Welcome to Bollinger County

The History

Bollinger County was named after George Frederick Bollinger, the 11th of 12 children of Heinrich Bollinger. George Frederick Bollinger persuaded 20 other families to leave North Carolina in the fall of 1799 and settle in a region immediately west of what is now Cape Girardeau. To acquire the land, Bollinger first had to sign a document asserting that he and his fellow settlers were Catholic. In reality, most of them were members of the German Reformed Church, and none were Catholic. However, Don Louis Lorimier, the Spanish Land Commandant of Cape Girardeau, had been impressed by Bollinger on an earlier visit and was willing to bend the rules for him and his settlers.

The group moved into the area in January of 1800, crossing their wagons over the Mississippi River after an unusually cold stretch of weather had frozen the surface all the way across. Meanwhile, ownership of the region shifted in quick succession from Spain to France, and then, in 1803, to the United States via the Louisiana Purchase.

The change in ownership did not bode well for the earlier Shawnee settlers. They were removed permanently when the U.S. government enacted the Treaty with the Shawnee in 1825. This treaty, whose first signatory was William Clark of Lewis and Clark expedition fame, required that the Shawnee move to what is now known as Shawnee Mission, Kansas, on land that had previously belonged to the Osage tribes.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com The Bollinger County Courthouse in Marble Hill [Click to enlarge]

Quick Facts

Bollinger County Courthouse
204 High St.
Marble Hill, Mo., 63764
573-238-2126
County population trends
1980 1990 2000 2005
10,325 10,619 12,029 12,325
County seat: Marble Hill
Year organized: 1851
Square miles: 621
Size of board: 3

Elected County Officials

Wayne Johnson, presiding commissioner
Larry VanGennip, 1st district commissioner
Steve Jordan, 2nd district commissioner
Stephen Gray, prosecuting attorney
Larry Welker, public administrator
Charles Hutchings, coroner
Leo McElrath III, sheriff
Naomi Null, treasurer
Rhonda Elfrink, assessor
Bob Anderson, collector
Diane Holzum, county clerk
Dana Fulbright, recorder
Sharon Lutes, circuit clerk