The Missouri Bootheel is the southeasternmost part of the U.S. state of Missouri, extending south of 36°30′ north latitude, so called because its shape in relation to the rest of the state resembles the heel of a boot. Strictly speaking, it is composed of the counties of Dunklin, New Madrid, and Pemiscot.

How do you spell Bootheel?

an area of SE Missouri where the Missouri-Arkansas border dips southward forming a rectangular-shaped extension of the state.

Why does Missouri have a boot?

The inclusion of the "bootheel" in the boundaries of Missouri has been credited to John Hardeman Walker, a landowner and influential citizen of southeast Missouri. ... Walker and the people of Little Prairie realized this line would place their lands some twenty-five miles south of the Missouri border.