 After the discovery of a preceding Springfield, Missouri, settlers named it "Plattsburg," after Plattsburgh, New York, which is the seat of Clinton County, New York.Both it and Clinton County, Missouri were named for George Clinton, one of the Founding Fathers, the first governor of New York, and vice president from 1805 to 1812.The area was settled chiefly by migrants from the Upper South, especially central Kentucky and western Virginia, and was near the area called "Little Dixie" in Missouri.