Howell County was formed in 1857 from Oregon County; the county seat is West Plains.
County: Howell
Organized: March 2, 1857
Named after: Howell Valley
First Settler: James Howell made first settlement
in Howell Valley
County seat: West Plains
Howell County organized in 1857, but all
records were destroyed in an 1866 fire. An 1876 account described a log
cabin one mile east of West Plains where the first Circuit Court met. A
small, wooden courthouse built on the square in West Plains in 1859 was
damaged in the Civil War during 1862. In the fall of 1863, guerrillas burned
West Plains, devastating the community;
not one person remained. The county was
reorganized three years later.
