Barry

Formed January 5, 1835 (46^th county)

Barry County (34,533), Cassville (3,190), Monett (9,598)

The 1913 masonry Classical Revival building was augmented in 2003 by a Justice Center.  It is located on a square at West, 8^th, Main, and 7^th streets.  Missouri State Highway 37 Business is Main Street in the town.  Henry H. Hohenschild is the architect.  There are carved wooden stairs inside going to the second floor.  There is a memorial wall inside to the county veterans.  There were 1837, 1846, and 1855 versions of the courthouse previously.  Mount Pleasant (1835), McDowell (1839), and Cassville (1845) have all served as county seat.  Barry County was established on January 5, 1835 from Greene County as the 46^th county.  It is named for United States Postmaster General William Taylor Barry.  The county seat is named for Michigan Governor Lewis Cass.  He is also the namesake of Cass County. 

Barry County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive).  It has 8 Commissioners (legislative.)  One Circuit Court Judge serves Barry, Lawrence, and Stone counties and Two County Court Judges and a court clerk serve Barry County (judicial.) Barry County is in southwest Missouri on the border with Arkansas.  Springfield, Missouri is northeast and Tulsa, Oklahoma is southwest of the county.  The county center is 4.8 miles Northeast of Cassville.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lawrence and Stone counties and Arkansas and McDonald and Newton counties. 

The area of the county is 779 square miles.  It is 16 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 34 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 44.3 persons per square mile making it 41 out of 115 in the state.  Barry County has 39.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 60 clips the northwest corner of the county from Lawrence County, north, to Newton County, west.  The county is a rectangle with the northeast corner cut out.  Cassville is in the southwest quarter of the county.  Monett is on the northern border of the county and extends into Lawrence County.  Cassville is the county seat and Monett is the largest city.  Cassville is 9.2% of the county population while Monett is 27.8% of the county population.  The largest city is pronounced MOE-NET.