White Squirrels in Marionville, Missouri

Growing up in Marionville, Missouri, I didn't realize until I was in school that white squirrels are uncommon. I always saw them in my yard and just assumed they were like the gray squirrels and everyone had them. Once I started school, I realized this wasn't the case, though. Even though Marionville is a small town, in the approximately 150 years they have had white squirrels, they have never left Marionville to go to a surrounding town. Marionville is the only place in Missouri that has white squirrels at all.

In fact, there are only four places in the United States that are known to have a population of white squirrels. The other three places that have white squirrels are Olney in Illinois, Kenton in Tennessee, and Brevard in North Carolina. It's not known who had white squirrels first or where they came from, but all four places claim to be home of the white squirrel.

Towns that claim to be home of the white squirrel take it pretty seriously, too. There are laws in every one of these towns protecting the squirrels. The fines can be quite high if you kill one, even if you just accidentally hit it with your car. And, at least in Marionville, you very rarely see a dead white squirrel on the side of the road. The dead white squirrel will be picked up and moved because the city doesn't want a tourist's first glimpse of a white squirrel to be that of a dead one.

There are also usually signs up everywhere proclaiming their precious squirrels. When I was growing up, we had a large billboard sign on the edge of city limits as you were coming into Marionville. The billboard had a large cartoon white squirrel who proudly exclaimed "Welcome to Marionville, Home of the White Squirrels." Just a few years ago, the sign was replaced with a smaller one that has a picture of a real white squirrel on it. The sign no longer says that we are home of the white squirrels. It just lets the picture do the talking and simply says "Marionville welcomes you" and then has a small banner along the bottom that says when the town was founded.

Marionville also has a White Squirrel Bed and Breakfast and used to have a few other businesses that included "White Squirrel" in their names. Luckily, I was never a Marionville White Squirrel because the town didn't go so far as to name the school mascot after the white squirrel. As far as I know, neither did any of the other towns. At least if they did, they are no longer using the white squirrel mascot. Brevard does have a college named White Squirrel Research Institute, though.

Marionville did find a way to share the white squirrels with other people. The town preserves any dead, intact white squirrels they find, on ice. They then get sent to Perky Dead Animal Dioramas in Madison, Wisconsin. Once there, they are put into dioramas that include things like riding in jeeps and playing basketball. That way they will still be enjoyed long after they die.