Biohazard Cleanup Near North Lithium Lithium, MO

Lithium is a census-designated place and former village in Perry County, Missouri, and it is not an incorporated city — its village government is inactive, so the Census Bureau now counts it as a CDP.

Lithium takes its name from lithium salts found in one of the two natural mineral springs at the town site, springs that were prized in the 1800s for their supposed medicinal qualities.

Lithium was first surveyed as a town in 1882 and was incorporated in 1883, the same year Thomas King built a bath house there to serve visitors drawn to the mineral springs.

Lithium Baptist Church was organized in 1885 and the Catholic church of St. John the Evangelist followed in 1896, giving the tiny springs town two congregations.

By 1912 Lithium had two general stores, two mills and a brick yard, and its population peaked at 98 residents in the 1910 census.

The 2000 census famously recorded zero people living in Lithium, even though local residents told the Associated Press about 50 people lived there and were probably counted as part of rural Perry County instead.

The 2010 census counted 89 people in 28 households in Lithium, and the 2020 census counted 92 residents.