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Missouri County
Cooper County, Missouri
Boonville's Civil War battlefield and the Katy Trail's Missouri River corridor - from the Battle of Boonville (June 17, 1861 - one of the first land battles of the Civil War in Missouri, where Union forces under Nathaniel Lyon routed a Confederate militia force, securing Missouri's river corridor for the Union and preventing Missouri from joining the Confederacy) to the Katy Trail State Park's passage through Boonville (the 240-mile rail-trail along the Missouri River corridor passes through Cooper County, connecting cyclists to one of America's longest rail-trails) and Boonville's extraordinary collection of 19th-century architecture.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
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Office: Cooper County Emergency Management Agency – 200 Main St, Boonville, MO 65233 | (660) 882-0400; part of the Boonslick Area Local Emergency Planning District (LEPD, shared with Howard County). Storm damage can be reported to (660) 882-0400 or by text to (660) 888-5737.
Sheriff: Cooper County Sheriff’s Office – 200 Main Street, Room 2, Boonville, MO 65233 | Non-emergency (660) 882-2771 | Fax: (660) 882-7075 | Email: [email protected].
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-70 and US-40 serve Boonville, the county seat, on the Missouri River; part of the Columbia, Missouri metropolitan area.
Notes: Cooper County, organized December 17, 1818, is named for Sarshell Cooper, a frontier settler killed by Native Americans near Arrow Rock in 1814. Roughly 17,100 residents across 569 square miles. Boonville, founded 1817 and named for sons of Daniel Boone, was the site of the first Battle of Boonville (July 17, 1861), an early Civil War skirmish where Union forces defeated the Missouri State Guard.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Cooper County Courthouse – 200 Main St, Boonville, MO 65233.
Notes: Boonville was home to attorney and later U.S. Senator George Graham Vest, widely credited with popularizing the phrase “a man’s best friend” in an 1870 courtroom eulogy for a dog named Old Drum, delivered during a trial (held in nearby Warrensburg, Johnson County) over the dog’s wrongful killing. Vest went on to serve in the Confederate Congress and later the U.S. Senate. Separately, and on a lighter historical note, Boonville’s Thespian Hall, opened in 1855, claims to be the oldest continuously operating theatre west of the Allegheny Mountains. More than 400 buildings across 14 historic districts in Boonville are NRHP-listed, and the Cooper County Jail (built 1848, used until 1979) is reputed to be the longest-serving jail in Missouri history.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Cooper County Veterans Service – confirm current contact via coopercountymo.gov.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital (Columbia); confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Boonville/Cooper Branch Library (Boonslick Regional Library) – 618 Main Street, Boonville, MO 65233 | (660) 827-READ (Option 1) | Hours: Mon/Wed/Thu/Fri 9 AM-6 PM, Tue 9 AM-7 PM, Sat 9 AM-5 PM; part of a three-county system (Benton, Cooper, Pettis) established 1953, headquartered in Sedalia with bookmobile outreach service.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Thespian Hall, the Cooper County Courthouse historic district, Kemper Military School grounds, and Boonville’s Civil War battle site/mural are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine “man’s best friend” legacy connected to Boonville resident George Graham Vest is a distinctive local fact.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Cooper County Assessor – 200 Main St Ste 24, Boonville, MO 65233 | (660) 882-2228.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Boonville Animal Shelter – (660) 882-2335; confirm current address/hours via coopercountymo.gov.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Cooper County – confirm current contact via coopercountymo.gov.
NOTES: Cooper County is the seventh and final county in the fourth batch of the Missouri v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine “man’s best friend” legacy connected to Boonville resident George Graham Vest is a distinctive local fact (the trial itself took place in nearby Warrensburg). All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Cooper County
Cooper County is central Missouri’s Civil War and Katy Trail county – a Missouri River community whose early Civil War battle and rail-trail heritage define its historical and recreational identity.
Boonville (the county seat, population ~8,000) was the site of one of the Civil War’s earliest land battles – the June 17, 1861 Union victory that secured the Missouri River corridor and helped keep Missouri in the Union. The city’s 19th-century architecture – including the Thespian Hall (1857), one of the oldest theaters west of the Alleghenies – reflects the prosperity of the Boonslick region’s antebellum era.
The Katy Trail State Park’s Boonville section follows the Missouri River’s scenic bluffs, providing cycling and hiking along one of America’s longest rail-trails.
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Cooper County Assessor at 200 Main Street, Boonville, MO 65233, phone 660-882-2646. MO residential assessed at 19% of true value. Appeal to Board of Equalization.
Courts & Legal
Cooper County Circuit Court at 200 Main Street, Boonville, MO 65233, phone 660-882-2234, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
200 Main St., Boonville, MO 65233
(660) 882-2232
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Cooper County Circuit Court, Probate Division (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Boonville was the site of an early Civil War skirmish, the Battle of Boonville.
Local societies
No dedicated Cooper County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Cooper County Circuit Court, Probate Division 200 Main Street, Room 31, Boonville, MO 65233 (660) 882-2232
Cooper County was founded December 17, 1818, named for frontier settler Sarshell Cooper, in central Missouri, seated in Boonville.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Missouri probate is governed by Title XXXI of the Missouri Revised Statutes (Chapters 470-475), the Probate Code.
Small Estate Affidavit (RSMo § 473.097) – available when the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $40,000. A 30-day waiting period after death applies, and only if no application for letters is pending. If the property listed is worth more than $15,000, the clerk must publish a notice to creditors in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. A bond may be required. Once the court issues a certified small estate certificate, the affiant presents it directly to whoever holds the property to collect and distribute assets – avoiding full probate. Typical timeline: about two months to close, versus six months to a year or more for full probate.
Formal Administration – required for larger or more complex estates. A petition for Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without one) is filed with the probate division. After review, the court appoints the personal representative and issues the letters. Missouri offers both supervised and independent administration. Missouri requires an attorney to represent the personal representative in both types of administration.
Step 2: filing for formal probate
File a petition with the Probate Division of the Circuit Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
The court appoints the personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative publishes a notice to creditors in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and gives direct notice to known creditors. Creditors have 6 months from the date of first publication to file claims.
Within 30 days of appointment (unless the court extends the deadline), the personal representative files an inventory and appraisement of all estate assets.
After debts are paid and the creditor claim period expires, the personal representative distributes the remaining assets and files a final settlement with the court to close the estate.
What it costs
Missouri sets statutory minimum fees for attorneys and personal representatives based on a percentage of the estate’s value, though additional fees may be allowed for extraordinary services.
Missouri has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
200 Main St., Boonville, MO 65233
(660) 882-7466
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
200 Main St., Boonville, MO 65233
(660) 882-2232
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MO Dept of Social Services — Cooper
(660) 882-3311
Cooper County Memorial Hospital
coopercountyhospital.com (Boonville — quality community hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Cooper County Public Health Department – confirm current phone via coopercountymo.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Boonville
Population: 17,000
Area: 566 sq mi
Established: 1818
Tier: 3
Public Records
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