragua (Spanish language, Spanish: '' ...

" and the founding date of the county. In response to the attention it received, the county held a contest to redesign the seal. Gallaher requested that the redesign make reference to the parks in the county as well as include elements from the old seal. The county received 264 or 282 entries from 33 counties and 35 states, of which three finalists were chosen. Some included the St. Francois County Courthouse and referenced the county's mining history. The winning design was submitted by Bryan Finch, a graphic designer from Farmington, Missouri, a city in St. Francois County.

Adjacent counties

* Jefferson County (north) * Ste. Genevieve County (east) * Perry County (southeast) * Madison County (south) * Iron County (southwest) * Washington County (west)

Major highways

U.S. Route 67 U.S. Route 67 is a major north–south U.S. highway which extends for 1,560 miles (2,511 km) in the Central United States. The southern terminus of the route is at the United States-Mexico border in Presidio, Texas, where it continues ...

* Route 8 * Route 32 * Route 47 * Route 221

National protected area

Mark Twain National Forest Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF) is a U.S. National Forest located in the southern half of Missouri, composed of nine disconnected parcels. MTNF was established on September 11, 1939. It is named for author Mark Twain, a Missouri native. The ...

(part)

Demographics

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 2000, there were 55,641 people, 20,793 households, and 14,659 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 24,449 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.14%

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 ...

, 2.02%

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 ...

, 0.35% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.02%

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 ...

, 0.23% from other races, and 0.92% 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 0.80% of the population. There were 20,793 households, out of which 32.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.90% 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, 11.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.50% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.94. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.00% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 29.40% from 25 to 44, 22.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 103.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $39,551, and the median income for a family was $47,923. Males had a median income of $29,961 versus $19,412 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 $19,047. Approximately 14.90% of the population and 11.00% of families 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 19.80% under the age of 18 and 11.50% over the age of 65.

Religion

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives County Membership Report (2000), St. Francois County is a part of the

Bible Belt The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States and the Midwestern state of Missouri (which also has significant Southern influence), where evangelical Protestantism exerts a strong social and cultural influence. The region has been de ...

with evangelical Protestantism being the majority religion. The most predominant denominations among residents in St. Francois County who adhere to a religion are

Southern Baptists The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Ch ...

(45.48%),

Roman Catholics 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 ...

(14.94%), and Methodists (8.37%). There is also a small Orthodox Christian presence in the county, an example being Nativity of the Holy Virgin Mary Orthodox Church in Desloge. Catholic Churches in the county are Immaculate Conception in Park Hills, St. Joseph in Farmington, St. Joseph in Bonne Terre, St. John in Bismarck, and St. Anne in French Village.

2020 Census

Politics

Local

The Republican Party predominantly controls politics at the local level in St. Francois County. Republicans hold all but two of the county's elected positions.

State

St. Francois County is divided into three legislative districts in the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

. * District 115 — Currently represented by Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway (R- Festus). It consists of the northern parts of the county, including Blackwell, French Village, and part of Park Hills. * District 116 — Currently represented by

Dale Wright (politician) Dale L. Wright (born ) is an American politician. He is a member of the Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts w ...

(R- Farmington). It consists of the southeastern section of the county, including part of Farmington. * District 117 — Currently represented by Mike Henderson (R- Bonne Terre). It consists of the western parts of the county and includes the communities of Bismarck, Bonne Terre, Desloge, Doe Run, Iron Mountain Lake, Leadington, Leadwood, and parts of Farmington and Park Hills. All of St. Francois County is a part of Missouri's 3rd District in the

Missouri Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 181,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

and is currently represented by Elaine Gannon (R- De Soto).

Federal

St. Francois County is included in Missouri's 8th Congressional District and is currently represented by Jason T. Smith (R- Salem) in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

. Smith won a special election on Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to finish out the remaining term of

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Jo Ann Emerson Jo Ann Emerson (née Hermann; born September 16, 1950) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 1996 to 2013. The district consists of Southeast and South Central Missouri and includes the Bootheel, the Lead Belt and ...

(R- Cape Girardeau). Emerson announced her resignation a month after being reelected with over 70 percent of the vote in the district. She resigned to become CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative.

Covid-19 controversy

During the 2020

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the head of the St. Francois County Public Health Department described being driven to resign from her position by residents who refused to "accept the reality of the pandemic" and made “cowardly“ anonymous

threats A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation fo ...

against her and her family.

Education

Of adults 25 years of age and older in St. Francois County, 72.4% possess a

high school diploma A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary s ...

or higher while 10.2% hold a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

or higher as their highest level of educational attainment.

Public schools

*Bismarck R-V School District – Bismarck **Bismarck Elementary School (PK–06) **Bismarck High School (07–12) *Farmington R-VII School District – Farmington **Jefferson Elementary School (01–04) **Lincoln Intermediate School (05–06) **Roosevelt Elementary School (01–04) **Truman Learning Center (PK-K) **Washington-Franklin Elementary School (01–04) **Farmington Middle School (07–08) **Farmington High School (09–12) **W.L. Johns Administrative Office Building *North St. Francois County R-I School District – Bonne Terre **North St. Francois County Primary School (PK–02) – Bonne Terre **North St. Francois County Parkside Elementary School (03–04) – Desloge **North St. Francois County Intermediate School (05–06) – Desloge **North St. Francois County Middle School (07–08) – Desloge **North St. Francois County High School (09–12) – Bonne Terre *St. Francois County Central R-III School District – Park Hills **Park Hills Central Elementary School (K–02) **West Elementary School (03–05) **Park Hills Central Middle School (06–08) **Park Hills Central High School (09–12) *West St. Francois County R-IV School District – Leadwood **West St. Francois County Elementary School (PK–05) – Park Hills **West St. Francois County Middle School (06–08) – Leadwood **West St. Francois County High School (09–12) – Park Hills

Private schools

*St. Paul Lutheran School – Farmington – (PK–12) –

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

*St. Joseph School – Farmington – (K–08) –

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 ...

*St. Joseph Elementary School – Bonne Terre – (PK–06) –

Vocational-technical and other schools

*Juvenile Detention Center – Farmington – (04–12) *Midwest Learning Center – Farmington – (04–12) *Unitec Career Center – Bonne Terre – (10–12)

Colleges and universities

* Mineral Area College – Park Hills – A public, two-year community college.

Public libraries

* Bonne Terre Memorial Library Farmington Public Library

Communities

Cities

* Bismarck * Bonne Terre * Desloge * Farmington (county seat) * Iron Mountain Lake * Leadington * Leadwood * Park Hills

Census-designated places

* Doe Run * Frankclay * Goose Creek Lake * Knob Lick * Lake Timberline * Terre du Lac * Wortham

Other unincorporated communities

* Blackwell * Cross Roads * De Lassus * French Village *

Gumbo Gumbo () is a stew that is popular among the U.S. Gulf Coast community, the New Orleans stew variation being the official state cuisine of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Gumbo consists primarily of a strongly flavored stock, meat or shellfis ...

* Halifax * Hamilton Town * Hazel Run * Hurryville * Iron Mountain * Koester * Libertyville * Loughboro * Mineral City * Middlebrook * Mitchell * Ogborn * Old Mines * Rock Springs * Settletown * Silver Springs *

Syenite Syenite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock with a general composition similar to that of granite, but deficient in quartz, which, if present at all, occurs in relatively small concentrations (< 5%). It is considered a Haggai Haggai or Aggeus (; – ''Ḥaggay''; ; Koine Greek: Ἀγγαῖος; ) was a Hebrew prophet active during the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the author or subject of the ...

*Flat River was a small town, now is neighborhood in Park Hills, Mo

References

External links

*
Digitized 1930 Plat Book of St. Francois County
from

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 ...

Division of Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books {{authority control Regions of Greater St. Louis 1821 establishments in Missouri Populated places established in 1821