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

Howardville is a small city in New Madrid County in Missouri's Bootheel, situated along U.S. Routes 61 and 62 just west of New Madrid and the Mississippi River.

Howardville was founded by Travis B. Howard, a Tuskegee Institute graduate who was a prominent Black educator and activist in the mid-20th-century Bootheel.

In the late 1940s, Howard purchased 200 acres of land and sold lots to displaced Black sharecroppers, acting on Booker T. Washington's belief that land ownership was a key to lifting African Americans out of poverty; the city incorporated as Howardville in 1953.

Howardville High School, initially known as East Lilbourn High School, opened in 1958; after county schools were integrated in the late 1960s it operated as a junior high school until 1980, and in 2017 the school was nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Founder Travis Howard was the father of Elston Howard, the first Black player to join the New York Yankees.

Howardville is nicknamed 'The Bricks.'

The 2020 census counted 277 people in Howardville, down from the city's peak of 536 residents in 1980.

About 91% of Howardville's residents were Black or African American in the 2020 census, making it one of Missouri's most predominantly African American cities.

The 2010 census counted 383 people living in 160 households in Howardville.

Howardville packs its population into just 0.23 square miles, a density of more than 1,200 people per square mile in 2020.