Salisbury is a city in Chariton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,563 at the 2020 census.

The house where Salisbury is now located was first owned by Prior Bibo, a veteran of the War of 1812, in the late 1820s. A tract of 320 acres was contracted to Bibo by the U.S. government as a supplementary for his military service. Following two intermediate owners, the home was sold for $400 to Judge Lucius Salisbury in 1856. He had surveyors lay out the town plat in 1857, and the town was founded upon April 1, 1867. The city has had a post office previously 1863, when Judge Salisbury opened it in his home. He then ran the stagecoach stop from his business, known as “Shop-A-While.”

By the 1870 U.S. Census, Salisbury’s population was 626. Just two years later, the town was struck by a large tornado. Major fires damaged much of the situation district in 1877 and once again in 1882. On April 4, 1882, Salisbury was organized and chartered as a fourth-class city under Missouri laws.

Early businesses included two hotels, a flour mill, three tobacco factories, three manufacturers of agricultural equipment and some forty supplementary assorted merchants in the latter 19th century. Residents could visit the Salisbury Opera House, where the town’s location on the Wabash rail pedigree came into play, conveniently bringing in notable performers of the time. A published 1896 chronicles of Chariton County lists among the community’s businesses and amenities two newspapers, six physicians, a soda-pop factory, cigar factory, and a city-owned gift plant for electricity.