Phelps County, Missouri
Overview
Phelps County is a county located in south-central Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, it includes the mean center of U.S. population
Mean center of U.S. population
The mean center of U.S. population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from the results of each census. The Bureau defines it to be:...

 in 2000. As of the 2000 U.S. Census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

, the county's population was 39,825. A 2008 estimate, however, showed the population to be 42,205. The largest city and county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 is Rolla
Rolla, Missouri
Rolla is a city in Phelps County, Missouri, United States, midway between the larger cities of St. Louis and Springfield along I-44. The population in the 2010 United States Census was 19,559.It is the county seat of Phelps County...

. The county was officially organized on November 13, 1857, and was named for the Honorable John Smith Phelps
John S. Phelps
John Smith Phelps was a politician, soldier during the American Civil War, and the 23rd Governor of Missouri.-Early life and career:...

, a U.S. Congressman and former Governor of Missouri from 1877-1881.

Much of the county is included within the Ozark Highlands
Ozark Highlands AVA
The Ozark Highlands AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in southern Missouri in the Ozark Mountains. The appellation includes land from just east of Jefferson City in the north to the Eleven Point River in the south, including parts of Phelps, Maries, Osage, Gasconade, Franklin, Crawford,...

 American Viticultural Area
American Viticultural Area
An American Viticultural Area is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau , United States Department of the Treasury....

 (AVA).
 
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