Shannon County, Missouri

Shannon County is a county in Missouri, United States, in the south-central Ozarks region, about
90 miles west of Poplar Bluff. It had a population of 7,031 at the 2020 census, an estimated 7,285
more recently, and covers 1,004 square miles (2,600 km2) centred near 37°10′N 91°24′W.

Eminence is the county seat; its postal code is 65466. The county holds 4 incorporated cities
and roughly 28 smaller unincorporated communities across 13 civil townships, and it runs on
Central Time. Its FIPS code is 29203.

Towns & Villages in Shannon County

Shannon County has 32 named places on record: 4 incorporated cities and 28 unincorporated
communities with no local government of their own. CDP stands for census designated place;
Unincorp. covers crossroads, spring sites and rural hamlets with no formal boundary.

Summersville straddles the Shannon–Texas county line; its city limits and the 453-resident
count above sit mostly in Texas County, with only a small eastern edge reaching into Shannon.
Alley Spring, Round Spring and Owls Bend are historic mill and river-access sites inside Ozark
National Scenic Riverways, not incorporated towns, which is why none carries its own population
figure or ZIP.

Townships

Shannon County is divided into 13 civil townships: Bartlett, Birch Tree, Bowlan, Buckeye,
Delaware, Eminence, Jackson, Montier, Moore, Newton, Spring Creek, Spring Valley and Winona. The
Census Bureau does not publish a separate population count for each township in this county, so
the list below is alphabetical rather than ranked by size.

ZIP Codes

• 65588 — Winona, the county’s largest community
• 65438 — Birch Tree
• 65466 — Eminence, the county seat
• 65571 — Summersville (administered from Texas County, where most of the city sits)

None of the county’s other 28 named places has its own ZIP code; mail there is delivered under
one of the four town codes above, and several — Alley Spring, Round Spring and Owls Bend
among them — are National Park Service sites rather than mailing addresses at all.

Geography

Shannon County sits on the Ozark Plateau, a karst landscape of forested hills, sinkholes,
caves and spring-fed streams. Of its 1,004 square miles, 1,004 are land and just 0.2 are water,
about 0.02 percent — unusually little surface water for a county built around two major
rivers, because the Current River and Jacks Fork River here run in narrow, fast-flowing
channels rather than broad lakes. Both rivers, and the springs that feed them, form the core of
Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the National Park Service unit that protects roughly 134 miles
of waterway and covers a large share of the county’s land.

Dent County lies to the north, Reynolds County to the northeast, Carter County to the east,
Oregon County to the southeast, Howell County to the south, and Texas County to the west.
Dent County,
Reynolds County,
Carter County,
Oregon County,
Howell County and
Texas County all border Shannon
directly.

Demographics

Shannon County had a population of 7,031 at the 2020 census, and the most recent estimate
puts the county near 7,285 residents. Winona and Birch Tree are the two largest communities,
with 950 and 541 residents respectively, followed by Eminence and Summersville. Population
density works out to roughly 7 people per square mile of land, among the lowest in Missouri and
typical of the Ozark’s national-forest counties. Recent household-income figures specific to
Shannon County were not available from a source this page could verify; statewide, Missouri’s
median household income was $68,545 (2023 ACS).

Economy & Local Life

Tourism and outdoor recreation drive much of the local economy, built around canoeing and
float trips on the Current and Jacks Fork rivers through Ozark National Scenic Riverways.
Eminence functions as a summer resort town, with liveries and campgrounds serving float-trip
traffic from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and the town promotes itself as home to one of the
country’s largest trail-riding establishments. The National Park Service and the U.S. Forest
Service, which manages the Mark Twain National Forest land covering much of the county, are
among the larger public-sector employers. The county’s mining era is history rather than
industry today: Missouri’s first copper mine opened here in 1846, and the state’s only
manganese mine operated in the county during World War II, but neither still runs.

History

Missouri’s General Assembly organized Shannon County on 29 January 1841. It was named for
George Frederick “Peg-Leg” Shannon, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who,
as a teenager, spent 16 days separated from the party on the Missouri River in 1804 before being
found alive. Eminence was established as the county seat.

The county’s early economy centred on lead and copper prospecting; Missouri’s first copper
mine opened in Shannon County in 1846. During World War II, wartime demand for manganese —
used to harden steel — opened the state’s only manganese mine here, a short-lived operation
tied directly to the war effort. For much of the twentieth century the county’s population fell
as timber and mining work dried up and the U.S. government acquired large tracts of land for
what became Mark Twain National Forest and, in 1964, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the first
national park area created specifically to protect a river system.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Shannon County. U.S. Route 60 runs east–west through Birch
Tree and Winona, and Missouri Route 19 runs north–south through Eminence, connecting to
Salem in Dent County to the north and to Missouri Route 60 corridor towns to the south. Missouri
Routes 17, 72 and 106 also cross the county.

• Mountain View — about 11 miles west of Birch Tree
• Van Buren — about 18 miles east of Winona
• West Plains, the region’s largest city, lies to the south in Howell County
• Salem, the seat of Dent County, lies to the north

No scheduled airline serves Shannon County directly; the nearest commercial airport is
Springfield–Branson National Airport, well to the west. The nearest Amtrak service is the
Texas Eagle line’s station in Poplar Bluff, to the southeast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Shannon County located?
It sits in Missouri’s south-central Ozarks, bordered by Dent, Reynolds, Carter, Oregon, Howell
and Texas counties, with no interstate access.

What is the population of Shannon County?
7,031 at the 2020 census, with a more recent estimate near 7,285.

How big is Shannon County?
1,004 square miles (2,600 km2), of which all but 0.2 square miles is land — one of
Missouri’s largest counties by area.

What is the county seat of Shannon County?
Eminence is the county seat.

How many towns and cities are in Shannon County?
Four incorporated cities — Winona, Birch Tree, Eminence and Summersville (partly) —
plus 28 smaller unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Shannon County use?
65588 for Winona, 65438 for Birch Tree, 65466 for Eminence and 65571 for Summersville.

What is Shannon County known for?
Ozark National Scenic Riverways, protecting the Current and Jacks Fork rivers, and float-trip
tourism centred on Eminence each summer.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Missouri.