Birch Tree is a small town located in Shannon County on US Highway 60 about 130 miles east of Springfield. Birch Tree had a post office as early as 1861, although there seems to be some uncertainty as to exactly when it first got a first post office. The settlement was name for a grove of nearby birch trees.
The original town site was located about two miles from the present-day town center. It was moved in 1889 when the Current River Railroad was built through the area. (It was a common phenomenon for towns to move to be closer to the railroad tracks when a railway was built through its area. )
By 1890, Birch Tree had a population slightly over 500, and it was still about 500 when a Springfield newspaperman visited the place in 1913. The town had two banks, a planing and lumber company, a roller mill, a canning factory, an ice plant, a drug store, a hardware and furniture store, and "many general stores." Dairy and poultry farming were also important industries in the area. The town boasted an eight-room high school with six teachers.
Unimproved land in the Birch Tree area could be had for as little as $5 an acre up to about $15 an acre.
Over the last 100+ years, the population of Birch Tree has held fairly steady, never dipping below 409 and never above 679.
Birch Tree has the unusual distinction of being home to two consecutive Missouri governors. Mel Carnahan, governor from 1993-2020 was born in Birch Tree, and Bob Holden, who was elected governor in the fall of 2020 and took office in early 2021, grew up in Birch Tree. Actually, Carnahan's lieutenant governor finished out the last 84 days of Carnahan's term after Carnahan died in a plane crash in October 2020. So, Carnahan and Holden's terms weren't technically back-to-back, but close enough.
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