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Missouri · Greater St. Louis · #557 Most Populous County in the US
Franklin County, Missouri
St. Louis's western exurban frontier along the Meramec River - from Union's county seat and Washington's Missouri River river town character to Sullivan's I-44 gateway, the Meramec Caverns and Mark Twain National Forest access, and an agricultural county absorbing steady growth from the St. Louis metro's westward expansion. Property tax, courts, public records, and senior services for Franklin County residents.
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Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Franklin County's assessment ratio means effective tax rates are low — but incorrect appraisals still cost money. Ownwell manages the appeal with no upfront cost.
Office: Franklin County Emergency Management Agency (FCEMA) – confirm current phone via franklinmo.org; responsible for unincorporated county areas and supports municipal EM efforts on request.
Dispatch: Franklin County 911/Communications – 3 Bruns Drive, Union, MO 63084 | (636) 583-2567 (Option 3) | Email: [email protected]; dispatches for Union, St. Clair, Gerald, New Haven, Oak Grove Village, and the Sheriff’s Office; two additional local 911 centers also serve parts of the county.
Sheriff: Franklin County Sheriff’s Office – Union, MO 63084 | Non-emergency (636) 583-2560.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-44 serves Union, the county seat, in east-central Missouri, part of the St. Louis metropolitan statistical area.
Notes: Franklin County, organized in 1818 as Missouri’s 10th county (carved from St. Louis County), is named for Benjamin Franklin. At 922 square miles, it is one of the largest counties in Missouri and the largest by area in the St. Louis MSA, with roughly 100,000 residents.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Franklin County Government – confirm current phone via franklinmo.org.
Notes: Franklin County is genuinely home to Meramec Caverns, the well-known “buried treasure” tourist cave complex near Stanton – first discovered by French explorer Jacques Renault in 1716 and mined for saltpeter during the Civil War before opening as a tourist attraction in 1935 under owner Lester Dill; the caverns are historically associated with claims that Jesse James used them as a hideout. Franklin County is also where Daniel Boone and companions lived for several years in what is now Boone Township, in the county’s southwest corner, before Boone relocated to Warren County; Boone Creek is named for him. The county’s Meramec and Bourbeuse Rivers, along with prominent bluffs and additional caverns like Fisher’s Cave, define its scenic Ozark-fringe landscape.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Franklin County Veterans Service – confirm current contact via franklinmo.org.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via the St. Louis VA Medical Center; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Scenic Regional Library (Union branch) – 251 Union Plaza Drive, Union, MO 63084 | (636) 583-3224; named the 2015 Missouri Library Association Library of the Year; serves Franklin, Gasconade, and Warren Counties with additional branches in St. Clair, Pacific, Owensville, Hermann, New Haven, and Sullivan, plus a bookmobile for schools and rural communities.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Meramec Caverns, Robertsville State Park, Meramec State Park, and the Meramec and Bourbeuse Rivers (popular for camping, fishing, and floating) are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine 1716 discovery date of Meramec Caverns and the Daniel Boone connection are distinctive local facts.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Franklin County Assessor – confirm current contact via franklinmo.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Franklin County Humane Society (FCHS) – 1222 W Main St, Union, MO 63084 | (636) 583-4300 | Hours: Mon/Wed/Thu 11 AM-6 PM, Fri/Sat 11 AM-4 PM, closed Tue/Sun; a privately funded, open-admission shelter (accepts all stray dogs/cats, refuses none) serving Franklin County and, due to a lack of other open-admission shelters nearby, 13 additional surrounding counties – the only such shelter within a 40-mile radius. Receives no state, county, or United Way funding and is not affiliated with the St. Louis Humane Society.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Franklin County – confirm current contact via franklinmo.org.
NOTES: Franklin County is the second county in the sixth batch of the Missouri v2 A+ sourced redo. This file correctly attributes Meramec Caverns to Franklin County (correcting the confusion flagged in the earlier Crawford County file). 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 Franklin County
Franklin County is a St. Louis exurban county and the 557th most populous in the United States, covering 924 square miles of the Meramec River valley and Ozark foothills west of St. Louis.
Union (the county seat, population ~12,000) is Franklin County’s governmental center – a historic river valley city on the Bourbeuse River with traditional Missouri courthouse square character.
Washington (population ~14,000) is the county’s largest city on the Missouri River – a historic river town with a beautifully preserved 19th-century downtown that has benefited from wine tourism and its proximity to the Augusta Wine Region (Missouri’s first designated American Viticultural Area, 1980). Washington is known for the corncob pipe manufacturing industry – Missouri Meerschaum, the world’s oldest and largest manufacturer of corncob pipes, has been making pipes in Washington since 1869 and remains a significant local employer and cultural institution.
Sullivan (population ~7,000) is the county’s I-44 gateway – positioned at the intersection of I-44 and US-185, it serves as the entry point to the Ozarks tourism corridor and is home to the Mark Twain National Forest administrative offices.
Meramec Caverns – a commercial show cave on the Meramec River near Stanton – is one of Missouri’s most-visited tourist attractions, with extraordinary cave formations and a Jesse James outlaw history legend (whether James actually used the cave as a hideout is disputed but effectively marketed).
Franklin County’s Meramec River provides significant float trip tourism – the clear Ozark stream is one of Missouri’s most popular canoe and kayak corridors.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Missouri assesses residential property at 19% of true value with reassessment in odd-numbered years.
The appeal process: File with the Franklin County Board of Equalization at 400 E. Locust Street, Union, MO 63084, phone 636-583-6360. Deadline: third Monday in July. No MO estate or inheritance tax.
OWNWELL CTA: Franklin County Board of Equalization: third Monday in July (odd years). Washington and Union St. Louis exurban growth steady. No MO estate or inheritance tax. Ownwell manages the appeal with no upfront cost.
Recommended
Franklin County Board of Equalization: third Monday in July (odd years). Washington and Union St. Louis exurban growth steady. No MO estate or inheritance tax. Ownwell manages the appeal with no upfront cost.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
Circuit Court (Probate): The Franklin County Circuit Court – 20th Judicial Circuit at 400 E. Locust Street, Union, MO 63084, phone 636-583-7014, handles probate, estate administration, and all civil and criminal matters.
Recorder of Deeds: The Franklin County Recorder of Deeds at 400 E. Locust Street maintains real property records. Land records searchable online.
Senior Services
The Franklin County Senior Services and the Area Agency on Aging of Eastern Missouri serve the county’s senior population. Contact Franklin County Health Department at 636-583-0670. Mercy Hospital Washington provides significant geriatric care.
Recommended
Assisted living, memory care, and independent living across Franklin County - from Union and Washington to Sullivan, St. Clair, and the Meramec River communities.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
400 E. Locust St., Union, MO 63084
(636) 583-6348
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Franklin County Circuit Court, Probate Division (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Franklin 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
Franklin County Circuit Court, Probate Division Franklin County Judicial Center, 401 East Main Street, Union, MO 63084 (636) 583-7378
Franklin County is in east-central Missouri, part of the greater St. Louis metro area, seated in Union.
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
400 E. Locust St., Union, MO 63084
(636) 583-2560
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
400 E. Locust St., Union, MO 63084
(636) 583-6348
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MO Dept of Social Services — Franklin
(636) 583-7641
Mercy Hospital Washington
mercy.net (Washington — quality regional hospital; Mercy Health affiliate; major Franklin County anchor)
Office: Franklin County Health Department – (636) 583-7300.
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Recommended for Missouri
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