Malden, MO

Malden is a Dunklin County city in Missouri's Bootheel, where Missouri Route 25 meets U.S. 62 and the Crowley's Ridge Parkway. The 2020 census counted 3,706 residents. The city was platted in 1877 by a railroad representative, and transportation still structures the map: highways, the airport, and the long agricultural roads of the Bootheel all meet around town. Malden also sits in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, about 23 miles west of New Madrid and the Mississippi River's Kentucky Bend. Malden Regional Airport is one of Missouri's larger general-aviation fields, and its terminal houses the MAAPS Military Museum, with displays from Malden Army Airfield and other military operations.

The museum's Veterans Wall of Honor adds a local memorial piece. The Bootheel Youth Museum adds a hands-on children's museum to the city center, while Malden R-I schools and Three Rivers Community College connect education to the wider region. Malden's local scoop is the pairing: a railroad-born agricultural city with an airport museum, a children's museum, and seismic geography all in the same Bootheel map.