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History · Cooter

Cooter dates to 1854

Most of Cooter was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: maps from 1940 on and the census since 1920.

1854founded
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Quick answers

How Cooter began

When was Cooter founded?

1854

Cooter dates its founding to 1854 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1920.

First census: 540 in 19202020 census: 343172 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1882.The full story ↓

What stands out about Cooter’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Cooter are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cooter’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cooter’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Cooter came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cooter.

Read it all →

According to Houck's History of Missouri, the town of Cooter was named in 1854 for the Coutre (pronounced "Coo-Tra") family, headed by Frenchman Portell Coutre of New Madrid, Missouri.

In 1942, an auxiliary airfield was constructed on the west side of the city as part of Blytheville Army Airfield. In August 1946, the airfield was closed with the declaration of the main air base as surplus property by the War Assets Administration. At the time, doubt was expressed by local leaders that the field would be developed into a municipal airport.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cooter, 1854 to 1940

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854
    FoundingCooter is established
  3. 1882Post officeThe Cooter post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Cooter, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Cooter fire station and city hall2013Cooter fire station and city hallCooter High School2013Cooter High SchoolMOMap-doton-Cooter2004MOMap-doton-Cooter
On the map

Cooter on the map, 1940 to 1978

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cooter. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Cooter on the 1940 USGS mapCooter on the 1955 USGS mapCooter on the 1978 USGS map1940Hayti sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cooter.

People over time

Cooter, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 540

Between 343 and 540 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cooter’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Cooter’s history

What year was Cooter founded?

In 1854, according to Wikidata. Cooter’s post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1920 counted 540 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.