Reynolds County

The county's namesake had already led a supreme court. Thomas Reynolds, born in Bracken County, Kentucky, in 1796, was chief justice of Illinois from 1822 to 1825, then moved to Fayette and became Speaker of the Missouri House. Elected governor in 1840, he pressed to abolish imprisonment for debt, which the legislature did in February 1843, and fifteen new counties were formed under his leadership. In ill health for months, he was found dead at his desk in the Executive Mansion on February 9, 1844, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This county was organized the next year.

What the plaque says

Reynolds County In an area of rugged beauty near the geologic center of the Ozark Highland, Reynolds County was organized 1845, and named for Missouri's 7th governor, Thomas Reynolds. Drained by the Black River, called L'eau Noire by early French trappers, the county lies in land claimed by the Osage Indians until 1808. Kentuckian Henry Fry was probably the first settler in 1812. Centerville, the second town to serve as county seat, is on the West Fork of Black River. 80 acres were acquired there from John Buford for $100 in 1845. It succeeded Lesterville as the county seat when the courthouse there burned, 1867. Centerville had a courthouse, 1872. In Civil War, troops and guerrilla bands foraged the area. Clearwater Lake, in southeast Reynolds County, flood control measure and popular resort area, was impounded by a dam built on Black River, 1940-48. Near Lesterville is Johnson Shut-Ins State Park, opened 1956, on land donated by Joseph Desloge. The scenic shut-ins, where East Fork of Black River flows over some of Missouri's oldest exposed rock, is named for an early settler. (See other side) Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1961 Reynolds County (Continued from other side) Reynolds County, resort, lumbering, and livestock farming area, was once one of the State's leading timber producers. About 85 per cent of the virgin pine forests were cut out in the lumbering boom of the 1880's to 1920's. During 1898, a peak year, some 92 million board feet were produced. A large part of the county is now in Clark National Forest, established during the 1930's. The lumber industry brought the Mill Spgs., Current R., Barnesville (Mo. Southern) Railroad. No longer operating, it was built through west Reynolds County in 1884-86. Ellington, founded 1847, by Thomas Barnes was a prominent lumber town and shipping center. Ruble, Corridon, Reynolds, Garwood, and Bunker were other shipping stations. Redford, Black, Monterey, and Greeley are among other county communities. Near Lesterville at Proffit Mtn. (altitude 800 feet) is Taum Sauk power station built 1960-63. Water pumped at night through a 7000-foot tunnel cut through solid granite to reservoir atop the mountain is released to create daytime power by flowing down to reservoir at the foot of the mountain made by damming East Fork of Black River. Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1961

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park — 19 mi
  The East Fork of the Black River squeezed through chutes and potholes in ancient rhyolite, and a valley rebuilt after a mountaintop reservoir gave way before dawn on December 14, 2005.
• Big Spring (Ozark National Scenic Riverways) — 23 mi
  A spring at the foot of a dolomite bluff south of Van Buren averaging about 289 million gallons a day into the Current River, dissolving out a cave as it flows, beside a CCC lodge.
• Taum Sauk Mountain State Park — 23 mi
  Missouri's highest point at 1,772 feet, an easy walk from the lot, and a rugged loop to the state's tallest waterfall in the worn roots of 1.5-billion-year-old volcanoes.
• Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site (Fort Davidson) — 29 mi
  The hexagonal earthwork in the Arcadia Valley where some 1,500 Union defenders broke Sterling Price's assault in September 1864, then slipped out at night and blew the magazine behind them.

More markers nearby

• Van Buren — 20 mi
• Eminence — 24 mi
• Fort Davidson — 29 mi