County: Linn County
Location of courthouse: High St. & Jackson St., Linneus
Location ov county: Upper third and central on east-west axis; crossroads of MO-5, MO-11, MO-129, MO-139 & MO-130, US-36
Organized: Jan. 6, 1837
Named after: Lewis F. Linn, U.S. Senator
County seat: Linneus
Elevation (highest): 316 meters (1,037 feet)
Population: 12,194 (2017)
"The first settler is not recorded until 1832. At that time Linn County was a part of Chariton County which is among the oldest counties in the State having been organised in 1820. It was still in some respects the home of the red men.
"From the year 1820 to the year 1830 this portion of the State of Missouri was known to the people of Missouri--those of Howard and Chariton Counties, especially--as the "Locust Creek Country.
"Among the Howard County hunters who visited the "Locust Creek Country" were James Pendleton and Joseph Newton, who lived near Fayette, and who came here with their brothers solely to hunt. But they were greatly pleased with the country and at last determined to locate. Accordingly, in the fall of 1831, they came to Section 14, Township 58, Range 21, where now is the southwest corner of Locust Creek Township, and located a claim. Together they built a cabin and fenced five or six acres of ground that fall. Then they went back to Howard County and returned the next spring with their families. Pendleton and Newton were not only the first white settlers in Locust Creek Township, but the first in Linn County.
"Sometime in 1832 Silas and Peter Fore came to Section 29, Township 59, Range 20, about two miles northeast of Linneus. The act of the Legislature organizing Linn County directed the courts should be held at the house of Silas Fore.
"It is found that James Pendleton and William Howell raised the first two cabins in the township; that the Bowyers, Newtons, etc., followed closely; that John Holland settled first on the site of Linneus. . .and that the old town of Linneus was the gift of "Jack Holland" and wife for a permanent county seat; that from the "Black Hawk War" Linn County seemed to grow and prosper. So much so that her people were ready in the winter of 1836-37 to be cut loose from Chariton County. On January 6, 1837, the Governor approved the bill, passed by the Legislature, and Linn County from that day received recognition.
"Quite a settlement sprang up on Parsons' Creek, in what is now Jackson Township in 1838, some settlers dating earlier. The Kirbys, Singletons and others came from Kentucky. It may be mentioned here that Linn' County was principally settled by Kentuckians.
"The first mill erected in the county was a horse-mill by William and Jesse Bowyers, on the east side of Locust Creek, west of the fairgrounds about the year 1834.
"In the year 1867 there was a discussion of a proposition to organise a new county to be called Grant, and to be composed of portions of Linn, Macon, and Chariton Counties. The scheme had many advocates, but failed, and never made sufficient headway to be of serious consequence. Bucklin was proposed for the county seat of "Grant County" should it ever be organised.
"The territory of which Linn County is composed was once a part of Chariton County. The latter county was organized November 16, 1820, and extended to the Iowa State Line. At the session of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri in the winter of 1836-37, an act was passed organizing the county of Linn from the territory attached to Chariton County, and extending her municipal government over the territory lying north of her to the Iowa Line. The act was approved January 6, 1837, and from that date Linn County has had a corporate existence.
Linn County was named for Hon. Lewis F. Linn." ~ History of Linn County, 1882, Birdsdall & Dean, pp. 149, 152-53, 157-58, 160, 175, 185-187.