Nishnabotna Township, Atchison County, Missouri

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Nishnabotna Township
Township
Map highlighting Nishnabotna Township, Atchison County, Missouri.svg
Coordinates: 40°28′52″N95°38′45″W / 40.4811586°N 95.6459335°W / 40.4811586; -95.6459335
Country Flag of the United States.svg United States
State Flag of Missouri.svg Missouri
County Atchison
Area
[1]
 • Total
74.6 km2 (28.82 sq mi)
 • Land73.1 km2 (28.21 sq mi)
 • Water1.6 km2 (0.61 sq mi)  2.12%
Elevation
[2]
275 m (902 ft)
Population
 (2020) [3]
 • Total
129
 • Density1.8/km2 (4.6/sq mi)
FIPS code 29-00552598 [1]
GNIS feature ID766237 [2]

Nishnabotna Township is a township in Atchison County, Missouri, United States. [2] At the 2020 census, its population was 129. [3]

Contents

History

Nishnabotna Township was organized in 1845 and was one of the five original townships in Atchison County, though it was originally recorded as Nishnebottona. [4] It takes its name from the Nishnabotna River which flows through it. [5] Historically, Nishnabotna was thought to be a Native American name meaning "a river where boats were built". [6] However, more recent research indicates that the name, which was adopted from the Osage language, means "spouting wellspring." [7]

In Spring 1839, the first white settlers in Atchison County were Hank B. Roberts and Thomas Wilson at the town site of Sonora. Sonora was later laid out in 1846.

Geography

Nishnabotna Township covers an area of 28.8 square miles (74.6 km2) and contains one incorporated settlement, Watson. It contains two cemeteries: Addington and Sonora. The Nishnabotna River enters the Missouri River in the northwest corner of the township. There is little physical relief, as the township lies almost entirely on the floodplains of the two rivers. The stream of High Creek runs through this township. Agriculture is the dominant land use. Evans Island is a land feature along the Missouri River that is located in the southwesternmost part of the township.

Transportation

Nishnabotna Township contains one airport, Garst Airport.

In the media

Nishnabotna Township is probably best known outside the immediate region for a reference by the New Yorker cartoonist George Booth, a native of Missouri. In a single-panel cartoon, one threadbare and addled character says to another as they cross a crowded street in New York City: "Mother always says that. Mother always says you have to be a little bit crazy to live in New York. Mother is a little bit crazy, but she doesn't live in New York. Mother lives in Nishnabotna, Missouri."

References

  1. 1 2 "MO TIGER County Subdivisions". Missouri Spatial Data Infomration Service. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 21, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Nishnabotna Township, Atchison County, Missouri
  3. 1 2 "Census 2020 DHC Extract Assistance". Missouri Census Data Center. Retrieved April 21, 2025.
  4. ↑ History of Holt and Atchison counties, Missouri. St. Joseph, National Historical Co. 1882. p. 628.
  5. ↑ "Atchison County Place Names, 1928-1945 (archived)". The State Historical Society of Missouri. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ↑ Eaton, David Wolfe (1916). How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named. The State Historical Society of Missouri. pp.  203.
  7. ↑ Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 329.
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