Welcome
to St. Francois County
St. Francois County, Missouri, is located
in the heartland of America, just 80 miles south of the St.
Louis metropolitan area.
The County is largely rural and offers a varied landscape
ranging from rolling crop lands to the St. Francois Mountains of
the Missouri Ozarks.
Within 25 miles of the County is Taum Sauk Mountain to the west,
the highest point in Missouri, and to the east, the Mississippi
River. And
yet, the County is only a little over an hour’s travel from
the entertainment, sports and cultural attractions of the St.
Louis area via four-lane U. S. Highway 67 and Interstate 55.
This central location, and an efficient surface transportation
network, offers important advantages to St. Francois County
businesses. Portions
of 20 states, with a combined population of 107 million people,
are located within a 500-mile radius of the County.
The states in this market area include 43% of all U. S.
retail sales and 47% of all U. S. manufacturing establishments.
Retail sales in this market area exceed $1.5 trillion.
These important markets can be reached quickly from St. Francois
County by rail, truck, air or by barge via the Bussen public
dock in southern St. Louis County.
Reasonably priced rail service to both coasts, and barge
access to the Port of New Orleans, provide shipping corridors to
foreign markets.
The completion of a new slackwater port and public
transfer facility now under construction just south of the City
of Ste. Genevieve will further reduce shipping time by barge.
In addition to its market advantages, the communities of St.
Francois County offer a quality living and working environment,
good schools, and government and community leaders ready to work
with new businesses.
The recorded history of St. Francois County began about 1700.
Following reports from local native American Indians, the
earliest explorers located rich lead deposits some “50 leagues
west of Ste. Genevieve” at a site presumed to be at or near
present-day Mine LaMotte.
It is virtually certain these early explorers at least
passed through St. Francois County.
By 1735, a seasonal mining operation was established just west of
the City of Desloge, and for over a century, lead mining provided
the main economic stimulus within the County.
As miners and their families immigrated into the County,
businesses grew to supply their needs.
The rich farmlands of St. Francois County also attracted
immigrants, and agriculture grew to be an important industry in
the County. Throughout
the mining era, lead was the state’s most significant resource,
and St. Francois County lay spread out over much of the
“Missouri Lead Belt” which produced lead for the world.
In 1821, St. Francois County became the ninth county in the newly
admitted State of Missouri.
St. Francois County was formed from sections of Ste.
Genevieve, Washington and Jefferson Counties.
The following year, Farmington was founded specifically to
serve as the County seat.
Land for this new town was donated to the County by David
Murphy, a wealthy landowner.
By 1832, five separate mining operations were active around
the site of the present-day City of Park
Hills.
By 1830, the first year an official census was taken in Missouri,
the population of St. Francois County had grown to 2,366 people.
During those early years of statehood, “company” towns were
founded to support miners and their families.
By the late 1950's, the ore veins had begun to “play
out,” and mining companies began migrating south and west to the
richer areas of the Viburnum Trend.
The closing of the St. Joseph lead mines in Park Hills in
1972 marked the end of an economic era in St. Francois County and
launched a quest for a new and diversified economic base.
The heritage of mining in St. Francois County is remembered
in some of its placenames such as Leadwood and Leadington.
The people of St. Francois County have been anxious to preserve
their mining legacy and worked closely with state officials to
create St. Joe State Park
at the site of the former St. Joe Lead
Company mine. St.
Joe State Park is the second largest state park in Missouri and
one of the most popular.
The park offers hiking, picnicking, camping, swimming and
trails for horseback riding and off-road vehicles.
The Missouri
Mines State Historic Site, located at the edge of the park,
provides interpretation of local mining and processing techniques,
and tours of the former St. Joe mining operation.
Today, the economy of St. Francois County is powered by an
increasingly diverse mix of manufacturers, retailers, service
providers, health care providers, higher education and a number of
large state-operated facilities.
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