Howardville, Missouri
Howardville is a city in central New Madrid County, Missouri. It had a population of 383 at the 2010 census.
History
Howardville is among the youngest communities in Southeast Missouri, not being founded until the 1940s. It was founded and named for Travis B. Howard, a Mississippi-born African-American graduate of Tuskegee Institute who believed land ownership would help the rural black community rise out of poverty. Beginning in 1947, he purchased some 200 acres of land southwest of New Madrid and divided it into small lots to be sold to black farm families in the vicinity. The town was incorporated in 1953 and designated a fourth class city in 1958, by which time it had a population of close to 200.
Howard not only served as its first mayor, he was also a teacher and principal at the all-black East Lilbourn High School, opened in 1958 and later renamed Howardsville High School. Though plagued by such problems as low teacher pay and overcrowding, the school nonetheless provided a quality education to many African-American students and had a good reputation in the region. It was eventually consolidated into the New Madrid County R-I School District, and ceased to operate as an educational facility after 1985.[1] Howardville High School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in January 2018.[2]