Zalma, MO

When the railroad moved to town, the name Bollinger's Mill was changed to Zalma, after railroad worker Zalma Block. The 2020 census counted 73 residents. Zalma is part of the Cape Girardeau−Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Zalma is home to a number of state parks that feature a number of activities such as deer hunting, fishing, bird watching, horseback riding, and hiking. With an average yearly enrollment of 250 students in K-12, the school is one of the smallest public schools in Southeast Missouri. The short version is that Zalma carries an earlier story into the places people know and use now.

That is the local read on Zalma: its past remains attached to the places people use now. In 1800, an Urban Asherbranner settled on the upper portion of the Castor River, just where the river empties its waters into Mingo Bottom, and where the village of Zalma is now situated, built a log and brush dam and erected a water mill to grind corn. Philip Bollinger settled nearby. Zalma is located in southwest Bollinger County on Missouri Route 51.