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On this episode of Our American Stories, in the spring of 1961, McDonald County opened its highway map and discovered that it had simply vanished. The resort towns that depended on summer travelers were nowhere to be found, and what looked like a clerical mistake carried real consequences for the people who lived there. County leaders announced that McDonald County would symbolically secede from Missouri until someone paid attention.

Dwight Pogue was a teenager then, watching his neighbors create a makeshift border patrol, hand out mock visas, and treat the whole effort as both a stand and a celebration. Looking back, he remembers how a small county briefly turned itself into its own territory and how that unlikely season brought the community together in a way no one expected.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the spring of 1961, McDonald County opened its highway map and discovered that it had simply vanished. The resort towns that depended on summer travelers were nowhere to be found, and what looked like a clerical mistake carried real consequences for the people who lived there. County leaders announced that McDonald County would symbolically secede from Missouri until someone paid attention. Dwight Pogue was a teenager then, watching his neighbors create a makeshift border patrol, hand out mock visas, and treat the whole effort as both a stand and a celebration. Looking back, he remembers how a small county briefly turned itself into its own territory and how that unlikely season brought the community together in a way no one expected.
Support the show (<a href="https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)">https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)</a>

Our American Stories tells stories that aren’t being told. Positive stories about generosity and courage, resilience and redemption, faith and love. Stories about the past and present. And stories about ordinary Americans who do extraordinary things each and every day. Stories from our listeners about their lives. And their history. In that pursuit, we hope we’ll be a place where listeners can refresh their spirit, and be inspired by our stories.

Our American Stories

When One Ozarks County Declared Itself the Fifty-First State

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/5428e9c6-a3c3-4331-9328-b3ae017239fe/transcript

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