Chariton

Formed November 16, 1820 (18^th county)

Chariton County (7,409), Keytesville (444), Salisbury (1,570)

The red brick Modern building was built in 1975 with a small tower in the middle of the roof.  It is located at Cherry Street and Jackson Street.  Jackson Street is United States Highway 24 in the town.  There were 1833 and 1867 courthouses earlier.  The grounds have veterans honored on memorial tablets.  Frangkiser and Hutchens were the building architects.  Chariton County was organized on November 16, 1820 from Howard County as the 18^th county with Keytesville as the county seat.  The county seat relocated to Keytesville in 1833 from Old Chariton.  The county is named for the river which was named for fur trader James Charette.  The county seat is named for settler James Keyte. 

Chariton 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.)  One Circuit Court Judge serves Chariton, Linn, and Sullivan counties and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Chariton County (judicial.) County.  The county is in north central Missouri.  Kansas City, Missouri is southwest and Saint Louis, Missouri is southeast of the county.  The county center is 10.7 miles Northwest of Keytesville nearer Indian Grove.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Linn, Macon, Randolph, Howard, Saline, Carroll, and Livingston counties. 

The area of the county is 756 square miles.  It is 20 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 100 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 9.8 persons per square mile making it 106 out of 115 in the state.  Chariton County has 43.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 24 goes east to west through the county from Randolph County to Carroll County.  The county looks like an arrow pointing northeast.  Keytesville is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Salisbury is east of Keytesville.  Keytesville is the county seat and Salisbury is the largest city.  Keytesville is 6.0% of the county population while Salisbury is 21.2% of the county population.  The county is pronounced CHAR-I-TON.  The county seat is pronounced KEE-TES-VIL.

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