Buffalo's name points back to Buffalo Head Prairie

Buffalo is where Dallas County business comes together. The county directory places the commission, clerk, assessor, collector, treasurer, circuit clerk, and several other offices in Buffalo, mostly around 102 S. Cedar or nearby courthouse addresses. So if you need a property record, tax receipt, deed question, or court filing, Buffalo is usually the practical starting point.

The town name adds the color. Buffalo was laid out in 1841 and had a post office by 1845. Joseph P. Miles, who built the first house there in 1839, named the town for his birthplace in Buffalo, New York. The name may also have fit because the town sits near Buffalo Head Prairie.

That prairie has its own odd little name story. Buffalo Head Prairie was named after an early settler, Mark L. Reynolds, who placed a buffalo skull on a stake he found in one of the Blue Mounds. Nearby Blue Mounds were described as three hills southwest of Buffalo that looked blue from a distance, an Ozarks kind of look showing up in prairie land.

That is useful because Buffalo is more than a courthouse dot on U.S. 65. It sits where county offices, old prairie names, Ozark hills, and small-town errands overlap. Use the current county directory for office hours and addresses, because the story explains the place but the directory tells you which counter is open today.