County of city: Carter County
Location of city: Location of building: Main St. & Oliver St., Van Buren
Date courthouse built: January 21, 1936
City founded: 1833
"Van Buren, Missouri lies deep in the southeastern Missouri Ozarks, a lovely and peaceful county seat with a population of 893 contented people. It is a major destination for recreational floating and fishing on the famous and beautiful Current River, as well as sightseeing at one of the world’s largest springs, Big Spring. To locate Van Buren on a map of Missouri, find Poplar Bluff in the southeast corner and follow US 60 west 45 miles. Van Buren is on the edge of a large section of Mark Twain National Forest, and Clearwater Lake & Dam are just a few miles to the northeast. Vacation at Van Buren for a relaxing experience you wont soon forget!" ~ Van Buren Chamber of Commerce
"Van Buren, settled as the seat of Ripley County, organized, 1833, became the seat of Carter County when it was organized from parts of Ripley and Shannon counties, 1859.
"Nearby Big Spring State Park, 4582 acres of Ozark grandeur, founded, 1924, features the natural beauty of the largest single-orifice, fresh water spring in the U.S.
"Big Spring has a maximum flow of 840 million gallons every 24 hours and a daily average of 250 million gallons. The spring discharges about 175 tons of limestone in solution daily. 433 feet above sea level, at the base of a 500-foot cliff, the spring gushes through an impeded opening from an underground stream bed and flows 1,000 feet to Current River, famed spring-formed, spring-fed Ozark fishing stream. Of the 69 springs in the U.S. having a daily flow of 64,600,000 gallons or more, 11 are in the Missouri Ozarks.
"During the Civil War the Union Army of Southeast Missouri wintered in the area, 1862-63. The Snider House, west of town, is the site of one of several skirmishes." ~ State Historical Society of Missouri, 1955
Update for this 1955 marker:
1. In 1971, Big Spring State park became part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.
2. The first stage of land acquisition ran from 1934 to 1940. Clark National Forest was combined with the Mark Twain National Forest in 1976.