Osceola, Missouri

Osceola, Missouri
—  City  —
Location of Osceola, Missouri
Coordinates: 38°2′47″N 93°41′58″W / 38.04639°N 93.69944°W / 38.04639; -93.69944Coordinates: 38°2′47″N 93°41′58″W / 38.04639°N 93.69944°W / 38.04639; -93.69944
Country	United States
State	Missouri
County	St. Clair
Area
– Total	1.0 sq mi (2.5 km2)
– Land	0.9 sq mi (2.4 km2)
– Water	0.0 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Elevation	751 ft (229 m)
Population (2000)
– Total	835
– Density	896.1/sq mi (346.0/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
– Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
FIPS code	29-55388[1]
GNIS feature ID	0756486[2]

Osceola is a city in St. Clair County, Missouri, United States. The population was 835 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of St. Clair County^[3].

History

Located on the Osage River, the land that became the town of Osceola was inhabitied 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 tribes land in Missouri. With the way cleared for settlment, 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.^[4]

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 less 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 to no longer 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".^[5]

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)^[6]. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.5 km²), of which, 0.9 square miles (2.4 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (2.11%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 835 people, 373 households, and 207 families residing in the city. The population density was 896.1 people per square mile (346.7/km²). There were 472 housing units at an average density of 506.5 per square mile (196.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.37% White, 0.36% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 0.48% from other races, and 0.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.08% of the population.

There were 373 households out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.2% were married couples living together, 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.5% were non-families. 39.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.6% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 20.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $21,563, and the median income for a family was $27,250. Males had a median income of $26,786 versus $15,750 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,247. About 13.5% of families and 19.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.2% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.

Notable residents

• Waldo P. Johnson, United States Senator
• Karolyn Grimes, child actress

Fictional residents

• Osceola, Missouri is the birthplace of Rooster Cogburn in Charles Portis' 1968 novel "True Grit"^[7] 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.^[8]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
2. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
3. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
4. ^ "Missouri Legends: Osceola-Surviving All Odds". Legends of America. 2003. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-osceola.html. Retrieved 2011-09-22. 
5. ^ "Mo. town calls on KU to drop Jayhawk mascot". 2011-09-17. http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/state/missouri/town-in-missouri-using-name-change-request-to-educate-about-civil-war. Retrieved 2011-09-22. 
6. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2011-04-23. 
7. ^ "True Grit". Overlook Press. 2004. http://books.google.ca/books?id=FeOinIzH49kC&printsec=frontcover&dq=true+grit+book&hl=en&ei=skG0Tr_wJaGSiQKf_8RD&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=osceola&f=false. Retrieved 2011-11-04. 
8. ^ "Rooster Redux". Anamnesis. 2011. http://www.anamnesisjournal.com/issues/2-web-essays/21-rooster-redux. Retrieved 2011-11-04. 

External links

• Historic maps of Osceola in the Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection at the University of Missouri