Andrew

Formed January 29, 1841 (66^th county)

Andrew County (18,128), Savannah (5,067)

The classic red brick and stone Romanesque Revival courthouse, built in 1898, sits in the town square at 4^th, Court, 5^th, and Main streets.  Missouri State Highway T is Main Street.  George E. McDonald designed this structure.  The courthouse features a tower and wooden stairs on the building’s interior.  The building was renovated in 1978.  There was also an 1844 courthouse in Savannah, the only county seat.  The county was established on January 29, 1841 and named for Lawyer Andrew Jackson Davis.  The county was taken from Native American Territory as the 66^th county.  The county seat is named for Savannah, Georgia. 

Andrew 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.)  Four Circuit Court Judges serve Andrew and Buchanan counties and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Andrew County (judicial.) Andrew County is in the northwest corner of the state on the border with Kansas.  The Missouri River is its southwest border.  Kansas City, Missouri is south and Omaha, Nebraska is northwest of the county.  The county center is 2.4 miles Northeast of Savannah.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Nodaway, Gentry, De Kalb, and Buchanan counties and Kansas and Holt County. 

The area of the county is 435 square miles.  It is 100 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 60 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 41.7 persons per square mile making it 45 out of 115 in the state.  Andrew County has 46.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 29 goes northwest to south in the county from Holt County to Buchanan County.  United States Highway 59 parallels Interstate Highway 29 from Holt to Buchanan counties.  United States Highway 71 enters from the north, Nodaway County, and joins United States Highway 59 south into Buchanan County.  United States Highway 169 comes from De Kalb County, east, and goes to Buchanan County, south.  The county looks like a bowl of popcorn spilling to the west.  Savannah is in the southern quarter of the county.  Savannah is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 28.0% of the county population.  This county is in the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area.