Senath, Missouri

Senath is a city in southern Dunklin County, Missouri. It had a population of 1,767 at the 2010 census.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Geography
* 3 Demographics
* 4 Education
* 5 The Senath Light
* 6 References

## History[edit]

One of the first residents in the Senath area was a gentleman by the name of A. W. Douglass. A community developed in the years after the Civil War, and when a post office was established in 1882, Douglass named the new town for his wife, Asenath Hale Douglass (her first name shortened in practice to "Senath").[1] Thanks to the rich, well-drained soil, highly favorable to the growing of cotton and other crops, and to the arrival of the St. Louis, Kennett, & Southern Railroad in 1897, Senath grew rapidly. Within a few years, it had a thriving downtown section, built mostly of brick, a good school,[2] and a newspaper, the Leader.[3]

Like many towns in Southeast Missouri, Senath has struggled to maintain its size and prosperity in recent decades due to the decline in the agricultural labor force. It has one of the largest (proportionally speaking) Hispanic populations of any community in the region, possibly because of the former use of Mexican migrant workers by local farmers.

## Geography[edit]

Senath is located along U.S. Route 412 in south-central Dunklin County, about nine miles southwest of Kennett and nine miles northeast of Cardwell. Its exact coordinates are 36°08’00”N 90°09’36”W.

Senath lies on a slight elevation above the flat Mississippi Alluvial Plain, along a small stream known locally as Buffalo Creek. It has a total area of 1.92 square miles, and an average elevation of 256 feet.[4]

## Demographics[edit]

At the 2010 census, Senath had a total of 1,767 inhabitants, grouped into 661 households, with a population density of 920.3 people per square mile. This figure represented an increase from the 2000 census, when Senath had a population of 1,650. 76.74% of the inhabitants were White, 1.08% were African-American, 0.17% were Native American, 0.11% were Asian, 20.71% were from some other race, and 1.19% were from two or more races. Hispanics of any race were 27.62% of the population.

The median age in Senath was 37.0 years, with 28.5% of inhabitants under the age of 18, 7.2% between 18 and 24 years old, 23.8% between 25 and 44, 22.9% between 45 and 64, and 17.5% 65 years old or older. The sex ratio was 46.3% male, 53.7% female.[5]

According to the 2010 American Community Survey, the median household income in Senath was $24,050, and the median family income was $30,972. The unemployment rate was 17.4%. The per capita income was $15,849. About 41.4% of the population lived below the poverty line, including 58.6% of people under the age of 18 and 24.5% of people 65 years old or older.[6]

## Education[edit]

Senath and the nearby community of Hornersville are served by the Senath-Hornersville C-8 School District, a PK-12 consolidated public school with an enrollment of about 830 students. Its mascot is the Lions, and the school colors are red, black, and white.[7] The elementary (PK-4) and high school (9-12) are located in Senath itself, with the middle school in Hornersville.[8]

## The Senath Light[edit]

The region is home to an alleged supernatural phenomenon known as "The Senath Light" (also "The Hornersville Light" or "The Arbyrd Light," as it lies between the three communities). Those who claim to have seen it, along a narrow dirt road off County Road 602 southeast of Senath, generally describe it as a light, somewhat resembling a lantern, that periodically appears at night, sometimes moves about in an aggressive manner, and then just as abruptly disappears. It is not clear when the first reported sightings were, or what the source might be. The spot is located near an abandoned railbed, and those who believe the Light to be supernatural variously claim it belongs to a "ghost train," or to a dead conductor searching for his head (allegedly torn off in a freak accident).

The television series That's Incredible is supposed to have done a special on the Senath Light in the early 1980s. There have evidently been no sightings of the Light in recent years, which some attribute to the property owner's clearing out of the railbed.[9]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_dunklin.html
2. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/historyofdunklin00davi/historyofdunklin00davi_djvu.txt
3. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=G-AlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA534#v=onepage&q&f=false
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120702145235/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt
5. ↑ https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF
6. ↑ https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF
7. ↑ http://www.shslions.org/schools.html
8. ↑ https://www.greatschools.org/missouri/senath/senath_hornersville-c_8-school-district/schools/
9. ↑ http://www.missourighosts.net/arbyrdghostlightstories.html