Moniteau County Courthouse Square

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

From the record

“Moniteau County Courthouse Square is a national historic district located at California, Moniteau County, Missouri. The district encompasses 21 contributing buildings and 1 contributing site in the central business district of California.”
Wikipedia article Moniteau County Courthouse Square, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 10 National Register listings published here for Moniteau County · listed in 1970 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 21 buildingss, 1 site as contributing to the listing.
Address. Public Sq., California, 65018
When was it listed? October 1970
Category. district
Township. Walker township
National Register reference number. 70000341 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

15 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Moniteau County Courthouse Square between 1999 and 2019, burning about 39 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Smoking	2
Recreation and ceremony	1
Equipment and vehicle use	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
26 September 2019	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Missouri Department of Conservation	190103-06841-09262019-1950
9 August 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Missouri Department of Conservation	190101-06841-08092019-1200
5 August 1999	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	not named
2 August 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.8 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	190100-06841-08022019-0625
19 August 1999	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	not named
3 July 2019	Debris and open burning	2.9 acres	Missouri Department of Conservation	190097-06841-07032019-1600
27 July 2019	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Missouri Department of Conservation	190099-06841-07272019-0520
25 July 2019	Smoking	under an acre	Missouri Department of Conservation	190098-06841-07252019-1700

Every fire recorded in Moniteau County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 34 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 34 workings within 5 miles of Moniteau County Courthouse Square: 33 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Lead, Zinc, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Lead, Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Steubinger Mine	Barium-Barite	Past Producer
Unknown - Clay	Clay	Past Producer
Unknown - Lead Zinc	Zinc, Lead	Past Producer
Unknown - Ls Lead Zinc	Stone, Crushed/Broken, Zinc, Lead	Past Producer
Unknown - Ls Dimension	Limestone, Dimension	Past Producer
Unknown - Ls Dimension	Limestone, Dimension	Past Producer
Crown Mine	Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc	Past Producer
King Jack Mine	Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc	Past Producer
Liberty Mine	Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc	Past Producer
Carr Mines	Lead	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Moniteau County

Storms near this property

60 of 69 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names California, the town this property stands in, in 69 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 37 thunderstorm wind, 28 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
April 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	California	$50,000	Pieces of a tin roof were torn off several barns. Several large trees and power lines were also knocked down.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	California	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down a power pole on the south side of town.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	California	$5,000	A local radio station reported wind gusts to 79 mph with numerous trees down and shingles blown off roofs on the west side of California.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	California	$5,000	A local radio station reported wind gusts of 79 mph which broke 10-inch-diameter tree limbs.
May 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	California	$600	The county sheriff's department reported trees and power lines down.
April 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	California	$500	no account filed
April 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	A mesonet station measured a 61 mph wind gust near California.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds snapped healthy tree branches of up to 6 inches in diameter.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down several large tree limbs and a short light pole.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous tree limbs around town as well as a tree on Howard Street.
May 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees and power lines around town.
March 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds caused minor damage to a roof of a building on the north side of California. The debris landed on Highway 87.
May 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down several large trees around town. Also, a transformer caught fire.
October 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down a tree onto power lines in town.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	A line of severe storms moved through Moniteau County. Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down between California and Jamestown.
May 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down a few large trees.
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down a large tree on the north side of town. The tree knocked down several power lines.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous tree limbs and several power lines.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down several power poles in town.
April 2010	Flash Flood	California	-	Between 2 and 4 inches of rain fell in a short amount of time causing flash flooding. Numerous roads were flooded including U.S. Highway 50 just west of California and Highway O just north of California. One foot of water was flowing over Parkview Drive in California.
May 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Several trees were blown over onto U.S. Highway 50 five miles west of California.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds snapped off tops of a few large trees. Also, some siding was blown off of a house.
May 2008	Heavy Rain	California	-	Several local roads in and near California were flooded due to heavy rain.
September 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	A power line was blown down in California.
May 2007	Hail	California	-	A report from the public estimated 2 inch hail.
May 2007	Hail	California	-	A storm spotter reported golfball size hail.
April 2005	Hail	California	-	The Sheriff Department reported nickel size hail.
May 2005	Hail	California	-	The County Sheriff reported 3/4 inch hail.
March 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	The County Sheriff reported wind gusts to 70 mph. Some trees and power lines were downed.
May 2003	Hail	California	-	Amateur radio spotters reported 3/4 inch hail just southwest of California.
May 2003	Hail	California	-	Storm spotters reported golfball size hail.
December 2002	Hail	California	-	The County EOC reported 3/4 inch hail.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines and caused some structural damage. A grocery store, the newspaper office, a fire station and California City Hall all suffered roof damage from the wind gusts. A 20 foot section of the City Hall roof was blown off resulting in considerable water damage inside.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	The County Sheriff reported several trees and power lines down in the south part of town.
April 2001	Tornado (F0)	California	-	A small, brief tornado formed near California. A couple of storm spotters observed the brief tornado north of California. The tornado formed over open farmland, kicked up some dirt and dissipated. This was the first of 6 tornadoes that a High Precipitation Supercell produced in the National Weather Service St. Louis County Warning Area.
May 2000	Hail	California	-	Storm spotters reported 3/4 inch hail.
April 1995	Hail	California	-	Golf ball-size hail was reported in Latham and quarter-size hail was reported southwest of California.
June 1994	Hail	California	-	The county sheriff reported large hail in and near California lasting for ten minutes.
June 1994	Hail	California	-	The county sheriff reported large hail in and near California lasting for ten minutes.
May 2017	Hail	California	-	no account filed
May 2017	Hail	California	-	no account filed
July 2014	Hail	California	-	no account filed
April 2011	Hail	California	-	no account filed
April 2011	Hail	California	-	no account filed
May 2009	Hail	California	-	no account filed
April 2008	Hail	California	-	no account filed
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	California	-	no account filed
March 2006	Hail	California	-	no account filed
March 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	California	-	no account filed
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	California	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	California	-	no account filed
September 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	no account filed
September 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	no account filed
September 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	no account filed
September 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	California	-	no account filed
August 2005	Flash Flood	California	-	no account filed
May 2003	Hail	California	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Moniteau County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

4 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Gray-Wood Buildings	under 500 feet	1984
Finke Opera House	under 500 feet	2004
Old Barnhill Building	0.1 miles	1982
Old California City Hall and Fire Station	0.3 miles	1982

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 70000341 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Moniteau County	All 10 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.