Livingston

Formed January 1, 1837 (56^th county)

Livingston County (14,546), Chillicothe (9,115)

The 1913 masonry and concrete Classical Revival structure is located on a square at Webster, Locust, Jackson, and Washington streets.  United States Highway 65 is Washington Street in the town.  R. Warren Roberts and George T. Sasse were the architects.  Veterans’ tablets and a Liberty Bell replica adorn the courthouse grounds.  Livingston County was organized on January 1, 1837 from Native American Territory as the 56^th county with Chillicothe as the only county seat.  It is named for United States Secretary of State Edward Livingston.  The county seat is named for Chillicothe, Ohio. 

Livingston 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 Livingston, Caldwell, Clinton, Daviess, and DeKalb counties and One County Court Judge and a court clerk serve Livingston County (judicial.)  The county is in the northern part of the state.  Kansas City, Missouri is west and Saint Louis, Missouri is southeast of the county.  The county center is in Chillicothe 1.1 miles South of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Grundy, Linn, Chariton, Carroll, Caldwell, and Daviess counties. 

The area of the county is 535 square miles.  It is 73 out of 115 in the state.  It ranks 70 out of 115 in population in the state.  It has a density of 27.2 persons per square mile making it 64 out of 115 in the state.  Livingston County has 68.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 36 crosses east to west in the county from Linn County to Caldwell County.  United States Highway 65 travels north to south from Grundy County to Carroll County.  The county looks like a fat letter L.  Chillicothe is located slightly west of center in the county.  Chillicothe is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 62.7% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced CHI-LI-KOTH-EE.