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Missouri County
Macon County, Missouri
Long Branch Lake and north Missouri agriculture - from Long Branch State Park (the park surrounding Long Branch Lake near Macon provides boating, fishing, camping, and swimming in one of north-central Missouri's popular recreational lakes, anchoring an outdoor economy for the surrounding agricultural communities along the US 36 corridor) to Macon County's productive north Missouri farming (the county's rolling agricultural landscape supports corn, soybean, and cattle operations that define the traditional north Missouri farming character between Kirksville and Moberly along the US 36 corridor).
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Office: Macon County Emergency Management – 101 E Washington Suite B, Macon, MO 63552 | (660) 346-1487.
Sheriff: Macon County Sheriff’s Office – 101 E Washington St, Macon, MO 63552 | (660) 385-2062 | Email: [email protected].
City Police: Macon Police Department – 301 E. Bourke Street, Macon, MO 63552 | (660) 385-2195. Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop B is headquartered at 308 Pine Crest Dr, Macon, MO, (660) 385-2132.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-63 and US-36 cross in Macon, the county seat, in northeast Missouri.
Notes: Macon County and its seat are named for Nathaniel Macon, a Revolutionary War veteran, U.S. congressman, and friend of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton. Macon is nicknamed the “City of Maples” after roughly 10,000 maple trees were planted in 1872; more than 275,000 trees still shade its streets today.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Macon County Courthouse and Annex – Macon, MO 63552; NRHP-listed.
Notes: Macon’s economy exploded with the discovery of coal in 1860, brought to commercial scale by Englishman Thomas Wardell, and the area drew Welsh and Italian immigrant miners through the 1860s, making Macon a leading Missouri coal-producing region alongside tobacco, grain, and livestock agriculture. Two major early-20th-century benefactors shaped the town: Colonel Frederick Wilhelm Victor Blees, a Prussian immigrant who invested his inheritance in paved streets, sewer systems, hotels, theaters, and the NRHP-listed Blees Military Academy (headmaster from 1892, closed 1912; later became the Still-Hildreth Sanatorium, then renovated in the 1980s into Lakeview Towers); and Theodore Gary, a St. Louis telephone-industry businessman who gave Macon its library, hospital, swimming pool, golf course, and the lake that later became part of Long Branch State Park. The Macon County Historical Society Museum, 304 S. Missouri, displays artifacts across three floors, including Col. Blees’s own desk and military uniforms spanning WWI to the present.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Macon County Veterans Service – confirm current contact via maconcountymo.com.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Kirksville or Columbia VA clinic; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Macon Public Library – a newly remodeled and expanded facility with over 55,000 books and a large genealogical records collection for Macon County and Missouri; ADA accessible; confirm current phone/hours via cityofmacon-mo.gov/library.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Long Branch State Park (1,828 acres, three units, adjacent to Long Branch Lake – a reservoir with roughly 24 miles of shoreline created by a 1965-authorized, 1980-completed Army Corps of Engineers flood-control dam), the adjacent Long Branch Conservation Area (4,500 combined acres with the Atlanta Conservation Area), and Thomas Hill Lake are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine coal-mining boom and the Blees/Gary benefactor legacy are distinctive local facts.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Macon County Assessor – (660) 385-2416.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Friends of Macon County Missouri Animals – a 501(c)(3) volunteer-run rescue organization serving Macon County; partners with the MU Shelter Medicine program (Columbia, MO) for spay/neuter services; confirm current contact via their Facebook page or maconcountymo.com.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Macon County – confirm current contact via maconcountymo.com.
NOTES: Macon County is the sixth county in the ninth batch of the Missouri v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine coal-mining boom and the Blees/Gary benefactor legacy are distinctive local facts. 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 Macon County
Macon County is north-central Missouri’s Long Branch Lake and agricultural corridor county – the recreational lake and the county’s productive corn, soybean, and cattle farming define a community where Macon provides regional services along the US 36 corridor between Kirksville and Moberly.
Macon (the county seat, population ~5,200) is Macon County’s governmental and commercial hub, a north Missouri agricultural town on US 36.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Macon County Assessor at 101 E. Washington Street, Macon, MO 63552, phone 660-385-4222. MO assessed at percentage of true value.
Courts & Legal
Macon County Circuit Court at 101 E. Washington Street, Macon, MO 63552, phone 660-385-4630, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
101 E. Washington St., Macon, MO 63552
(660) 385-2913
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Macon County Circuit Court, Probate Division (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The 1865 Macon County Courthouse and Annex, NRHP-listed, is a significant local landmark.
Local societies
No dedicated Macon 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
Macon County Circuit Court, Probate Division 101 E. Washington Street, Macon, MO 63552 (660) 385-4631
Macon County is in northeastern Missouri, seated in Macon. The 1865 Macon County Courthouse and Annex, Romanesque/Italianate in style, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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
101 E. Washington St., Macon, MO 63552
(660) 385-4673
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
101 E. Washington St., Macon, MO 63552
(660) 385-2913
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MO Dept of Social Services — Macon
(660) 385-2191
Samaritan Hospital
samaritanhosp.com (Macon — quality community hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Macon County Health Department – confirm current phone via maconmohealth.org.
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