Canton, MO

At the 2020 census, Canton was a Lewis County city of 2,774 people on the Mississippi River, with a college on the hill and floodwater always part of the local memory. Christian University was established in 1853 and became Culver-Stockton College in 1917; it was the first college west of the Mississippi chartered for coeducation. The school gives Canton a student rhythm and a high-ground landmark, while the river once supplied an older route across the region. Ferry service in the Canton area dated to at least 1844 and continued until 2014.

The river has also tested the town repeatedly. Spring floods once sent students, shoppers, and school employees through downtown by boat, and the levee built in the early 1960s changed daily life even though the floods of 1973, 1993, and 2008 still put it to work. Canton’s education story includes Lincoln School, established in 1880 for Black children and used until 1955. Culver-Stockton and the town have rebuilt together after fires, tornadoes, and floods. Canton is a river town, but the college, levee, schools, and cemetery make it feel like a place that has learned to organize itself around the river’s moods.