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'''Cooter''' is a city in far southern [[Pemiscot County, Missouri|Pemiscot County]], [[Missouri]]. It had a population of 469 at the 2010 census.
==History==
Cooter (initially spelled Coutre or Couter) dates back to before 1854, the first year in which there is evidence of a community on the spot, making it among the oldest surviving cities in the "Bootheel" region. The origins of the name are debated. Some argue that it came from the "coots," members of the duck family, many of the early settlers hunted in the nearby lakes and bayous. Others believe it was named in honor of Portell Coutre, a French colonist in the [[New Madrid, Missouri|New Madrid]] area around 1800. There appears to be no conclusive evidence for either of these theories.<ref>https://shsmo.org/collections/manuscripts/ramsay/pemiscot</ref>
Cooter was incorporated as a 4th-class city in 1964; since that time, its population has fluctuated somewhat, but it remains an active community thanks to the local school and the richness of the surrounding farmland.<ref>https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/bluebook/2015-2016/8_CityCounty.pdf#page=75</ref>
==Geography==
Cooter is located on State Route E in southern Pemiscot County, about three miles east of [[Holland, Missouri|Holland]] and three miles southeast of [[Steele, Missouri|Steele]]. Route E connects it with Interstate 55 to the west. Its exact coordinates are 36°02’45”N 89°48’36”W.
The city lies on the flat Mississippi Alluvial Plain, not far from Pemiscot Bayou. It has a total land area of 0.30 square miles, and an average elevation of 262 feet.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120702145235/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:Missouri Cities and Towns]]