Missouri North/South Dividing Line

[Craziaskowboi]

Draw a line from Joplin to Rolla to Cape Girardeau.

[SciFiNerd1]

In my opinion, Exit 111 - Oak Ridge off I-55 is where the southern culture begins in Missouri. Perryville (Exit 129) feels more midwestern while Jackson and Cape Girardeau (Exit 105 all the way south to Arkansas state line) feel southern.

Route 60 from I-55 in Sikeston all the way to I-44 in Springfield westward to Oklahoma is also the good line across the state that is southern culturally.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

Always an interesting thread although you are likely to get people saying it has been "done to death".

To add to the fascination of Missouri is the fact that historically, they say that the Missouri river valley was called "Little Dixie" because that is where the traditional southern plantation area of the state was antebellum.

And what is interesting about it is that that area is north of what people consider the "southern" part of Missouri these days.

This is a really good point and I'm glad you brought it up. I've lived in Missouri my whole life and never really considered those areas along the Missouri River to be southern, but historically, they certainly had significant southern roots.

And depending on what source you read, it also includes counties north of St. Louis up the Mississippi River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Dixie_(Missouri)

There are still references to Little Dixie all throughout these areas, but I don't want to point them out because the cancel culture crowd might demand they be removed.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by SunGrins

Maybe this is the thread that will end this silly fixation. We can only hope.

I would agree with the OP's red tier of counties being the most southern. Those counties represent a very small percentage of state population -- sparsely populated until you get over toward Poplar Bluff and the Bootheel. The largest towns are Poplar Bluff, West Plains, and tourism-driven Branson. The lake areas tend to attract a variety of people. I would consider all the rest of the state to be in the yellow zone with some slight southern influence to none. There will be a few pockets of orange. Maybe Marion County (Hannibal) and Lafayette County (Lexington) would be orange-ish where there is some tourism interest in promoting southern-ness. Callaway County, Ray County, Cooper County, and a couple others might still have some "Little Dixie" southern influences.

The Missouri River and Mississippi River counties have a lingering river culture with a strong German heritage in many places. Almost every county from Cole County to St. Louis is very German and can be very Catholic or Lutheran. That continues south along the Mississippi River counties, in varying degrees, to Perry County. The iron and lead mining district counties had an influx of miners, some from Europe. The Ozark counties are more Appalachian in culture than southern.

I had a traveling state auditor job and had to visit each county seat for a few days on a two-year cycle. There are some places that stand out by degrees with a little more or less local flavor. The most obvious determining factor is a rural vs urban mindset. There is a rural Missouri drawl, even in some northern counties, that people might mistake for a southern characteristic. There are traces of river culture in towns from St. Joseph to Hannibal and Cape Girardeau along the big rivers. Some of those places were historically exposed to ideas or cultural exchange that other towns missed.

https://www.worldofmaps.net/typo3tem...issouri-01.png

Good post and I agree about the Little Dixie areas also having a very strong and still vibrant German Catholic and Lutheran presence, which almost by definition makes them more midwestern. Still, Little Dixie is a historical fact with some lasting influence.

[Dopo]

Every time people talk about this topic I ask them
"Give me a clear definition of what makes a region Southern"
and they can never give me one

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Every time people talk about this topic I ask them
"Give me a clear definition of what makes a region Southern"
and they can never give me one

Thanks for reminding me, though, I have a trip report to upload,
from the last time I drove across Missouri.
(It will have its own thread.)

[SunGrins]

Originally Posted by MUTGR

Good post and I agree about the Little Dixie areas also having a very strong and still vibrant German Catholic and Lutheran presence, which almost by definition makes them more midwestern. Still, Little Dixie is a historical fact with some lasting influence.

Little Dixie is a little hard to define. Before 1860, in the western end of the Missouri River Valley (Ray, Clay, some of Jackson counties), the plantations were growing hemp. The hemp growing extended eastward in areas along the river. Lexington in Lafayette County had the Battle of the Hemp Bales (Battle of Lexington) and the celebrated cannon ball stuck in the courthouse portico. The Confederate Soldiers Home was in that county. The violent period known as Bleeding Kansas involved some of those counties. Farther east is Fulton and Callaway County which had southern sentiment and that spread into some neighboring counties. Supposedly, the courthouse in Fulton displayed the Confederate flag ant times during the war. Along the upper Mississippi north of St. Charles and the German settlements, there were plantations that served as slave producers, selling slaves down the river into the delta states. This was all over 160 years ago. When someone uses the term “Little Dixie” I think of the central Missouri counties around Calloway County, because I lived there. Others might think of the Ray/Clay counties area or maybe the Marion/Ralls counties area. Little Dixie is local history but not a great deal of culture unless there’s a reason to puff it up for tourists and their money. It has become more midwestern over time.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by SunGrins

Little Dixie is a little hard to define. Before 1860, in the western end of the Missouri River Valley (Ray, Clay, some of Jackson counties), the plantations were growing hemp.

That's usually the answer I get
funny, I thought it was about "Southern culture" but the answer is usually "Let's see what areas had plantations/slaves before 1860"

[Floorist]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Every time people talk about this topic I ask them
"Give me a clear definition of what makes a region Southern"
and they can never give me one

I have lived and traveled all over Missouri. I see no difference except between rural and city.

[SunGrins]

Every time people talk about this topic I ask them
"Give me a clear definition of what makes a region Southern"
and they can never give me one

Originally Posted by Floorist

I have lived and traveled all over Missouri. I see no difference except between rural and city.

The Rural/Urban divide is what is dragging the state down. It is Missouri's worst quality, and it transcends politics in the state. To some extent it is tinged with racism. One party favors rural, and one favors urban -- but they didn't create the divide, just cling to it.

The nauseatingly frequent topic of "southern-ness" as culture that pops up is entirely different but gets tangled up in the divide at times. The typical rural Missouri speech pattern and cadence is confused as a southern drawl by people who travel through the state. It is an easy label to apply if you have no reference. There is also a bewildering interest by some in trying to claim Missouri as part of the south.

Putting history behind us (Civil War, Jesse James, slavery, Sterling Price, Mormon War, Bleeding Kansas, etc., etc.) I'm not sure there is much to say about southern-ness as a modern culture in the state. The exception might be the Bootheel counties that comprise the northern end of the Mississippi "delta" region. That is where you might see cotton fields -- but Missouri grows more wheat than cotton (in acres) and the most valuable crop is soybeans. The state ranks in the top 3-5 states in cattle production.

Culture can sometimes be defined as food choices but that has become too blurred in recent decades. You might find grits on a menu in northern states when it used to be considered strictly southern. The same might be seen with okra or black-eyed peas. Sweet tea and Key-Lime Pie are not very regional anymore. New York or Chicago (or even St. Louis) style pizza pops up in southern and western states. Bar-b-que styles are supposedly regional but are mixed up these days. I can get toasted ravioli in New Mexico with sweet tea and chicken with waffles and a side of Calabacitas with local green chile.


If the question is about southern heritage, and not culture, then we get back into a historical context.