La Plata is a city in Macon County,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, United States. The population was 1,257 at the 2020 census, down from 1,366 in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. La Plata is located next to the Adair County line and is on a mainline of the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

. The town is best known for La Plata station, which provides passenger rail service to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

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History

The beginnings of La Plata can be traced back to March 17, 1827, when Drury Davis established a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

near the town's current location. The ensuing few years saw Davis joined by family and friends to create a small village that included a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, an inn, and stagecoach station. La Plata was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted in 1855. It was named after the city of

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

, in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The name is of Spanish origin meaning "silver". Two men, Louis Gex and Thomas Saunders, were the primary force behind the town's platting, and drew straws to choose the community's name. Saunders wanted to name the town "Charlottesville" to honor a favorite sister, while Gex pushed for the name La Plata. Gex won out, and the town is believed to have been first incorporated on September 29, 1856. Another of the early settlers who helped in creating the town was W. W. Moore, who erected La Plata's first hotel. The North Missouri (later known as the

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

) came to town in 1867, and the

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

twenty years later, passing through La Plata on its route from

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

. The combination of the two railroads made La Plata an ideal shipping point for timber, livestock, grains, and other goods for northern Macon County and southern portions of neighboring Adair County as well. As part of this growth, the town was incorporated as a fourth-class city on April 4, 1881, with Jacob Gilstrap serving as first mayor. La Plata's first major industry, a

creamery A creamery or cheese factory is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has ...

, was established in 1883. The facility had the capacity to produce up to 1.25 tons of butter per day. However, fire destroyed the creamery and it was never rebuilt. Other light agriculture-related industry has existed in the town over the years, including a large chicken hatchery and turkey hatchery. Two major oil pipelines pass through La Plata as well, the Prairie Pipeline being the first in 1912. A "tank farm" of large storage tanks was located for many years on the city's northern edge. The Wabash Railroad through La Plata was abandoned after it was merged in 1991 with the

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

, but the Amtrak station is still in operation on the

Burlington Northern Santa Fe BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

rail system, and the town is served by the ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and American Southwest ...

''. A small but active business community still exists in the town. The first school, named "Long Branch" for a nearby creek, was established in 1868. It was replaced, in 1872, by a five-room brick schoolhouse. Today, children of La Plata and the surrounding rural area are educated by the La Plata R-2 school district. The Lester and Norma Dent House, John T. and Mary M. Doneghy House, Gilbreath-McLorn House, and La Plata Square Historic District are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Geography

La Plata is in northeastern Macon County, with its northern border following the county line. U.S. Route 63, a four-lane highway, passes through the east side of the city, leading south to Macon, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and north to Kirksville in Adair County. Missouri Route 156 passes through the south side of La Plata as Clark Street, leading west to South Gifford and east to

Novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, La Plata has a total area of , of which , or 0.38%, are water. The city sits on a height of land which drains west to Long Branch, a south-flowing tributary of the Little Chariton River and part of the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

watershed, and east toward the Middle Fork of the Salt River, a direct tributary of the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 1,366 people, 584 households, and 364 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 683 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 96.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.2%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.1% Asian, 0.5%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.0% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.3% of the population. There were 584 households, of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.7% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.83. The median age in the city was 42.1 years. 23.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.9% were from 25 to 44; 24.2% were from 45 to 64; and 22.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.1% male and 52.9% female. La Plata has a growing settlement of

Amish The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church fellowships with Swiss people, Swiss and Alsace, Alsatian origins. As they ...

, most of whom are engaged in farming.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 1,486 people, 630 households, and 388 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 702 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 98.65%

, 0.13%

, 0.07% Native American, 0.13% Asian, 0.27% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.68% of the population. There were 630 households, out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.6% were

living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.3% were non-families. 35.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.96. In the city the population was spread out, with 25.2% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 26.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 79.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $29,583, and the median income for a family was $36,071. Males had a median income of $26,438 versus $17,880 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $19,675. About 9.0% of families and 14.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 21.8% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Public education in La Plata is administered by La Plata R-II School District, which operates one elementary school and La Plata High School. La Plata has a lending library, the La Plata Public Library.

Notable people

* Lester Dent, author, ''

Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a polymathic scientist, explorer, detective, and warrior who "right ...

'' books

References

External links

* * Historic maps of La Plata in th
Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection
at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

Digital Library {{authority control * Cities in Macon County, Missouri 1855 establishments in Missouri Cities in Missouri