Bloomfield: Stoddard County seat and the Stars and Stripes Museum

Bloomfield is the county seat of Stoddard County. It sits on Crowley’s Ridge in the Bootheel. The county courthouse is in Bloomfield, so this is where county government and records are based. The courthouse square is the civic center of the county.

Bloomfield is also home to the National Stars and Stripes Museum and Library. It is tied to Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military newspaper. The museum says the paper was “born in Bloomfield in 1861,” during the Civil War, and it keeps everything from the first Civil War editions to the modern era.

If you want to visit, check the days, hours, and admission on the museum’s official site before you go. That way you get the current details and the museum’s own account of how the newspaper started.