Missouri

The Bootheel in far southeast Missouri was originally owned by John Hardeman Walker, who begged to be included when Missouri gained statehood years before Arkansas.  So state borders were drawn to include his land.

The Missouri River begins in Montana and doubles the flow of the Mississippi River when they join near St. Louis.  Farmers used to say that the Missouri - aka the Big Muddy - was too thick to drink and too thin to plow.

Illinois gains access to its town of Kaskaskia only via the bridge at St. Mary, MO.

French explorers were the earliest non-Native visitors to Missouri.  In 1715, while looking for silver, the French opened lead mines and brought in black slaves to work the mines.  Slavery, well-established by 1818, led Congress to refuse Missouri's application for statehood because it would have resulted in a slave-owning majority in Congress.  The so-called Missouri Compromise was reached in 1820 when MO entered as a slave state and Maine as a free state.  This method of admitting states continued until the Civil War.

Although MO initially voted to remain neutral when the Civil War began, the governor was pro-slavery; when the Union sent troops to protect the St. Louis Arsenal, the governor called it an invasion and sent state militia against them.  US troops won, then captured the capital, so the governor and his supporters moved to southwestern Missouri and voted to secede.

In January 1865, Missouri became the first slave-holding state to formally end slavery.

After Reconstruction, newspapers were influential in rebuilding MO and ending government corruption.  In 1880, a Hungarian immigrant named Joseph Pulitzer merged 2 St. Louis newspapers, then moved to New York and bought other newspapers to fight for civil reform and clean government.

Joseph Pulitzer

MO can have extreme weather: it's in the center of the US so it gets weather from all directions and has no high mountains or nearby ocean to help moderate the temperature.  It can get cold Arctic air and hot humid southern air; it sits in Tornado Alley; it's subject to alternating droughts and heavy rains with flooding.

MO set a world record at Holt on June 22, 1947, when a foot of rain fell in 42 minutes.

The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair introduced hot dogs and ice cream cones to the world.

1904 St. Louis World's Fair

Although three-quarters of Missourians consider themselves Christian, the state is home to 17 Baha'i temples, 5 Sikh temples, 1 Zoroastrian temple and 1 Jain temple.

Anhauser-Busch produces more beer in St. Louis than any other brewery in the world.  

MO leads all US states in the production of lead.

St. Louis University was the first university established west of the Mississippi River; it was founded in 1818 by Jesuit priests.  Lincoln University in Jefferson City was established by black US soldiers. 

Scott Joplin

Chuck Berry

MO has been known for its contribution to music.  Ragtime may have been the first type of music invented in the US and was developed mainly by Scott Joplin after he moved to Missouri.  Kansas City was an early center for jazz and, among others, Charlie Parker who was raised in MO developed a "Kansas City jazz" style.  The blues style of Chuck Berry, born in MO, led to rock-and-roll.

The US's largest hardwood swamp is at Big Oak Tree State Park.

The world's largest mosaic collection is found at the Cathedral of St. Louis

St. Louis mosaics

A variety of well-known people were born in MO: Samuel Clemens, Rush Limbaugh, George Washington Carver, Omar Bradley, Scott Bakula and Walter Cronkite.

Most states have an official state flower, but MO has an official state floral emblem - the white hawthorn blossom.  MO also has an official state musical instrument - the fiddle.