Iron

Formed October 19, 1857 (110^th county)

Iron County (9,537), Ironton (1,468)

The red brick Federalist courthouse in Ironton is located on Main Street at Wayne Street.  Missouri State Highway 21 is two blocks to the east of the site.  This is an 1864 courthouse which was enlarged in 1964.  Its designer was Henry H. Wright.  The county was organized on October 19, 1857 from parts of Dent, Morgan, Reynolds, Saint Francois, Washington, and Wayne counties as the 110^th county.  Ironton has always been the county seat.  The county and county seat are named for the local ore deposits.  The highest point in Missouri, Taum Sauk Mountain, is in the county. 

Iron County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Two Circuit Court Judges serve Iron, Crawford, Dent, Reynolds, and Wayne counties and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Iron County (judicial.) Iron County is in eastern Missouri.  Saint Louis, Missouri is northeast and Memphis, Tennessee is southeast of the county.  The county center is 5.7 miles Southwest of Ironton nearer Arcadia.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Washington, Saint Francois, Madison, Wayne, Reynolds, Dent, and Crawford counties.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county. 

The area of the county is 551 square miles.  It is 66 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 88 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 17.3 persons per square mile making it 86 out of 115 in the state.  Iron County has 40.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.    The county is a number 7.  Ironton is located in the northeast corner of the county.  Ironton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 15.4% of the county population.