Advance, MO

Advance is a Stoddard County city at the meeting of State Highway 25 and State Highway 91/Route C in northern southeast Missouri. Say the name ADD-vance. The place grew when the Houck Railroad reached it in 1910, and the name captures the railroad’s intended push toward the county line and Cape Girardeau. The town had first been called New Lakeville because it stood near the older settlement of Lakeville.

The rail line gave Advance a reason to gather stores, homes, and schools in one spot, with northern Stoddard County and southern Bollinger County making up the surrounding map. Advance R-IV School District serves that area, running from preschool and elementary grades through a consolidated junior-senior high school. The railroad story is why this particular intersection became a city. If you are driving through, use the two state highways as your first bearing, then remember the railroad story. Advance is a small Missouri city whose name came from a planned extension that stopped at this particular crossroads.