Clark

Formed December 13, 1836 (53^rd county)

Clark County (6,640), Kahoka (1,963)                

The Modern red brick courthouse was built in 2012 and sits on a square at Johnson, Court, Lincoln, and Clark streets.  Missouri State Highway 81 is Johnson Street in the town.  Connell Architects provided the designs.  The old courthouses are shown on a mural inside the new courthouses.  Waterloo (1839 & 1854), Alexandria (1849), and Kahoka (1872) were the earlier courthouse locations.  The county was formed on December 13, 1836 from Native American Territory as the 53^rd county.  It is named for explorer William Clark.  Kahoka is named for the Native American tribe.  United States Highway 61 passes north to south in the county from Iowa to Lewis County.  United States Highway 136 goes east to west from Iowa to Scotland County.  The county looks like a lounge chair. 

Clark 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 Clark, Schuyler, and Scotland counties and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Clark County (judicial.) The county is in the northeast corner of the state on the border with both Iowa and Illinois.  The Mississippi River forms its southeast border.  Saint Louis, Missouri is southeast and Des Moines, Iowa is northwest of the county.  The county center is .6 miles South-Southwest of Kahoka.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Iowa and Illinois and Lewis, Knox, and Scotland counties. 

The area of the county is 507 square miles.  It is 79 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 102 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 13.1 persons per square mile making it 96 out of 115 in the state.  Clark County has 42.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Kahoka is near the center of the county.  Kahoka is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 29.6% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced KA-HOE-KA.  This county is in the Fort Madison-Keokuk Micropolitan Statistical Area.