Bollinger County is a county located in Southeast Missouri in the United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the county's population was 12,029. A 2008 estimate, however, showed the population to be 11,990. The county seat is Marble Hill, which is also the largest city in Bollinger County. The county was officially organized in 1851.
Bollinger County is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Sixty million years ago, dinosaurs roamed the area that would eventually become known as Bollinger County. The "Missouri Dinosaur," a hadrosaur (duck-billed), was discovered at a dig near Glen Allen. It has produced bones from different dinosaurs and aquatic species. Bollinger County has the distinction of having a truly "Midwestern Dinosaur."
The county's terrain ranges from the Mississippi Delta flatlands in the south to the Ozark hills in the north. Streams with names such as Crooked Creek, Little Whitewater, Big Whitewater, Hurricane and Castor played an important part in creating the fertile fields that now line their banks.
The county was named after George Frederick Bollinger, the eleventh of 12 children of Heinrich Bollinger. George Frederick Bollinger persuaded 20 other families to leave North Carolina in the fall of 1799 and settle in a region immediately east of what is now Cape Girardeau, Missouri. To acquire the land, Bollinger first had to sign off a document asserting that he and his fellow settlers were all Roman Catholics. In reality, most of the group were members of the German Reformed Church and none were actually Catholic. However, Don Louis Lorimier, the Spanish Land Commandant of Cape Girardeau, had been impressed by Bollinger on an earlier visit and decided to bend the rules for him and his fellow settlers.
Making the journey from North Carolina with George Frederick Bollinger were his brothers John, Daniel, and Mathias Bollinger and two nephews Mann Henry Bollinger and William Bollinger. Several friends also joined the expedition including brothers George and Peter Grount (Grounds) along with Peter's young son Daniel Grount, brothers Peter and Conrad Statler, Joseph Neyswanger, Peter Crytes, Jacob Cotner, John and Isaac Miller, Frederick Limbaugh, Leonard Welker and Frederick Slinkard. All had immigrated with their families from Germany in the early 1700s and later migrated down the Shenandoah Valley into North Carolina by the late 1700s.
Lorimier's willingness to place German Reformed settlers west of Cape Girardeau is somewhat perplexing given his earlier role in placing a group of Shawnee settlers in that same location. Lorimier had intimate ties to the Shawnee group. His wife, Charlotte Bougainville of Ohio, was half French and half Shawnee. In Pickawillany, Ohio, Lorimier had supported the British and had led Shawnee and Delaware Indian raids against the growing American presence there. His raids had led to an attempt by George Rogers Clark to exterminate the French and Shawnee population at Pickawillany. Lorimier survived and fled to Spanish territory, where he eventually became the Spanish Land Commandant. With Lorimier's help, Shawnee tribe members from Ohio were granted the right by the Spanish in 1793 to take up residence in the land to the west of Cape Girardeau. By that time the earlier indigenous tribes of that area were no longer present, presumably due to their lack of resistance to European diseases such as measles and smallpox that had been carried in earlier by European traffic and settlement along the Mississippi River. Despite Lorimier's historically protective role of the Shawnee group, the Shawnee appear to have been viewed with distrust by many of the inhabitants of Cape Girardeau. This distrust may have influenced Lorimier's decision to augment the area with European settlers.
The Bollinger-led group of German Reformed families moved into the area in January 1800, crossing their wagons over the Mississippi River after an unusually cold stretch of weather had frozen the surface all the way across. Meanwhile, ownership of the region shifted in quick succession from Spain to France and then in 1803 to the United States via the Louisiana Purchase.
The change in national ownership did not bode well for the earlier Shawnee settlers. In 1825 they were removed permanently when the U.S. government enacted the Treaty with the Shawnee of 1825. This treaty, whose first signatory was William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition fame, required that the Shawnee move to what is now known as Shawnee Mission, Kansas, on land that had previously belonged to the Osage tribes. The Osage tribe was the major Native American influence at the time of European settlement. By the 1830s most of the Native Americans were displaced by white settlers. One of the Cherokee Trail of Tears routes passed through Sedgewickville while another route passed through Glennon and Zalma.
The region west of Cape Girardeau was organized as a county in 1851 and named Bollinger County in honor of George Frederick Bollinger. In the next county to the west, Madison County, the settlement of Fredericktown was also named after George Frederick Bollinger.
The U.S. Civil War was a difficult time for the citizens of Bollinger County. Numerous skirmishes were fought between the North and the South. Bands of guerrillas roamed the county killing many people and looting homes, farms and businesses. During the 1900s, many Bollinger County men and women fought bravely in wars and conflicts worldwide. More recently, local men and women have participated in the War on Terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bollinger County has a long and proud history. Although some history has been lost, many citizens have helped compile very informative written histories of the area. Publications and original records can be found at the Bollinger County Library, the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History, and the Bollinger County Courthouse where the county archives are located.
Education
As of 2007, 70.7% of residents 25 years of age and older in Bollinger County had a high school diploma or higher as their highest educational attainment while 6.9% had a bachelor's degree or higher.
Public Schools
- Leopold R-III School District - Leopold - Named the best public school in Southeast Missouri by the Southeast Missourian newspaper for the past four academic school years
- Leopold Elementary School (K-06)
- Leopold High School (07-12)
- Meadow Heights R-II School District - Patton
- Meadow Heights Elementary School (PK-06)
- Meadow Heights High School (07-12)
- Woodland R-IV School District - Marble Hill
- Woodland Elementary School (K-04)
- Woodland Middle School (05-08)
- Woodland High School (09-12)
- Zalma R-V School District - Zalma
- Zalma Elementary School (K-06)
- Zalma High School (07-12)
Private Schools
- New Bethel Christian School - Marble Hill - (06-12) - Non-denominational Christian
- New Salem Baptist Academy - Marble Hill - (PK-12) - Baptist
Religion
Bollinger County is a part of the Bible Belt in Southeast Missouri.
Total Adherents
Total Congregations
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 621 square miles (1,609 km²), of which, 621 square miles (1,608 km²) of it is land and 0 square miles (1 km²) of it (0.07%) is water.
Adjacent counties
- Perry County (north)
- Cape Girardeau County (east)
- Stoddard County (south)
- Wayne County (southwest)
- Madison County (northwest)
Major highways
Route 34
Route 51
Route 72
National protected area
- Mark Twain National Forest (part)
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,029 people, 4,576 households, and 3,464 families residing in the county. The population density was 19 people per square mile (7/km²). There were 5,522 housing units at an average density of 9 per square mile (3/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 97.79% White, 0.21% Black or African American, 0.72% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 0.93% from two or more races. Approximately 0.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 4,576 households out of which 34.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.80% were married couples living together, 8.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.30% were non-families. 21.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the county the population was spread out with 26.20% under the age of 18, 7.80% from 18 to 24, 26.80% from 25 to 44, 24.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The m
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