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Stella

The small town of Stella, located close to the Newton McDonald County line, was known for many years as the Village of Springs and was noted as a fisherman's paradise. And even though settlers came to the area in the 1820s, the village was not incorporated for more than 100 years.

Stella has a colorful and unique history. In 1950, it became the first community in the State of Missouri to have an all-female city administration. In an April city election, the community elected a woman mayor, four women council members, and a female city clerk. In their first official act, the council appointed a woman as city tax collector.

In 1960 Stella gained national attention when then-Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson attached a Civil Right Bill onto an obscure bill which was being proposed to relieve the Stella School District of a $6,200 debt. The debt was owed to the government for the use of an abandoned Camp Crowder building as a temporary school house. This little bill's association to the hot topic of Civil Rights in the 1960s turned a bright spotlight on the little community. A parade of national newspaper, radio and television reporters made their way to Stella and splashed the little town's name across newspaper headlines around the nation.

But perhaps the most lasting contribution Stella has made to humanity is to send many of its young men into the medical profession. Stella may hold the record for producing the most doctors per capita than any other community in the United States. No less than 30 young men from this small town have become doctors, and many of them have produced sons and daughters who have continued the "Stella legacy."

Stella still maintains an elementary school and several businesses on its main street. A very active Masonic Lodge is also based in the community. Visitors at welcome at the Stella Historical Society Museum on the main street.