Community hub
Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Pike County, Missouri
Pike County is a county on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Missouri, bounded by the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,587. Its county seat is Bowling Green. Its namesake was a city in middle Kentucky, a region from where many early migrants came. The county was organized December 14, 1818, and named for explorer Zebulon Pike. The folksong "Sweet Betsy from Pike" is generally thought to be associated with Pike County, Missouri.[citation needed]
Pike County is said to be the home of Momo (The Missouri Monster). The first reported sightings in the 1970s were traced to various locations throughout the county.
The first settler, other than Native Americans, was William Spencer who arrived in 1799. Spencer came for a salt spring now known as Spencer Lick, to start a salt-manufacturing business. The salt was made to be shipped to St. Louis, a new but growing town at the time. Spencer abandoned his business when unfriendly Native Americans became a threat to his safety. He relocated the enterprise to Ralls County.
The history of Pike County is complicated by the fact that at its establishment in 1818, it included today's county boundaries, plus all counties north of it and those counties bordering all of them to the west, a total area of over six or seven times larger than its current size and thus covering most of the northeastern border area of today's state of Missouri. Pike County was gradually reduced in size by the creation of Ralls County and subsequent new counties, including Marion, Lewis, Clark, Scotland, Knox, Shelby, and Monroe.[citation needed]
The county was first settled by migrants from the Upper South. Some, though not all, were sympathetic to the Confederate cause in later decades. After the end of the post-Civil-War Reconstruction era, some of the county's inhabitants enforced Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the county to maintain what has been labeled by some as "white supremacy". This occurred despite the fact that key US/Unionist military operations to control "Confederate" upstarts were launched from Pike County and had bases there.[citation needed]
Five African Americans were tragically lynched in Pike County between 1883 and 1921. Among those were Curtis and Sam Young, who were both lynched for allegedly murdering the city marshall, Walter Meloan, on June 6, 1898, in Clarksville, a small town on the Mississippi River. Pike tied with Howard County, Missouri for the highest number of lynchings of African Americans in the state during this historical period.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 685 square miles (1,770 km2), of which 670 square miles (1,700 km2) is land and 14 square miles (36 km2) (2.1%) is water.
As of the census of 2010, there were 18,516 people, 6,451 households, and 4,476 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile (10 people/km2). There were 7,493 housing units at an average density of 11 units per square mile (4.2/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 88.44% White, 9.17% Black or African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.92% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. Approximately 1.61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 24.6% were of American, 24.5% German, 8.9% English and 8.5% Irish ancestry.
Hub AI
Pike County, Missouri AI simulator
(@Pike County, Missouri_simulator)
Pike County, Missouri
Pike County is a county on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Missouri, bounded by the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,587. Its county seat is Bowling Green. Its namesake was a city in middle Kentucky, a region from where many early migrants came. The county was organized December 14, 1818, and named for explorer Zebulon Pike. The folksong "Sweet Betsy from Pike" is generally thought to be associated with Pike County, Missouri.[citation needed]
Pike County is said to be the home of Momo (The Missouri Monster). The first reported sightings in the 1970s were traced to various locations throughout the county.
The first settler, other than Native Americans, was William Spencer who arrived in 1799. Spencer came for a salt spring now known as Spencer Lick, to start a salt-manufacturing business. The salt was made to be shipped to St. Louis, a new but growing town at the time. Spencer abandoned his business when unfriendly Native Americans became a threat to his safety. He relocated the enterprise to Ralls County.
The history of Pike County is complicated by the fact that at its establishment in 1818, it included today's county boundaries, plus all counties north of it and those counties bordering all of them to the west, a total area of over six or seven times larger than its current size and thus covering most of the northeastern border area of today's state of Missouri. Pike County was gradually reduced in size by the creation of Ralls County and subsequent new counties, including Marion, Lewis, Clark, Scotland, Knox, Shelby, and Monroe.[citation needed]
The county was first settled by migrants from the Upper South. Some, though not all, were sympathetic to the Confederate cause in later decades. After the end of the post-Civil-War Reconstruction era, some of the county's inhabitants enforced Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the county to maintain what has been labeled by some as "white supremacy". This occurred despite the fact that key US/Unionist military operations to control "Confederate" upstarts were launched from Pike County and had bases there.[citation needed]
Five African Americans were tragically lynched in Pike County between 1883 and 1921. Among those were Curtis and Sam Young, who were both lynched for allegedly murdering the city marshall, Walter Meloan, on June 6, 1898, in Clarksville, a small town on the Mississippi River. Pike tied with Howard County, Missouri for the highest number of lynchings of African Americans in the state during this historical period.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 685 square miles (1,770 km2), of which 670 square miles (1,700 km2) is land and 14 square miles (36 km2) (2.1%) is water.
As of the census of 2010, there were 18,516 people, 6,451 households, and 4,476 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile (10 people/km2). There were 7,493 housing units at an average density of 11 units per square mile (4.2/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 88.44% White, 9.17% Black or African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.92% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. Approximately 1.61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 24.6% were of American, 24.5% German, 8.9% English and 8.5% Irish ancestry.