Cabool, MO

Cabool is a Texas County city in the Ozarks, where U.S. 60, U.S. 63, and Missouri 181 meet. The 2020 census counted 1,946 residents. The railroad brought the town into being in the late nineteenth century, and lumber became an early trade; local histories describe mills along the Big Piney headwaters and a business district that shifted toward the station. The city was established in 1882, but its name carries an older mystery. One account connects Cabool to Kabul, Afghanistan, while the "Legend of Cabool" ties it to a story about a local chief. Both versions still circulate.

Cabool R-IV keeps the town's school map close, with elementary, middle, and high schools, and the Texas County Library has a Cabool connection. The Ozark landscape runs toward Mark Twain National Forest and Ozark National Scenic Riverways, while the highway junction keeps Cabool connected to Mountain Grove, Houston, and Willow Springs. Cabool has a name people ask about, but the place itself is a railroad-and-highway city with schools, mills, farms, and Ozark roads underneath the legend.