Stet is an unincorporated community on the Ray/Carroll County line and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. [1] It is located approximately fourteen miles northwest of Carrollton at the intersection of Missouri Supplemental Routes K and JJ.
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not governed by a local municipal corporation; similarly an unincorporated community is a settlement that is not governed by its own local municipal corporation, but rather is administered as part of larger administrative divisions, such as a township, parish, borough, county, city, canton, state, province or country. Occasionally, municipalities dissolve or disincorporate, which may happen if they become fiscally insolvent, and services become the responsibility of a higher administration. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. In most other countries of the world, there are either no unincorporated areas at all, or these are very rare; typically remote, outlying, sparsely populated or uninhabited areas.
Ray County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,494. Its county seat is Richmond. The county was organized November 16, 1820 and named for John Ray, a Missouri state legislator and member of the first state Constitutional Convention.
Carroll County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the county had a population of 9,295. Its county seat is Carrollton. The county was organized on January 2, 1833 from part of Ray County and named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
A post office called Stet was established in 1890, and remained in operation until 1973. [2] That same year, the rural route was consolidated with Norborne but the building stayed open as a contract office until 2011. The origin of the name "Stet" is obscure. [3] The meaning of Stet in Latin is "let it stand."
The community patrons took special pride in their school, which thrived for many years in a rural surrounding. In the early 20th century, several of the one-room schoolhouses in eastern Ray and western Carroll counties were consolidated into one larger school district, appropriately named Stet. The K-12 school of the cardinals opened in 1917 and just recently closed in 2012. Also a fun fact, the town of Stet has a population of 69
Stet was named by Ed Mansur, a Stet storekeeper, in the late 1800s. Once a thriving community that boasted of two general stores, a blacksmith shop and a variety of other businesses, today Stet still remains with a tire and welding shop, a telephone exchange building (Green Hills), a Pioneer Seed salesman, Norris Quarries, and a volunteer fire department (opened in 1964) which just recently added a kitchen addition to their current structure. Each summer, the fire team members hold an ice cream social at the station as a fundraiser event.
The area also has several churches of worship scattered throughout the countryside. They include: Bethany Church of the Brethren; New Hope United Methodist; Mt. Pleasant Baptist; and Union Baptist Church.
