The Midwestern state Missouri is a widely varied place, with large cities, mountains, rivers, lakes and forests. It is our 24th state, welcomed into the Union in 1821.
Missouri in history
Before Europeans arrived, the Osage and Missouria peoples lived in the area, with ancestors going back thousands of years. The French and Spanish controlled the area until 1803, when it became part of the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
The capital is Jefferson City, near the center of the state. Kansas City lies on the western border with Kansas and the Missouri River; it’s the largest city. St.Louis, along the Mississippi River on the eastern edge of the state, is sometimes called the Gateway to the West.
Complicated past
Missouri was admitted as a slave state, but Missourians were divided over whether to secede, or separate, from the Union during the Civil War. Control of the Mississippi River was important in the war effort, as it was used to transport people and goods. photo by loonyhiker More than 1,000 battles took place in Missouri during the war, but most of them involved Missourians fighting each other.
Living in Missouri
More than 6 million people live and work in Missouri. The nickname “the Show-Me State” comes from a speech given by U.S. Rep. Willard Vandiver, who is said to have declared in an 1899 speech: “I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.”
People in Missouri raise cattle, hogs, soybeans, corn and other products. Manufacturing includes aerospace and transportation products, beer, food products and chemicals.
Fun in Missouri
Kansas City is known for barbecue and as a “cradle of jazz music,” and St. Louis is noted for its blues music.
Kansas City is home to the Super Bowl champion Chiefs, the MLB’s Royals and soccer’s Sporting KC and Kansas City Current. St. Louis cheers on baseball’s Cardinals, hockey’s St. Louis Blues and the St. Louis City SC soccer team.
Missourians enjoy boating and fishing on lakes and rivers. Visitors can explore more than 7,000 caves and see music and theater shows in Branson, near the Lake of the Ozarks.
Famous Missourians
• Harry Truman, who was born in Lamar, Missouri, and grew up in Independence, became president during World War II. He was the vice president when President Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945. He served until 1953.
Truman ordered U.S. pilots to drop Harry S. Truman two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. World War II ended soon after.
Truman served in France during World War I. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1934 and was elected vice president 10 years later.
• Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is most famous for his books “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and ‘’The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
He was born in Florida, Missouri, and moved to Hannibal when he was about 4. Much of his writing was based on his experiences in this Mississippi River town.
Twain wrote for several newspapers and traveled throughout the country, Mark Twain often supporting himself by working in print shops.