Shawneetown, Missouri

Shawneetown, Missouri
unincorporated community
Location of Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Coordinates: 37°33′04″N 89°39′07″W / 37.55111°N 89.65194°W / 37.55111; -89.65194Coordinates: 37°33′04″N 89°39′07″W / 37.55111°N 89.65194°W / 37.55111; -89.65194
Country	United States
State	Missouri
County	Cape Girardeau
Township	Shawnee Township
Elevation	522[1] ft (159 m)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code	63755
Area code(s)	573
FIPS code	29-67124[2]
GNIS feature ID	731650 [3]

Shawneetown is an unincorporated community in Shawnee Towhship in northern Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. It is located twenty miles north of Cape Girardeau and is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Name

Shawneetown sits on the site of a former Shawnee community, hence the name.^[4]

History

Shawneetown was site of one of the 6 Shawnee and Delaware villages along Apple Creek in both Perry and Cape Girardeau counties and Indian Creek. The village was inhabited by Shawnee immigrants from Ohio and Indiana and Delaware immigrants originally from Delaware and New Jersey, but residing with the Shawnee in Ohio and Indiana. The Shawnee and Delaware first immigrated into the area, on request by the Spanish authorities, in 1787, to act as a buffer between the French settlements to the north and the Osage Indians to the south. The French settlers called their village Village Sauvage (French: savage or wild village). The Shawnee and Delaware were forced to give up their Spanish land grants and leave the area in 1825. The vacant land was later resettled by Americans.^[4][5] Shawneetown operated its own post office in the years 1871-1907, and 1913-1946, and is also home to Trinity Lutheran church.^[6]

References