Pettis County MOGenWeb Project
Organized January 26, 1833, from Cooper and Saline Counties, and named for Spencer Pettis, a Missouri congressman. Sedalia is the county seat and also home of the annual Missouri State Fair. Pettis is a strong rural county, but Sedalia was closely tied to the railroad lines passing through it. Those times are almost forgotten, except for the annual Ragtime Festival held to commemorate the partnership in Sedalia of music publisher John Stark and ragtime composer Scott Joplin.