Howell County is located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. The largest city and county seat is West Plains. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,750

Howell County area before the white settlers, was inhabited mainly by the Osage. The first recorded white settlement took place in 1832 by James Howell near present day West Plains. The early settlers enjoyed wild honey, farmed the area known as Howell Valley, hunted and traded furs. The future would see a flour mill, a wool mill, the railroad, and lumber mills.

Howell County was organized on March 2, 1857, from parts of Oregon and Ozark Counties. Named after the early settle James Howell, the county seat was named West Plains. The majority of the people in the county located on the Arkansas border were pro-Confederacy when Brigadier General McBride arrived in July 1861. He declared Marial law and demanded Union supporters to either join the Confederacy or leave. Some fought in the Confederate Army promised the protection of their homes and families. There were no major battles in Howell County, although a federal fort built in West Plains caused small conflicts. Guerrilla and border warfare was constant. Historians estimate there weee less than three hundred people in the entire county by the end of the are in May 1865. Most of the settlements, including West Plains and the courthouse had burned.

Railroad construction begun in 1880, brought about an industrial boom. An ice plant, distillery, brick yard, cigar factory, and canning factory all became very successful. Lumber mills in the pine forest that supplies the ties for the railroad now supplied the growing demand for lumber in Springfield.

The first Circuit Court met in a log cabin one mile east of West Plains, according to an 1876 account. A small, wooden courthouse was built on the square in West Plains in 1850. It was damaged during the Civil War in 1862. The county was reorganized three years later, but all of the county records were destroyed in a fire in 1866. A second courthouse was built in West Plains in 1869. (en.wikipedia.org)