La Plata is a city in Macon County, Missouri, United States.

La Plata is located next to the Adair County line and is on a mainline of the BNSF Railway.

The town is best known for La Plata station, which provides passenger rail service to Chicago and Los Angeles.

The beginnings of La Plata can be traced back to March 17, 1827, when Drury Davis established a trading post near the town's current location.

[6] The ensuing few years saw Davis joined by family and friends to create a small village that included a blacksmith shop, an inn, and stagecoach station.

[8] Two men, Louis Gex and Thomas Saunders, were the primary force behind the town's platting, and drew straws to choose the community's name.

[9] Another of the early settlers who helped in creating the town was W. W. Moore, who erected La Plata's first hotel.

[6] The combination of the two railroads made La Plata an ideal shipping point for timber, livestock, grains, and other goods for northern Macon County and southern portions of neighboring Adair County as well.

[11] As part of this growth, the town was incorporated as a fourth-class city on April 4, 1881, with Jacob Gilstrap serving as first mayor.

The Wabash Railroad through La Plata was abandoned after it was merged in 1991 with the Norfolk and Western Railway, but the Amtrak station is still in operation on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail system, and the town is served by the Southwest Chief.

U.S. Route 63, a four-lane highway, passes through the east side of the city, leading south 20 miles (32 km) to Macon, the county seat, and north 13 miles (21 km) to Kirksville in Adair County.

Missouri Route 156 passes through the south side of La Plata as Clark Street, leading west 10 miles (16 km) to South Gifford and east 15 miles (24 km) to Novelty.