Quick Facts: Missouri

Missouri is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Missouri is bounded on the north by Iowa; on the east, across the Mississippi River, by Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee; on the south by Arkansas; and on the west by Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska (the last across the Missouri River).

ABBREVIATION: MO
NICKNAME: The Show-Me State
POPULATION: 6,245,466 (2024 est.)
CAPITAL: Jefferson City
STATE BIRD: Bluebird
STATE FLOWER: Hawthorn
AREA: 69,709 sq. mi.
TIME ZONE: Central
ENTERED UNION: Aug. 10, 1821
ALTITUDE: High, 1,772 ft. Taum Sauk Mountain
CLIMATE: Generally hot summers, cold winters; moderate rainfall.

The first state west of the Mississippi to be admitted to the Union, Missouri was for many years both a jumping-off point to the West and a transportation center for an expanding U.S.-and so it remains. It is here that the country’s two greatest rivers marry their waters.

Above St. Louis, the swelling Mississippi is joined by the “Big Muddy”, the Missouri, a voracious giant that western author Stanley Vestal once called “the hungriest river ever created…eating yellow clay banks and corn fields…winding up its banquet with a truck garden and picking its teeth with the timbers of a big red barn”.

It is indeed a mouthful of river, and it is only in the past century that men have begun to devise ways to harness its rampaging power.

In Missouri, the residents like to say, the East ends and the West begins. By way of example, they cite eastern-oriented St. Louis, an established manufacturing center with the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the U.S.

For contrast, they turn to the younger metropolis of Kansas City, whose westward orientation is reflected in bawling stockyards, grain elevators and the meat-packing industry. Physiographically, Missouri has equally great differences. The rugged Ozark uplands rise in the southern part of the state. East of them lies a flat land of abundant rain and rich black soil.

Meramec Caverns, near Stanton, Missouri

The rest of the U.S. knows Missouri best for its “show-me” character, expressed by a now forgotten congressman named William Vandiver. “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats”, he said in 1899, “and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me”.

Fun Facts:

Kansas City has a second level of roads, offices, ex-trolley car tunnels, and storage areas built into natural caves below the streets of the city.
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) used his hometown of Hannibal as the model for settings in his novels Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
In late 1811 and early 1812, three of the strongest earthquakes in U.S. history rocked Missouri near Madrid. The quakes, which scientists believe measured 8 on the Richter Scale, caused the Mississippi river to flow backward temporarily.
On March 18, 1925 the most destructive tornado tore through Annapolis leaving a 980-foot wide track of demolished landscape. It injured 3,000 and killed 823 people.
St. Louis is home of the tallest man in documented medical history (2006 est.). His name was Robert Pershing Wadlow and he was 8 feet, 11 inches tall.
Kansas City boasts more fountains than any city except Rome and more miles of boulevards than Paris (2001 est.).

History:

Missouri’s history is a rich tapestry of Indigenous heritage, European exploration, frontier settlement, Civil War strife, and cultural evolution. Located at the geographic and symbolic crossroads of America, Missouri has long served as a bridge between East and West, North and South, earning it the nickname “The Gateway to the West.”

Long before European arrival, the region we now call Missouri was home to Native American cultures such as the Mississippians, who built large mound cities like Cahokia just across the Mississippi River. Later tribes, including the Osage, Missouri, and Illini, inhabited the area, living off the land through hunting, farming, and trade.

In the late 17th century, French explorers like Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet were among the first Europeans to explore Missouri’s rivers. In 1682, France claimed the territory as part of the vast Louisiana Territory. French settlers established small outposts and trading posts, most notably Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764.

The latter became a major center of fur trading and commerce due to its strategic location along the Mississippi River.

Control of the territory shifted from France to Spain and then back to France before the United States acquired it in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Missouri quickly became a focal point for American expansion. Lewis and Clark began their famous expedition from St. Charles, Missouri, in 1804, charting a course westward through the newly acquired lands.

As settlers poured in, Missouri became a U.S. territory in 1812 and then achieved statehood on August 10, 1821, as part of the Missouri Compromise. This agreement allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state while Maine entered as a free state, preserving the balance of power in Congress.

The compromise highlighted the growing tensions over slavery that would eventually lead to the Civil War.

Missouri’s location made it a hotly contested border state during the Civil War. Although it remained in the Union, the state was deeply divided, with both Confederate and Union governments claiming authority. Guerrilla warfare, particularly by groups like William Quantrill’s raiders, terrorized the countryside and made Missouri one of the bloodiest states in the war.

After the Civil War, Missouri underwent reconstruction and rapid development. The state’s economy grew through railroads, agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. Cities like Kansas City and St. Louis became major industrial and cultural centers.

The 1904 World’s Fair and Summer Olympics, held in St. Louis, showcased Missouri’s prominence on the national stage.

Throughout the 20th century, Missouri played a significant role in politics, serving as the home state of President Harry S. Truman. It also contributed to American culture through music, especially blues and jazz, and literature, with writers like Mark Twain, who captured the spirit of the Mississippi River in works such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Today, Missouri stands as a state shaped by its frontier past, Civil War legacies, and cultural innovation. Its unique position in the center of the United States continues to influence its role in national history and identity.