Iberia, Missouri

Iberia is a town in southeast Miller County along Highway 17 about midway between Tuscumbia, the Miller County seat, and Crocker in northern Pulaski County. A post office named Iberia first came into existence the late 1830s. It is thought that it was probably named by a Scott family, early settlers in the area from New Iberia, Louisiana. The town of Iberia, located about a mile from the post office, was not platted until 1859. 

The name of Iberia was changed to Oakhurst around the time of the Civil War, and it went by this name for about ten years. The community, under the name Iberia, was officially incorporated as a village in 1875. The population at this time was around 100 people.

By 1912, when a newspaperman from Springfield visited the town, Iberia's population had grown to about 500, although the newspaperman overestimated it at about 700. The reporter found the mountainous land south of Iberia to be "very picturesque," but the flat land north and west of the town was more conducive to farming. In addition to growing vegetables and fruits of all kinds, farmers in the area also raised cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry.

At the time of the newspaperman's visit, Iberia had about twenty businesses, including two banks, two mills, a canning factory, and a weekly newspaper. It also had "good churches" and "an academy of forty-five students."

The academy of which the reporter spoke was Iberia Academy, founded in 1890 by a minister to provide a high school education to the previously unserved youth of the surrounding region. The school became Iberia Academy and Junior College in 1929 with the addition of college-level courses. The junior college operated under the auspices of Drury College in Springfield, and when the academy closed in 1951, Drury took over its records and library materials. Iberia Public High School, which had been siphoning off students from the private academy since its creation in 1937, more or less forced the closure of the older institution and became a de facto successor to Iberia Academy.

The population of Iberia has stayed fairly steady throughout the past 100+ years, reaching a peak of about 850 in 1980. Its current population is about 700.