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Osceola, Missouri
St. Clair County Courthouse in Osceola
St. Clair County Courthouse in Osceola
Location of Osceola, Missouri
Location of Osceola, Missouri
Country United States
State Missouri
County St. Clair
Area
 • Total 1.04 sq mi (2.70 km2)
 • Land 1.02 sq mi (2.63 km2)
 • Water 0.03 sq mi (0.06 km2)
Elevation
751 ft (229 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 909
 • Estimate 
(2019)
908
 • Density 892.82/sq mi (344.63/km2)
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
64776
FIPS code 29-55388
GNIS feature ID 0756486

Osceola is a city in St. Clair County, Missouri, United States. The population was 909 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of St. Clair County. During the American Civil War, Osceola was the site of the Sacking of Osceola.

History

Located on the Osage River, the land that became the town of Osceola was inhabited by the tribe of Native Americans who gave the river its name. Two treaties, in 1808 and 1825, signed by the Osage and the U.S. government gave up all the tribe's land in Missouri. With the way cleared for non-native settlers, more people began to arrive in the St. Clair County area in the mid-1830s. The first home was built in the future Osceola in the winter of 1835. Osceola was laid out in 1841. It was named for Osceola, chief of the Seminole tribe.

The town was the site of the September 1861 Sacking of Osceola by Jayhawkers in which the town was burned and its courthouse looted. The event inspired the 1976 Clint Eastwood film The Outlaw Josey Wales. Prior to the attack the town had a population of around 2,500. However, fewer than 200 residents remained after the event and the population has never again approached those numbers. In September 2011, lingering bad feelings over the raid and the sesquicentennial of the event prompted the Osceola Board of Aldermen to pass a resolution asking the University of Kansas no longer to use "Jayhawk" as their mascot and nickname. Further, the resolution asks Missouri residents to stop spelling Kansas or KU with a capital letter because "neither is a proper name or a proper place".

The Osceola Public School Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Geography

Osceola is located at 38°2′47″N 93°41′58″W / 38.04639°N 93.69944°W / 38.04639; -93.69944 (38.046427, -93.699512). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.94 square miles (2.43 km2), of which, 0.91 square miles (2.36 km2) is land and 0.03 square miles (0.08 km2) is water.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1860 314
1870 331 5.4%
1880 373 12.7%
1890 995 166.8%
1900 1,037 4.2%
1910 1,114 7.4%
1920 1,025 −8.0%
1930 1,043 1.8%
1940 1,190 14.1%
1950 1,082 −9.1%
1960 1,066 −1.5%
1970 874 −18.0%
1980 841 −3.8%
1990 755 −10.2%
2000 835 10.6%
2010 947 13.4%
2019 (est.) 908 −4.1%
U.S. Decennial Census

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 947 people, 394 households, and 225 families living in the city. The population density was 1,040.7 inhabitants per square mile (401.8/km2). There were 502 housing units at an average density of 551.6 per square mile (213.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.2% White, 1.7% African American, 0.7% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.1% of the population.

There were 394 households, of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.8% were married couples living together, 16.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.9% were non-families. 39.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 22.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.81.

The median age in the city was 39.7 years. 21.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27% were from 25 to 44; 22.8% were from 45 to 64; and 20.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.2% male and 49.8% female.

Fictional residents

  • Osceola, Missouri is the birthplace of Rooster Cogburn in Charles Portis's 1968 novel "True Grit" The pillaging of Osceola by Kansas jayhawkers and Red Legs is thought to have provided Cogburn's motive for taking part with Quantrill’s Raiders in the infamous sack of Lawrence, Kansas which serves as a biographical background to the story.
  • Official city website: [1]
  • Osceola Chamber of Commerce: [2]
  • National Control Devices : [3]
  • Historic maps of Osceola in the Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection at the University of Missouri


Education

Public education in Osceola is administered by Osceola School District.

Osceola has a public library, the Saint Clair County Library.

Notable people

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Osceola (Misuri) para niños

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