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Buchanan County, Missouri
Buchanan County Courthouse St Joseph Missouri
The Buchanan County Courthouse in downtown St. Joseph
Map of Missouri highlighting Buchanan County
Location in the state of Missouri
Map of the U.S
Missouri's location in the U.S.
Founded December 31, 1838
Named for James Buchanan
Seat St. Joseph
Largest city St. Joseph
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

415 sq mi (1,075 km²)
408 sq mi (1,057 km²)
6.6 sq mi (17 km²), 1.6
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

84,793
Congressional district 6th
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
Website http://www.co.buchanan.mo.us/

Buchanan County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 84,793.[1] Its county seat is St. Joseph.[2] When originally formed in 1838, the county was named Roberts County, after settler Hiram Roberts. It was renamed in 1839 for James Buchanan, then a U.S. Senator and later President of the United States. The county was formed from land annexed to Missouri, as were five other counties.

Buchanan County is included in the Kansas City CSA.

Geography[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 415 square miles (1,070 km2), of which 408 square miles (1,060 km2) is land and 6.6 square miles (17 km2) (1.6%) is water.[3]

Adjacent counties[]

Major highways[]

  • I-29 (MO) Interstate 29
  • I-229 (MO) Interstate 229
  • US 36 U.S. Route 36
  • US 59 U.S. Route 59
  • US 71 U.S. Route 71
  • US 169 U.S. Route 169
  • MO-6 Route 6
  • MO-31 Route 31
  • MO-116 Route 116
  • MO-371 Route 371

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1840 6,237
1850 12,975 108.0%
1860 23,861 83.9%
1870 35,109 47.1%
1880 49,792 41.8%
1890 70,100 40.8%
1900 121,838 73.8%
1910 93,020 −23.7%
1920 93,684 0.7%
1930 98,633 5.3%
1940 94,067 −4.6%
1950 96,826 2.9%
1960 90,581 −6.4%
1970 86,915 −4.0%
1980 87,888 1.1%
1990 83,083 −5.5%
2000 85,998 3.5%
2010 89,201 3.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[4]
1790-1960[5] 1900-1990[6]
1990-2000[7] 2010-2020[1]

As of the census[8] of 2000, there were 85,998 people, 33,557 households, and 21,912 families residing in the county. The population density was 210 people per square mile (81/km2). There were 36,574 housing units at an average density of 89 per square mile (34/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 92.73% White, 4.36% Black or African American, 0.42% Native American, 0.45% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.65% from other races, and 1.37% from two or more races. Approximately 2.43% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 33,557 households, out of which 30.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.30% were married couples living together, 12.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.70% were non-families. 28.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.30% under the age of 18, 11.00% from 18 to 24, 28.50% from 25 to 44, 21.20% from 45 to 64, and 15.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $34,704, and the median income for a family was $42,408. Males had a median income of $31,697 versus $21,827 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,882. About 8.50% of families and 12.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.00% of those under age 18 and 9.60% of those age 65 or over.

Religion[]

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives County Membership Report (2010), Buchanan County is sometimes regarded as being on the northern edge of the Bible Belt, with evangelical Protestantism being the most predominant religion. The most predominant denominations among residents in Buchanan County who adhere to a religion are Southern Baptists (24.96%), Roman Catholics (20.35%), and nondenominational evangelical groups (15.95%).

Education[]

Public schools[]

  • Buchanan County R-IV School DistrictDe Kalb
    • Rushville Elementary School (PK-06)
    • De Kalb Junior/Senior High School (07-12)
  • East Buchanan County C-I School District - Gower
    • East Buchanan County C-I Middle School (06-08) - Easton
  • Mid-Buchanan County R-V School DistrictFaucett
    • Mid-Buchanan County Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Mid-Buchanan County High School (07-12)
  • St. Joseph School DistrictSt. Joseph
    • Coleman Elementary School (K-06)
    • Edison Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Ellison Elementary School (K-06)
    • Field Elementary School (K-06)
    • Hosea Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Humboldt Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Hyde Elementary School (K-06)
    • Lake Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Lindbergh Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Mark Twain Elementary School (K-06)
    • Neely Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Parkway Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Pershing Elementary School (K-06)
    • Pickett Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Skaith Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Webster Elementary School (PK-06)
    • Bode Middle School (07-08)
    • Robidoux Middle School (07-08)
    • Spring Garden Middle (07-08)
    • Truman Middle School (07-08)
    • Benton High School (09-12)
    • Central High School (09-12)
    • Lafayette High School (09-12)

Private schools[]

Public libraries[]

  • Rolling Hills Consolidated Library—Belt Branch[9]
  • Saint Joseph Public Library[10]

Politics[]

Local[]

The Republican Party predominantly controls politics at the local level in Buchanan County. Republicans hold all but three of the elected positions in the county.

Buchanan County, Missouri
Elected countywide officials
Assessor Dean Wilson Republican
Circuit Clerk Ashley Thrasher Republican
County Clerk Mary Baack-Garvey Republican
Collector Peggy Campbell Democratic
Commissioner
(Presiding)
Lee Sawyer Republican
Prosecuting Attorney Ron Holliday Democratic
Public Administrator Annette Bertelsen Republican
Recorder Becky Dunlap Republican
Sheriff Bill Puett Republican
Treasurer David Gall Republican

State[]

Past Gubernatorial Elections Results
Year Republican Democratic Third Parties
2020 60.85% 22,147 36.34% 13,225 2.81% 1,022
2016 52.60% 18,714 43.92% 15,628 3.48% 1,238
2012 39.61% 13,810 56.46% 19,685 3.92% 1,368
2008 37.39% 14,442 59.94% 23,151 2.67% 1,028
2004 50.03% 18,967 48.31% 18,317 1.66% 629
2000 45.18% 15,602 52.12% 17,998 2.70% 930
1996 29.76% 9,731 67.41% 22,045 2.83% 925

Political culture[]

United States presidential election results for Buchanan County, Missouri[11]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 22,450 61.15% 13,445 36.62% 818 2.23%
2016 21,320 59.28% 12,013 33.40% 2,631 7.32%
2012 18,660 53.15% 15,594 44.42% 852 2.43%
2008 19,110 48.68% 19,164 48.81% 986 2.51%
2004 19,812 52.21% 17,799 46.90% 339 0.89%
2000 16,423 47.26% 17,085 49.16% 1,243 3.58%
1996 12,610 38.19% 15,848 48.00% 4,560 13.81%
1992 11,275 30.18% 16,570 44.35% 9,520 25.48%
1988 15,336 44.99% 18,601 54.57% 152 0.45%
1984 19,735 56.22% 15,369 43.78% 0 0.00%
1980 16,551 47.09% 16,967 48.27% 1,632 4.64%
1976 16,446 48.19% 17,427 51.07% 251 0.74%
1972 21,850 65.72% 11,395 34.28% 0 0.00%
1968 16,101 46.38% 15,860 45.69% 2,752 7.93%
1964 11,501 32.25% 24,164 67.75% 0 0.00%
1960 21,448 52.57% 19,348 47.43% 0 0.00%
1956 20,311 52.49% 18,384 47.51% 0 0.00%
1952 22,087 52.61% 19,854 47.29% 44 0.10%
1948 13,002 36.08% 22,975 63.76% 57 0.16%
1944 15,113 42.91% 20,091 57.04% 20 0.06%
1940 17,484 41.63% 24,482 58.30% 29 0.07%
1936 15,912 35.41% 28,825 64.15% 196 0.44%
1932 14,602 35.68% 26,060 63.68% 260 0.64%
1928 20,459 62.71% 12,110 37.12% 55 0.17%
1924 17,509 50.13% 14,759 42.26% 2,658 7.61%
1920 17,191 50.99% 16,188 48.02% 335 0.99%
1916 7,761 40.56% 10,973 57.35% 400 2.09%
1912 4,412 26.46% 8,869 53.18% 3,395 20.36%
1908 8,394 45.34% 9,836 53.13% 283 1.53%
1904 8,703 51.62% 7,736 45.89% 420 2.49%
1900 8,329 47.51% 8,925 50.91% 278 1.59%
1896 6,854 47.81% 7,336 51.17% 147 1.03%
1892 5,522 42.90% 6,949 53.99% 401 3.12%
1888 5,011 43.20% 6,369 54.91% 219 1.89%



At the presidential level, Buchanan County is a swing county that has become increasingly Republican in recent years. Buchanan County strongly favored Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. Barack Obama was the last Democratic presidential nominee to carry Buchanan County in 2008 with a plurality of the vote, but a Democrat hasn't won majority support from the county's voters in a presidential election since Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Communities[]

Cities[]

  • Dearborn (partly in Platte County)
  • De Kalb
  • Easton
  • Gower (partly in Clinton County)
  • St. Joseph (county seat)

Villages[]

  • Agency
  • Lewis and Clark Village
  • Rushville

Unincorporated communities[]

  • Faucett
  • Frazier
  • Garrettsburg
  • Halleck
  • Halls
  • Lake Station
  • San Antonio
  • Saxton
  • Sparta
  • Wallace
  • Willow Brook
  • Winthrop

Townships[]

Buchanan County is divided into 12 townships:

  • Agency
  • Bloomington
  • Center
  • Crawford
  • Jackson
  • Lake
  • Marion
  • Platte
  • Rush
  • Tremont
  • Washington
  • Wayne

Notable people[]

  • Charles S. L. Baker, African American businessman and inventor
  • Kay Barnes, Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri (1999–2007)
  • Dwayne Blakley, professional football player[12]
  • Ryan Bradley, figure skater
  • Norbert Brodine, cinematographer
  • Byron Browne, professional baseball player
  • Charles Francis Buddy, bishop, attended Christian Brothers School
  • Rob Calloway, boxer
  • Harold F. Cherniss, historian of ancient Greece and Plato scholar at Princeton
  • Walter Cronkite, iconic television journalist
  • Paul Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network
  • Katherine Kennicott Davis, composer of "The Little Drummer Boy"
  • Eminem, rapper and recording artist
  • Eugene Field, popular poet in his day, worked for the St. Joseph Gazette and wrote a famous poem about Lover's Lane in St. Joseph
  • Ralph D. Foster, broadcasting pioneer
  • Betty Garrett, actress, known for On the Town and Laverne & Shirley
  • Elijah Gates, State Treasurer of Missouri (1877-1881)
  • Anthony Glise, guitarist
  • Jody Hamilton, wrestler
  • Larry Hamilton, wrestler
  • Fred Harman, artist, drew the Red Ryder cartoons and worked with Walt Disney
  • Coleman Hawkins, jazz saxophonist[13]
  • Shere Hite, sex educator
  • Edie Huggins, television journalist[14]
  • Bela M. Hughes, pioneer, prominent St. Joseph lawyer in 1850s and 1860s[15]
  • William Hyde (journalist), journalist
  • Henry Iba, Oklahoma State University men's basketball coach
  • Jesse James, iconic outlaw, murdered in St. Joseph
  • Kagney Linn Karter, porn actress
  • Brian McDonald, writer[16]
  • Jeff Morris, actor, known for The Blues Brothers
  • Timothy Omundson, actor
  • Isaac Parker, federal judge, U.S. Representative from Missouri (1871-1875)
  • Travis Partridge, professional football player
  • Forrest E. Peden, decorated World War II soldier
  • Tom Pendergast, political boss
  • Seraphine Eppstein Pisko, executive secretary of the Denver Jewish Hospital
  • Frank Posegate, mayor of St. Joseph
  • LeRoy Prinz, choreographer and film director
  • Arthur Pryor, trombonist
  • Sid Rogell, Hollywood producer
  • Nellie Tayloe Ross, first woman elected governor of a U.S. state; Governor of Wyoming (1925–1927)[17]
  • Martin Rucker, professional football player
  • Mike Rucker, professional football player
  • Jay Sarno, hotel mogul, founder of Caesars Palace
  • Bill Snyder, Kansas State football coach
  • Eddie Timanus, Jeopardy! champion, won five times in 1999 despite being blind
  • Steve Walsh, musician of band Kansas
  • Ruth Warrick, actress, known for Citizen Kane and All My Children
  • Jim Webb, U.S. Senator from Virginia (2007-2013)
  • Silas Woodson, 21st Governor of Missouri (1873-1875)[18]
  • Huston Wyeth, industrialist
  • Jane Wyman, Oscar–winning actress and first wife of Ronald Reagan
  • Delmer J. Yoakum, artist
  • Olive Young, actress and blues singer

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "2020 Population and Housing State Data". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/2020-population-and-housing-state-data.html. 
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx. 
  3. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_29.txt. 
  4. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html. 
  5. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu. 
  6. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/mo190090.txt. 
  7. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf. 
  8. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov. 
  9. ^ Breeding, Marshall. "Rolling Hills Consolidated Library -- Belt Branc". Libraries.org. https://librarytechnology.org/library/20460. 
  10. ^ Breeding, Marshall. "Saint Joseph Public Library". Libraries.org. https://librarytechnology.org/library/8533. 
  11. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS. 
  12. ^ "Dwayne Blakley". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120530083954/http://databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BLAKLDWA01. Retrieved September 29, 2012. 
  13. ^ Coleman Hawkins Biography, biography.com Retrieved October 27, 2012
  14. ^ Dribben, Melissa (2008-07-30). "Edie Huggins 1935-2008: A versatile, dogged, endearing NBC10 face". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2008-08-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20080801223548/http://www.philly.com/inquirer/obituaries/20080730_A_versatile__dogged__endearing_NBC10_face.html. Retrieved 2008-08-18. 
  15. ^ Christensen, Lawrence O.; Foley, William E.; Kramer, Gary R.; Winn, Kenneth H. (1999). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. p. 813. ISBN 9780826212221. 
  16. ^ "Interview with Brian McDonald, part 1". Adelaide Screenwriter. http://adelaidescreenwriter.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/interview-with-brian-mcdonald-part-1.html. Retrieved 31 January 2014. 
  17. ^ "Wyoming Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross". National Governors Association. http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_wyoming/col2-content/main-content-list/title_ross_nellie.html. Retrieved October 14, 2013. 
  18. ^ Christensen, Lawrence O.; Foley, William E.; Kramer, Gary R.; Winn, Kenneth H. (1999). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. p. 813. ISBN 9780826212221. 

External links[]

Coordinates: 39°40′N 94°49′W / 39.67, -94.81


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Buchanan County, Missouri. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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