The+Missouri+Bootheel

 =**The Missouri Bootheel **=

= = "The Missouri Bootheel is an area that cannot be easily defined or categorized. As part of Missouri it can be called Midwestern, yet it lies on the border of North and South and has deep southern ties. It is bordered by four other states and got its nickname because part of the region extends into Arkansas like the heel of a boot. It forms the upper part of the Mississippi River Delta, setting it apart geologically from the rest of Missouri and tying it agriculturally to parts of Arkansas and Mississippi.

The region was added to the Missouri Territory after the New Madrid earthquake of 1811, thanks to a rich landowner named John Hardeman Walker. The original border of Missouri was going to continue across the 36.30 parallel to the Mississippi River, but because Walker wanted his land to be included, he successfully lobbied Congress to be a part of the state of Missouri in 1818. This is probably the only example of one single person getting their land included into a state or country in world history.

At the turn of the twentieth century it was still a frontier, isolated by swamps, annual flooding, and disease. That soon changed when forests were cut down, swamps were drained, and levees were built. The region underwent a significant physical and cultural transformation and became a destination for people from the Ozark and Appalachian regions as well as the upper Midwest and Deep South. For some it was a permanent home, for others it was temporary. Many different groups of people left their mark on the region."

from [|African American History in the Missouri Bootheel.]

[|Explore Missouri's Bootheel]