[3] By the time of European contact, the area was populated by Native Americans of the Illinois Confederation[4] who inhabited much of eastern Missouri.

During the 18th Century, the Perry County area, like the rest of the future State of Missouri, was part of French Louisiana, also known as the Illinois Country.

For most of the 18th Century the area of present-day Perry County was left largely uninhabited, even by the French of nearby Ste.

In 1764, when the terms of the 1763 Treaty of Paris were announced in Louisiana, the French settlers found themselves transferred to an alien domination, that of Spain.

In general the French were unhappy with the change of rule and the Spanish governance of the territory was an uneasy one, occasionally punctuated by armed rebellion.

[5][6] During the 1770s and 1780s members of the Peoria Tribe, whose situation had deteriorated under British and American rule in Illinois, migrated west across the Mississippi River into Ste.

In the 1790s, Louis Lorimier, authorized by Spanish officials, invited the Shawnee and Delaware tribes in Ohio to immigrate and settle along Apple Creek in Perry County in the hope that they would act as a buffer between the French to the north and the Osage to the south.

[5][6] The first American settlers to Perry County arrived during the latter half of the 1790s and claimed rich land in Bois Brule Bottom.

In the early 19th century, a second group of American settlers crossed the Mississippi River to take advantage of Spanish land offers.

Others soon followed whose family names predominated the decades: Tucker, Fenwick, Cissell, Hayton, Riney, Hamilton, Layton, Manning, and Hagan.

At about the same time, a small group of Flemings settled in the northeastern part of the county, with the present town of Belgique as their center.

[14] They settled in the southeastern corner of the county and moved inland through a series of towns whose names enshrined both religion and nationality: Wittenberg, Friedheim, Frohna, Dresden, Altenburg, and Paitzdorf, which was renamed Uniontown during the American Civil War.

[15] A distinct Saxon dialect of German continues to be spoken by about 250 residents (in 2014), although that number is declining with the youngest speakers being over 50 years old.

The two Methodist churches in Perry County parted company, the city congregation going with the North and the York Chapel siding with the South.

While it is one of the oldest communities in Missouri, Perry County also founded the first college west of the Mississippi River, dating to 1827.

[18] Shaped like a camel's hump, Perry County consists of 471 square miles (1,200 km2) that fit neatly into a wedge created by the confluence of Apple Creek and the Mississippi River.

The 27th Senatorial District consists of Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Madison, Mississippi, Perry, and Scott counties.

Smith won a special election on Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to finish out the remaining term of U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau).

Like most rural areas, voters in Perry County generally adhere to socially and culturally conservative principles which strongly influence their Republican leanings.

The proposition strongly passed every single county in Missouri with 75.94 percent voting in favor as the minimum wage was increased to $6.50 an hour in the state.

Unlike many of the rural areas in Missouri that backed former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas), Perry County provided U.S.

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-New York) received more votes, a total of 1,180, than any candidate from either party in Perry County during the 2008 presidential primary.

Of adults 25 years of age and older in Perry County, 71.2% possesses a high school diploma while 9.9% holds a bachelor's degree or higher as their highest educational attainment.

Visitors can explore the grounds of the St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary, the first college founded west of the Mississippi River dating back to 1827.

Other features include the National Shrine of our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, the Rosati Log Cabin, the Countess Estelle Doheny Museum with its priceless Gospel of St. John from the Gutenberg Bible and the Bishop Edward Sheehan Memorial Museum and Rare Book Room.

Newly brick-paved plaza, landscaped seating areas, park benches, a sundial, a drinking fountain, a directional marker and a gazebo have been added to the courthouse lawn.

The restored house features a circa 1830-1890 exterior and interior and is owned and maintained by the Perry County Historical Society.

The Perry County Museum is located at the entrance of the Perryville City Park in the Doerr House, (Wednesday and weekends, May–October).

In southeastern Perry County near the Mississippi River are the early German villages of Frohna, Altenburg, and Wittenberg.

Traveling south, visit the Tower Rock Natural Area, a designated national landmark, which features a 10-mile (16 km) hiking trail.