Salem

Salem, city, seat (1851) of Dent county, southeast-central Missouri, U.S., situated in the Ozark Mountains between the Current and Meramec rivers. Established in 1845 on the site of an inn and trading post, it was named for Salem, North Carolina. The town was occupied by Union forces during the American Civil War, except briefly in 1864, when raiders burned the courthouse and jail. Union and Confederate troops skirmished in Salem on December 3, 1861. The Dent County Courthouse (rebuilt 1871) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The development of local iron mines in the 1870s and the arrival of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway Company (Frisco) in 1872 contributed to the community’s growth. The economy is based on the mining of lead, zinc, and copper; lumbering; the production of charcoal briquets; the raising of livestock; and the manufacture of oak barrels and clothing. Tourism is an additional source of income, based on Indian Trail Conservation Area (northeast), Montauk State Park (southwest), and sections of Mark Twain National Forest (south, east, and west). Inc. 1881. Pop. (2000) 4,854; (2010) 4,950.