Rocky Comfort, Missouri Explained

Official Name:Rocky Comfort, Missouri
Settlement Type:Census-designated place
Pushpin Map:Missouri#USA
Pushpin Label:Rocky Comfort
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Missouri
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:McDonald
Unit Pref:Imperial
Area Footnotes:[1]
Area Total Km2:1.43
Area Land Km2:1.43
Area Water Km2:0.00
Area Total Sq Mi:0.55
Area Land Sq Mi:0.55
Area Water Sq Mi:0.00
Population As Of:2020
Population Footnotes:[2]
Population Total:176
Population Density Km2:122.70
Population Density Sq Mi:317.69
Elevation Ft:1339
Postal Code Type:ZIP Code
Postal Code:64861
Blank Name:FIPS code
Blank Info:29-62822
Blank1 Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank1 Info:2806413

Rocky Comfort is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in McDonald County, Missouri, United States, on Missouri Route 76. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 176.[2]

A post office called Rocky Comfort has been in operation since 1876.[3] Some say the community was named for the rocky terrain in an idyllic setting, while others believe the name is a transfer from Rocky Comfort, Arkansas.[4] The community is mentioned in Dennis Murphy's poem of 1941, The Doomed Race,[5] and is both title and setting for Wayne Holmes' 2009 memoir, Rocky Comfort.[6] From 1902 to 1908, when it moved to nearby Fairview, the Horner Institute, a private school offering courses from the eighth grade through high school, was located in Rocky Comfort.

Geography

Rocky Comfort is in the northeast corner of McDonald County and is bordered to the north by Newton County. Route 76 passes through the southeast part of the community. The town of Wheaton is 3miles to the northeast, and Anderson is to the southwest.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Rocky Comfort CDP has an area of 0.55sqmi, all land.[1] The community is drained by South Indian Creek, which flows northwest to form Indian Creek, part of the Elk River watershed, at Boulder City.

Demographics

Notable person

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2023 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Missouri . United States Census Bureau . March 29, 2024.
  2. Web site: P1. Race – Rocky Comfort CDP, Missouri: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171). U.S. Census Bureau. March 29, 2024.
  3. Web site: Post Offices. Jim Forte Postal History . 3 November 2016.
  4. Web site: McDonald County Place Names, 1928–1945 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160624071801/http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_mcdonald.html . June 24, 2016 . live . The State Historical Society of Missouri. November 4, 2016.
  5. 40021466. Fortner. Mary. Reviewed work: Doomed Race, Dennis Murphy. The Arkansas Historical Quarterly. 2. 1. 83–85. 1943. 10.2307/40021466.
  6. Book: 193422300X. Rocky Comfort. Holmes. Wayne. June 2009.