Biohazard Cleanup Near North Kennett Kennett, MO

Kennett is the county seat of Dunklin County and the largest city in Missouri's Bootheel, the low-lying southeastern corner of the state that feels more Southern than Midwestern.

Kennett's first settlers built log cabins in the early 1800s and named their settlement Chilletecaux in honor of a Delaware Indian chief who lived there.

The settlement was renamed Butler in the late 1840s, but mail kept being confused with other Butlers, so it was renamed Kennett in honor of Luther M. Kennett, the mayor of St. Louis; its post office opened in 1860.

Kennett had 10,515 residents at the 2020 census and about 4,240 households.

The arrival of a railroad in the 1890s transformed Kennett, and its population leapt from 302 in 1890 to 1,509 in 1900 and 3,033 in 1910.

A massive state drainage program in the St. Francis River basin drained Kennett's surrounding wetlands in the early 1900s, and after the timber was cleared the rich soil was developed for cotton, which still defines the local farm economy.

Kennett is the hometown of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, who was born there in 1962, grew up in Kennett, and attended Kennett High School.

Both Southeast Missouri State University and Three Rivers College operate extension campuses in Kennett, giving the small city an outsized higher-education presence.

On March 15, 2025, an EF2 tornado passed through Kennett, damaging homes, businesses, and a motel on the city's east side.