🏞️Missouri

The Show-Me State

Missouri sits at the geographic center of the lower 48 and at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. It was the jumping-off point for the Oregon, Santa Fe, and California trails — and the birthplace of the Pony Express. The state is the only one bordered by eight others (tied with Tennessee), straddling Midwestern and Southern cultural traditions.

The Missouri Compromise

Missouri's admission as a state nearly broke the Union. When Missouri applied for statehood in 1819, Congress deadlocked over whether it should enter as free or slave. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state while admitting Maine as a free state, and drew a line across the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase at 36°30′ — slavery allowed south, prohibited north. The compromise held until the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 repealed it.

Gateway to the West

Missouri was the eastern terminus of the great overland trails. Wagon trains outfitted at Independence, Westport, and St. Joseph before setting out on the Oregon, Santa Fe, and California trails. The Pony Express began in St. Joseph in April 1860. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had departed St. Louis a half-century earlier. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, completed in 1965 and the tallest monument in the United States at 630 feet, memorializes Missouri's role as the gateway west.

Mark Twain's Country

Samuel Clemens — Mark Twain — grew up in the Mississippi River town of Hannibal and used his childhood home as the setting for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His boyhood home and the cave from Tom Sawyer are preserved as tourist sites in Hannibal.

Jazz and Kansas City Barbecue

Kansas City was a major hub of American jazz in the 1920s and 30s, developing its own distinct style based on 12-bar blues and extended solos. Charlie Parker, Count Basie, and Big Joe Turner all played in Kansas City clubs. The city is also famous for its barbecue — a sweet, tomato-based sauce style distinct from Texas, Carolina, or Memphis barbecue — served on burnt ends, ribs, and brisket.

Missouri Facts

• Missouri and Tennessee are tied as the states that border the most others — eight.
• Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president, was born in Lamar and is buried in Independence.
• The ice cream cone is widely said to have been invented at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
• Missouri is the only state with three national parks partly or entirely within its borders — Gateway Arch, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, and Ste. Genevieve.
• The "Show-Me" nickname is attributed to a speech by Congressman Willard Vandiver in 1899.

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