Greene

Formed January 2, 1833 (38^th county)

Greene County (298,915), Springfield (169,168)

The 1912 masonry Classical Revival courthouse is on Boonville Street between Central Street and Roberson Street.  Interstate Highway 44 Business travels two blocks to the south of the site.  The building has a hidden rotunda inside.  A. N. Torbitt is the building architect.  A replica of the Statue of Liberty is in front of the courthouse.  A Judicial Courts building was added in 1995 and a Justice Center was built in 2000.  The county was organized on January 2, 1833 from Native American Territory as the 38^th county.  There were 1836 and 1861 versions of the courthouse earlier all in Springfield, the only county seat.  American Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene is the county’s namesake.  The county seat is named for Springfield, Massachusetts.  Greene County was the birthplace for 1 Missouri Governor, Matthew R. Blunt. 

Greene County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Five Circuit Court Judges and Six County Court Judges serve Greene County.  The county is in southwest Missouri.  Kansas City, Missouri is northwest and Saint Louis, Missouri is northeast of the county.  The county center is 16.6 miles Northwest of Springfield nearer Willard.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Polk, Dallas, Webster, Christian, Lawrence, and Dade counties. 

The area of the county is 675 square miles.  It is 37 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 5 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 442.8 persons per square mile making it 6 out of 115 in the state.  Greene County has 69.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 44 crosses the county east to west from Webster County to Lawrence County.  United States Highway 60 goes east to west from Webster County to Stone County.  United States Highway 65 travels north to south from Dallas County to Christian County.  United States Highway 160 enters from Dade County, northwest, and exits to Christian County, south.  The county is an overall rectangle.  Springfield dominates the southeast quarter of the county and extends into Christian County.  Springfield is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 56.6% of the county population.  This county is in the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area.