Here for the Health Needs of THE FULTON COMMUNITY

At MU Health Care, part of our mission to save and improve lives means ensuring patients all across the region have access to expert care close to home. Through our local clinics, patients have access to over 600 MU Health Care doctors in more than 80 specialties working together to coordinate care.

Welcome to Callaway County

west of the Mississippi River, moved into a new state-ofthe-art $210 million campus in Fall of 2019.

With over 200 years of rich history, Callaway County is a great place to live, visit, or build a business. We are continuously seeking opportunities for innovation and improvement and are dedicated to building one of mid-Missouri’s most vibrant and progressive communities.

Being in the heart of Missouri, Callaway County is the perfect destination, with easy access to quality education, health care, entertainment, shopping, and outdoor recreation the state has to offer. Our citizens enjoy the charm of a small-town atmosphere but still have convenient access to two larger metropolitan areas less than 25 miles awayColumbia and Jefferson City.

Fulton, the county seat and home to almost 13,000 people, is an evergrowing entrepreneurial community that is home to both a college and a university, restaurants and cafes, historic properties and sites, as well as parks and recreational spaces. In addition, the thriving town has an energetic business community with some of the state’s leading service institutions.

State institutions such as the Missouri School for the Deaf and the Fulton State Hospital have been critical for Fulton’s stable economy for more than 165 years. Together, they employ more than 1,400 people. The Fulton State Hospital, which is the oldest public mental health facility

Callaway County celebrated its 200th birthday in 2020. Throughout the past 200 years, evidence of growth and progress can be seen all around the county. One of these notable successes includes the revitalization of the Fulton Brick District. In 2022, the Fulton Brick District was recognized with The Pathfinder Award at the Missouri Governor’s Conference on Tourism for the Annual Morels and Microbrews event that is held each spring. This award recognizes an organization that successfully develops a niche tourism market. Garry Vaught, co-owner of Beks, and local attorney Tom Riley first came up with the idea of a morel event in 2011. The first festival was held in 2012 with about 300 attendees, 64 lbs of morels, 10 breweries, and around 7 volunteers. The 2022 festival had about 3,000 attendees, 450 lbs of morels, 20 breweries, and 50 volunteers.

Also located in the quaint Brick District is the Brick District Playhouse, a 1920s-era landmark theatre that, since its official opening in 2018, has hosted cultural and performing arts events. Renovations are currently underway in the balcony that will finish the restoration of the Playhouse.

Progress is also seen through the continued entrepreneurial development stimulated by the ShowMe Innovation Center. This stimulation includes the growth of several large businesses over the decade that exceed the state average by 100 percent. One of those large businesses, the Callaway Nuclear Energy Center, has created an ongoing impact in the county with its annual payroll of $100 million and revenue generation of $3 billion.

The Callaway Nuclear Energy Center is also one of 20 manufacturers in Callaway County. The county offers an expanding manufacturing base with new job creation at seven local industries during the past four years. One example includes Harbison Walker International, who added a $1.9 million expansion in Fulton, retaining 70 and adding two dozen more jobs in the county.

Along with a vivacious business community and ever-growing manufacturing sector, Callaway County’s education sector is also quite notable. Fulton’s Westminster College and William Woods University both have rich reputations – William Woods for its internationally recognized equestrian studies program and Westminster for its Green Lecture Series, which attracts leaders to the Fulton campus to discuss foreign policy issues. The most notable speaker in this series was former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, whose famous “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946 will forever be a pillar in the Fulton community. Churchill’s speech is commemorated on the Westminster campus today by the National Churchill Museum and 32-foot-long section of the Berlin Wall called Breakthrough, which is viewed by more than 20,000 visitors annually. George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Mikhail Gorbachev, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher are among the great leaders who have come to the Fulton campus.

Since its founding in 1820, Callaway County has been an agricultural-based community with a rich history. The county’s outlying communities including New Bloomfield, Auxvasse, Williamsburg, Mokane,

Millersburg, Holts Summit, Portland, and Kingdom City have rich agricultural pedigrees that support farming operations for beef cattle and crop production –primarily corn, soybeans, and wheat.

Callaway County continues to provide the tools to be a strong and resourceful county. It is our goal to continuously improve our community to make it a place where people choose to call home.

We warmly welcome you to Callaway County to not only enjoy the charming atmosphere but to celebrate over 200 years of history with us.

We hope you enjoy your stay!