A history of Caruthersville,
since 1857
Postcards, papers and photographs of Caruthersville from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Caruthersville lies in Missouri's Bootheel on the Mississippi River. The word "Pemiscot" comes from the word pemiskaw, meaning "liquid mud" in the Fox language. Mississippi waters have frequently flooded the flatlands, creating fertile alluvial land valued for farming. Settling the floodplain has resulted in periodic problems for residents, as there are regular floods despite (and because of) elaborate constructed systems of levees and flood controls.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Caruthersville’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewFamily squatting on FSA property,…, 1938: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Caruthersville
See all 5 →
Caruthersville, decade by decade
1990s
1 historic place in Caruthersville
1 place in Caruthersville is on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Family squatting on FSA property, Caruthersville, Missouri, 8a28776 (1938) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (3) and the Library of Congress (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.