24/7 Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup in Canalou, MO

Canalou is a small city in northwest New Madrid County, Missouri, about a mile from the Stoddard County line in the state's Bootheel region.

Canalou had its start in 1902 as a lumber company town, and a post office called Canalou has been in operation since 1903.

Nobody knows how Canalou got its name - the origin of the name has never been documented.

Canalou boomed with the Bootheel timber era, and its population peaked at 477 residents in the 1920 census.

The city still held 447 people in 1960, but a long decline followed: the 2010 census counted 338 people in 114 households, and the 2020 census counted just 158 - a drop of more than half in a single decade.

Canalou covers only 0.20 square miles of land, one of the smallest footprints of any incorporated city in the Bootheel.

Fantasy artist Michael Parkes, who now resides in Spain, was born in Sikeston in 1944 and grew up in Canalou.

Canalou native Dan Whittle wrote a book about his hometown, 'Canalou: People, Culture, Bootheel Town,' published by the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, and the community was also featured in a segment of the public radio documentary show This American Life.