Commerce is one of the oldest river towns on this stretch

Commerce is a small town on the Mississippi River in Scott County. It started as an early river landing. A river landing is a spot on the bank where boats could stop to load and unload. Back then, the river ran the show. It moved people and goods long before any highway or rail line did. Commerce sat on a bank above the water, which made it an easy place for boats to pull in during the steamboat days. Today it is a quiet community. Its story shows why people in this part of the Bootheel first settled right at the river’s edge. Only later did drainage and rail open up the low, flat bottomland for farming. Want the details on when Commerce was founded and its place in river history? The State Historical Society of Missouri and the state archives are your best sources. They are more reliable than local lore or ranking sites.