Dade

Formed January 29, 1841 (69^th county)

Dade County (7,571), Greenfield (1,213)                

The masonry Classical Revival courthouse was built in 1934 and sits in the town square at Water, Main, College and Allison streets.  Bonsack and Pearce were the architects.  United States Highway 160 is two blocks to the west of the site.  There is a large veterans’ memorial wall on the courthouse square.  There were 1842, 1850, and 1868 courthouses earlier all in Greenfield, the only county seat.  The county was formed on January 29, 1841 from Native American Territory as the 69^th county.  It is named for Seminole War hero Francis L. Dade.  The county seat is named for the local landscape. 

Dade 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 Dade, Barton, Cedar, and Vernon counties and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Dade County (judicial.) Dade County is located in the southwest part of the state.  Springfield, Missouri is directly east of the county.  The county center is 1.2 miles Northeast of Greenfield.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Cedar, Polk, Greene, Lawrence, Jasper, and Barton counties. 

The area of the county is 490 square miles.  It is 87 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 99 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 15.5 persons per square mile making it 89 out of 115 in the state.  Dade County has 36.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 160 crosses the county east to west from Greene County to Barton County.  The county is a rectangle.  Greenfield is slightly south of center in the county.  Greenfield is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 16.0% of the county population.