Canton, Missouri Canton, Missouri Location of Canton, Missouri Location of Canton, Missouri Canton is a town/city in Lewis County, Missouri, United States.
It also had the earliest continuously operating ferry athwart the Mississippi River, which closed in April 2014. Four members of the United States House of Representatives have come from Canton, and are buried in the city's Forest Grove Cemetery.
Canton is part of the Quincy, IL MO Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The town/city of Canton, believed to be titled in honor of Canton, Ohio, predates the encircling Lewis County by three years, having been established in 1830, whereas the county would not be created from part of Marion county until 1833. It was established by Issac Bland, Robert Sinclair, and Edward White the latter constructing the town's first home in February, 1830. The building also doubled as Canton's first business, a tavern. Canton's early history could well be called a tale of two cities.
The village of Tully, established in November, 1834, was just a mile north of fledgling Canton and had a slightly better region for steamboats to anchor. Being the preferred spot to load and unload cargo, Tully slowed Canton's expansion for the first two decades of its existence.
Canton, with its somewhat higher ground but still close river adjacency experienced rapid expansion over the next nine years after Tully's demise and by 1860 had a populace of over 2,000 citizens . The town was officially incorporated on January 28, 1851. Ferry service athwart the Mississippi River dates back as far as 1844 in the Canton area, the first being at Tully.
Local travelers and those heading westward in pursuit of a new life meant heavy use of the ferry, with early fares being 50 cents per wagon and 10 cents for travelers on foot. In an era where barns s were still several Canton, along with Alexandria, Missouri a several miles upriver to the north, became primary trading and shipping points for suburbs and counties on the northeast Missouri interior.
A stage line ran from Canton as far west as Kirksville, some eighty miles away in Adair county, before to the American Civil War. Another key event in Canton's history came about in 1853 with the beginning of "Christian University", now known as Culver-Stockton College.
As a strategic river port, Canton was involved considerably in the Civil War.
Federal troops occupied Canton in July, 1861 to quell recent unrest and quash recruiting for the Missouri State Guard and pro-Confederate guerrillas by Lewis county inhabitants Martin E.
On August 2, 1862 Colonel Porter ordered a raid on Canton.
Flooding at Canton in June, 2008.
The river crested at its second-highest level ever at Canton, 27.73 feet.
Canton continued its part as gateway to northeast Missouri agricultural after the war, with a several industries catering to those needs.
Iron plows, wagons, a patented hand corn planter, and buttons using mussel shells from the close-by river were some of the diverse items produced in Canton in the 19th century. Limited rail service had existed in Canton in antebellum times but the tracks were finished amid Civil War fighting.
Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad. While the Mississippi river has been the lifeblood of the town, it has also been Canton's nemesis throughout the years.
Within an hour of the break two square miles of the town and encircling countryside were underwater, including more than 200 homes and the Canton school building but no lives were lost. During the New Deal era, Jessie Hull Mayer won the federal commission to complete a murals in the Canton postal service.
Periodic flooding of the downtown region happened again after World War II, but was largely ended by assembly of a bigger and stronger levee in the 1960s. Due to the new levee the Mississippi Flood of 1973, the Great Flood of 1993 and the June 2008 Midwest floods left Canton with far less damage than previous affairs and spared the town from the fates of other river towns.
In June, 2013 a new "levee walk" and wetlands region was added to the Canton riverfront.
The 2,000 foot trail provides both recreation and educational possibilities about the river and its surrounding. Tornadoes have also been unkind to Canton.
The Culver-Stockton College fieldhouse, which just hours earlier had contained a large crowd for spring commencement, was virtually finished while the dome on Henderson Hall was also ripped away. Henderson Hall is one of three locations in Canton listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the the rest being the Lock & Dam No 20 Historic District, and the Lincoln School building, a former school for black kids in existence from 1880 to 1955. According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 2.59 square miles (6.71 km2), of which, 2.29 square miles (5.93 km2) is territory and 0.30 square miles (0.78 km2) is water. There were 954 housing units at an average density of 416.6 per square mile (160.9/km2).
There were 829 homeholds of which 29.9% had kids under the age of 18 living with them, 43.5% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female homeholder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male homeholder with no wife present, and 40.5% were non-families.
The median age in the town/city was 26.5 years.
19.1% of inhabitants were under the age of 18; 28.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19.4% were from 25 to 44; 19% were from 45 to 64; and 13.6% were 65 years of age or older.
There were 1,011 housing units at an average density of 442.1 per square mile (170.5/km ).
The ethnic makeup of the town/city was 95.07% White, 2.11% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.82% Asian, 0.55% from other competitions, and 1.17% from two or more competitions.
There were 884 homeholds out of which 31.2% had kids under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female homeholder with no husband present, and 39.3% were non-families.
In the town/city the populace was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 27.5% from 18 to 24, 21.4% from 25 to 44, 15.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median income for a homehold in the town/city was $26,983, and the median income for a family was $34,444.
About 10.5% of families and 16.8% of the populace were below the poverty line, including 25.6% of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over.
"The History of Canton, Missouri".
City of Canton.
"Canton Historic Marker".
"A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets Past and Present of Lewis County, Missouri".
"Canton Ferry history".
"Canton MO Natural Disasters and Weather Extremes".
"Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015".
Historic maps of Canton in the Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection at the University of Missouri Municipalities and communities of Lewis County, Missouri, United States
Categories:
Cities in Lewis County, Missouri - Missouri populated places on the Mississippi River
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