Clinton, the largest city in Henry County, was chosen as the county seat site in 1836 by commissioners that included Daniel Morgan Boone, and by the following year courthouse construction had begun on the last high ground heading west. Named for DeWitt Clinton, while Henry County honors Patrick Henry, the city grew around the courthouse site that remained the focal point of Missouri's largest public square even after the original courthouse was razed in 1887 and replaced in 1892. Local tradition called the area the Golden Valley, a place the Osage were said to regard as free of severe weather, and settlers built an agrarian community that soon included a brick courthouse, a two-story log tavern, a stagecoach depot, and the Judge Dorman home. The Civil War slowed prosperity, brought three skirmishes to Clinton between 1862 and 1864, and revealed Henry County's strong Confederate leanings. After the war, Henry County spurred growth by contributing $400,000 in 1867 to the Tebo & Neosho Railroad, whose first train reached Clinton on Aug. 23, 1870, beginning decades of expansion, new rail connections, and major exports including coal, pottery, flour, beer, and baby chicks. Clinton's rail era helped Royal Booth build the first modern hatchery business in the U.S., and from the 1920s to 1940s the city embraced its identity as the Baby Chick Capital of the World. After passenger service on the Katy line ended in 1958 and the railroad declined, the former rail corridor between Sedalia and Clinton was donated to Missouri State Parks in 1991 and reopened in 1999 as part of Katy Trail State Park, preserving the route that had long shaped Clinton's prosperity.