Worth County

The plaque's smallest county by area is now Missouri's smallest by population too. Worth County counted 9,832 people at its peak in the 1900 census. The number has fallen in nearly every decade since: 7,642 in 1920, 5,120 in 1950, 3,008 in 1980, 2,440 in 1990 and 1,973 in 2020, with a Census Bureau estimate of 1,914 for July 2025, a drop of about three percent in five years. Leaving out the independent City of St. Louis, it is also the state's youngest county, organized on February 8, 1861, when it was split from Gentry County.

What the plaque says

Worth County The last of Missouri's 114 counties to be formed, Worth was organized in Feb., 1861, 6 months and 39 years after Missouri was admitted into the Union, Aug., 1821, with 25 counties. Encompassing 267 sq. miles of glacial prairie, it is the State's smallest county. Texas County in the Ozarks, with 1,183 sq. miles, is the largest. Named for New York General William Jenkins Worth, who served in Florida and Mexican wars, the county was first settled by Henry Lott in 1840. Early settlers were largely from Ky., Tenn., Ind., Ill., Ia., Ohio, and other parts of Mo. In territory ceded by Iowa, Sac, and Fox tribes, 1824, the county was roamed by Indians into the 1850's. The county seat was first located near the present seat of justice, in Smithton, a village named for Eli Smith. In 1864, the county seat was moved to Grant City. Laid out 1863, on land donated by Isaac Miller and G. W. Frakes, it was named for Gen. U. S. Grant. Worth was a strong Union county during the Civil War. Grant City grew as a shipping point after a branch of the C. B. & Q. Railroad reached there in 1880. (See other side) Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1960 Worth County (Continued from other side) What is now Worth County formed the extreme northwestern corner of Missouri until the annexation of the Platte Indian Purchase Territory in 1837. Worth is now 2 counties removed from the west border. An Iowa border county, Worth lies on the boundary marked in 1851 by order of the United States Supreme Court to settle the 1839 Missouri-Iowa boundary dispute. Through Worth County, a fertile grain and livestock farming area, flow the Platte and 3 main forks of Grand River. Mineral springs at the towns of Denver, platted in 1849, and Allendale, in 1855, were utilized as health spas in the 1880's. Among other communities are Oxford, laid out in 1856; Isadora, 1864; Irena, 1882; and Worth, 1899. Sheridan was founded when the Chicago, Great Western R. R. was built through the western part of Worth County in 1887. Points of interest include the grave, in Grant City Cemetery, of Leonard J. Farwell (1819-89), Gov. of Wis., 1852-54. The G. A. R. Monument in the cemetery was done by Dell Eighmy who also painted the murals in dome of the 1898 county courthouse. Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1960

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Gentry County — 17 mi
• Harrison County — 24 mi