Bollinger

Formed March 1, 1851 (100^th county)

Bollinger County (10,572), Marble Hill (1,381)

This basic red brick Federalist courthouse, on a square at High, Gilmore, Mill and Walnut Streets, was built in 1885. It was remodeled and enlarged in 1912.  Wooden stairs highlight the insides.  Morris Frederick Bell was the architect.  A veterans’ memorial is on the building grounds.  Missouri State Highway 34 is four blocks west of the location.  Bollinger County was founded on March 1, 1851 from parts of Cape Girardeau, Stoddard, and Wayne counties as the 100^th county.  Marble Hill has always been the county seat.  The county is named for settler George Frederick Bollinger.  He is also the namesake for the county seat of Madison County.  The county seat is named for local stone diggings.  It was originally called New California and Dallas before being renamed to Marble Hill. 

Bollinger 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 Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, and Perry counties and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Bollinger County (judicial.) The county is in southeast Missouri.  Saint Louis, Missouri is north and Memphis, Tennessee is southeast of the county.  The county center is 3.6 miles West of Marble Hill nearer Glen Allen.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Perry, Cape Girardeau, Stoddard, Wayne, and Madison counties. 

The area of the county is 621 square miles.  It is 50 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 83 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 17.0 persons per square mile making it 87 out of 115 in the state.  Bollinger County has 15.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county.  The county looks like a capital letter J.  Marble Hill is east and south of the center of the county.  Marble Hill is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 13.1% of the county population.  This county is in the Cape Girardeau-Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

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