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State nickname: The Show Me State
Other U.S. States
Capital Jefferson City
Largest city Kansas City (largest metropolitan area is Saint Louis)
Governor Matt Blunt (R)
Official languages English
Area 69,709 mi²; 180,693 km² (21st)
- Land 68,898 mi²; 178,590 km²
- Water 811 mi²; 2,101 km² (1.16%)
Population (2000)
- Population 5,595,211 (17th)
- Density 80.27/mi²; 31 /km² (27th)
Admission into Union
- Date August 10, 1821
- Order 24th
Time zone Central : UTC-6/-5
Latitude 36°N to 40°35'N
Longitude 89°6'W to 95°42'W
Width 240 mi; 385 km
Length 300 mi; 480 km
Elevation
- Highest point 1772 feet; 540 m
- Mean 800 feet; 240 m
- Lowest point 230 feet; 70 m
Abbreviations
- USPS MO
- ISO 3166-2 US-MO
Web site www.state.mo.us
State symbols
Amphibian:
Animal: Missouri Mule
Bird: Bluebird
Flower: Hawthorn
Insect: Honeybee
Motto: "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto" (Latin: "Let the Welfare of the People be the Supreme Law", compare with King Charles XIII of Sweden (1809) "The welfare of the people my highest law")
Reptile:
Soil: Menfro
Fruit: Norton Cynthiana grape
Song: "Missouri Waltz"
Tree: Flowering Dogwood
USS Missouri was named in honor of this state.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Law and government
3 Geography
3.1 Additional topics
4 Transportation
4.1 Interstate highways
4.2 United States highways
4.3 Also see
5 Economy
6 Demographics
6.1 Race and ancestry
6.2 Religion
6.3 Culture
7 Important cities and towns
8 Education
8.1 Colleges and universities
9 Professional sports teams
9.1 Minor leagues
10 See also
11 References
12 External links
[edit]
History
Main Article: History of Missouri
Originally part of the Louisiana Purchase, Missouri was admitted as a state in 1821 as part of the Missouri Compromise. It earned the nickname "Gateway to the West" because it served as a departure point for settlers heading to the west. During the Civil War, Missouri, a slave state, was split with portions adhering to the Union, and others seceding with the southern states. Missouri was the starting point for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
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Law and government
Main Article: Law and Government of Missouri
See: List of Missouri Governors
The capital of Missouri is Jefferson City.
The current constitution of Missouri, the fourth constitution for the state, was adopted in 1945 and provides for three branches of government, the legislative, judicial and executive branches. The legislative branch consists of two bodies, the House of Representatives and the Senate. These bodies comprise the General Assembly of the State of Missouri.
The House of Representatives has 163 members that are apportioned based on the last decennial census. The Senate consists of 34 members from districts divided such that the population of each district is approximately equal.
The Judicial department consists of a supreme court consisting of 7 judges. Superior and inferior courts are also provided.
The executive branch is headed by the Governor.
The Governor of Missouri is Matt Blunt (Republican).
The Lieutenant Governor of Missouri is Peter Kinder (Republican)
The Missouri Attorney General is Jay Nixon (Democrat)
The Missouri Secretary of State is Robin Carnahan (Democrat)
The Missouri State Auditor is Claire McCaskill (Democrat)
The Missouri State Treasurer is Sarah Steelman (Republican)
The Senior United States Senator is Christopher S. "Kit" Bond (Republican)
The Junior United States Senator is James M. Talent (Republican)
Although neither major party has traditionally been dominant in Missouri, the Republican party has been gaining strength there in recent years. Missouri has a longer stretch of supporting the winning presidential candidate than any other state, having chosen with the nation in every election since 1960. In 2004, George W. Bush won the state's 11 electoral votes by a margin of 7 percentage points with 53.3% of the vote. Democrat John Kerry only won four of the state's 115 counties—St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Ste. Genevieve, and Jackson County.
[edit]
Geography
Missouri county bordersMain article: Geography of Missouri
Missouri's border physically touches a total of eight different states (more than any other state in the Union). It 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 latter two across the Missouri River.)
North of the Missouri River lie the northern plains that stretch into Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Here, gentle rolling hills remain behind from a glacier that once had extended from the north to the Missouri River.
The Ozark plateau begins south of the river and extends into Arkansas, S. E. Kansas, and N. E. Oklahoma. Springfield, Missouri in southwestern Missouri lies on the Ozark plateau. Southern Missouri is the home of the Ozark mountains, a dissected plateau surrounding the Precambrian igneous St. Francois Mountains.
The southeastern part of the state is home to the Bootheel, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain or Mississippi embayment. This region is the lowest, flattest and wettest part of the state. It is also the most fertile. It is here that one finds cotton and rice production. The Bootheel area was the focus of the great New Madrid Earthquake of 1811–1812.
Although now generally considered part of the Midwest, Missouri was once thought of as Southern. For example, Mark Twain, who grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, in Life on the Mississippi described his upbringing as in "the South." Still, while larger cities, especially those in the northern part of the state (ie St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City) consider themselves "Midwestern", rural areas and cities further south (ie Cape Girardeau and Springfield) consider themselves more "Southern".
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Additional topics
Climate of Missouri
Missouri National and State Parks
List of Missouri counties
[edit]
Transportation
Current Missouri License PlateKansas City is still a major railroad hub for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern, and Union Pacific. The state of Missouri also has two major airport hubs now as well with Kansas City International Airport and Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport. Several highways also traverse the state.
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Interstate highways
Interstate 29, Interstate 229
Interstate 35, Interstate 435 (the Perimeter around the Kansas City Metropolitan Area), Interstate 635
Interstate 44
Interstate 55, Interstate 155, Interstate 255
Interstate 57
Interstate 64
Interstate 70, Interstate 170, Interstate 270 (the Perimeter around the Missouri side of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area), Interstate 470, Interstate 670
Interstate 72
Interstate 49 (Proposed)
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United States highways
North-south routes East-west routes
U.S. Highway 59
U.S. Highway 159
U.S. Highway 61
U.S. Highway 63
U.S. Highway 65
U.S. Highway 67
U.S. Highway 69
U.S. Highway 169
U.S. Highway 71
U.S. Highway 275
U.S. Highway 412
U.S. Highway 24
U.S. Highway 40
U.S. Highway 50
U.S. Highway 54
U.S. Highway 56
U.S. Highway 60
U.S. Highway 160
U.S. Highway 460
U.S. Highway 62
U.S. Highway 66
U.S. Highway 166
U.S. Highway 400
[edit]
Also see
List of Missouri state highways
[edit]
Economy
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Missouri's total state product in 2003 was $195 billion. Per capital personal income in 2003 was $29,464, 27th in the nation. Major industries include aerospace, transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, printing/publishing, electrical equipment, light manufacturing.
The agriculture products of the state are beef, soybeans, pork, dairy products, hay, corn, poultry, and eggs. Missouri is ranked 6th in the nation for the production of hogs and 7th for cattle. As of 2001, there were 108,000 farms, the second largest number in any state after Texas.
Missouri has vast quantities of limestone. Other minerals mined are lead, coal, portland cement and crushed stone. Missouri produces the most lead of all of the states in the Union with most of these mines in the central eastern portion of the state. Missouri also ranks first or near first among the production of lime.
Tourism, services and wholesale/retail trade follow manufacturing in importance.
[edit]
Demographics
Historical populations
Census
year Population
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1810 19,783
1820 66,586
1830 140,455
1840 383,702
1850 682,044
1860 1,182,012
1870 1,721,295
1880 2,168,380
1890 2,679,185
1900 3,106,665
1910 3,293,335
1920 3,404,055
1930 3,629,367
1940 3,784,664
1950 3,954,653
1960 4,319,813
1970 4,676,501
1980 4,916,686
1990 5,117,073
2000 5,595,211
As of 2004, the population of Missouri was estimated to be 5,754,618. This includes 194,000 foreign-born (3.4% of the state population). The state's population has increased by 638,000 since 1990, a growth of 12.5%.
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Race and ancestry
The racial makeup of the state and comparison to the prior census:
Census year: 2000 1990
White 84.9% 87.7%
Black 11.2% 10.7%
Asian 1.1% 0.8%
Native American 0.4% 0.4%
Other race 0.9% 2.0%
Mixed race 1.5% *
White, non-Hispanic 83.8% 86.9%
Hispanic‡ 2.1% 1.2%
Notes:
* Not available; mixed race was first reported in the census of 2000.
‡ Hispanics may be of any race and are included in applicable race categories.
The five largest ancestry groups in Missouri are: German (23.5%), Irish (12.7%), American (10.5%), English (9.5%), French (3.5%). 'American' includes those reported as Native American or African American.
German-Americans are a large ancestry group present in most of Missouri. In southern Missouri, most residents are of British/American ancestry. The northern edge of the state also has a high proportion of residents of British and American ancestry. Blacks dominate St. Louis City and central Kansas City and are also an important minority in the southeastern bootheel and the Missouri River Valley, areas where plantation agriculture was once important. Missouri Creoles of French ancestry are concentrated in the Mississippi River valley south of St. Louis.
6.6% of its population were reported as under 5, 25.5% under 18, and 13.5% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.4% of the population.
3.4% of Missourians are foreign-born, and 5.1% speak a language other than English at home. The 1997 birth and death rates were:
Births: 74,037
Deaths: 54,322
Infant deaths: 564
81.3% were high school graduates (higher than the national average) while 21.6% had a bachelor's degree or higher.
The mean commute time to work was 23.8 minutes. The homeownership rate in 2000 was 70.3% with the mean value of the owner occupied dwelling being $89,900. There were 2,194,594 househoulds with 2.48 people per household. The median household money income for 1999 was $37,934 with the 1999 Per Capita Money Income of $19,936. There were 11.7% (637,891) Missourians living below the poverty line in 1999.
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Religion
The religious affiliaitions of the people of Missouri:
Christian – 83%
Protestant – 62%
Baptist (mostly Southern Baptist) – 23%
Methodist – 8%
Lutheran – 4%
Episcopal – 4%
Other Protestant – 23%
Roman Catholic – 20%
Other Christian – 1%
Other Religions – 1%
Non-Religious – 16%
Of those Missourians who identify with a religion, three in four are Protestants. There is also a moderate-sized Catholic community present in the some parts of the state, approximately one out of five Missourians are Catholics. Heavily Catholic areas include Kansas City and St. Louis.
A number of religious organizations have their headquearters in Missouri, including the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, which has its headquarters in Kirkwood, outside St. Louis. Kansas City is the headquarters of the Church of the Nazarene. Independence, outside of Kansas City, is the headquarters for the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), and the Latter Day Saints group Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Springfield is the headquarters of the Assemblies of God.
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Culture
There is an idiom "being from Missouri" which relates to the state's unofficial slogan: "show me" (which even appears on their license plates). People from Missouri have a reputation for being skeptical. (See [1] and [2].)
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Important cities and towns
Missouri cities and geographic featuresSaint Louis — the largest metropolitan area.
Kansas City — the largest city.
Springfield
Columbia — the University of Missouri at Columbia.
Branson — major tourist destination
Cape Girardeau
Sainte Genevieve — oldest permanent European settlement west of the Mississippi River.
Saint Joseph — the Pony Express began here
Hannibal — where Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) lived.
Independence — hometown of president Harry S. Truman
Saint Charles — the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the first state capital.
Rolla — the University of Missouri - Rolla
Jefferson City — the state capital.
Sedalia — home of the Missouri state fair.
Joplin
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Education
Missouri's public school system includes kindergarten to 12th grade and requires all children between the ages of 7–16 inclusive to be enrolled in a school. The University of Missouri is Missouri's statewide public university system, having campuses in Saint Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Rolla. Additionally, Missouri has several regional public universities in different parts of the state, the largest being Missouri State University (after heated political debate in Jefferson City, the name was changed from Southwest Missouri State University in spring 2005) having the second largest student enrollment after University of Missouri-Columbia.
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Colleges and universities
Avila University
Baptist Bible College
Central Bible College
Central Christian College of the Bible
Central Methodist University (formerly Central Methodist College)
Central Missouri State University
Cleveland Chiropractic College
College of the Ozarks
Columbia College
Concordia Seminary
Cottey College
Culver-Stockton College
DeVry University Kansas City
Drury University
Evangel University
Fontbonne University
Forest Institute of Professional Psychology
Greenleaf University
Hannibal-Lagrange College
Harris-Stowe State College
Heritage College & Heritage Institute
Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
Lincoln University
Lindenwood University
Logan College of Chiropractic
Maryville University
Missouri Baptist University
Missouri Southern State University
Missouri State University (name change in spring 2005)
Missouri Valley College
Missouri Western State University (name change in summer 2005)
Northwest Missouri State University
Ozark Christian College
Ozarks Technical Community College
Park University
Rockhurst University
Saint Louis College of Pharmacy
Saint Louis University
Southeast Missouri State University
Southwest Baptist University
Stephens College
Truman State University
University of Missouri
University of Missouri - Columbia
University of Missouri - Kansas City
University of Missouri - Rolla
University of Missouri - St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Webster University
Westminster College
William Jewell College
William Woods University
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Professional sports teams
Baseball: Saint Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals
Football: Saint Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs
Hockey: Saint Louis Blues
Soccer: Kansas City Wizards
[edit]
Minor leagues
Baseball:
Springfield Cardinals (Class AA, Texas League)
Mid-Missouri Mavericks (Independent, Frontier League)
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See also
Wikimedia Commons has more media related to:
Missouri
Missouri River
Missouri tribe
Missouri Pacific Railroad
Henry Shaw Ozark Corridor
List of people from Missouri and the Missouri Wall of Fame
List of individuals executed in Missouri
List of BSA local councils and districts in Missouri
List of Missouri State Highways
List of television stations in Missouri
[edit]
References
U.S. Census Bureau.
Missouri QuickFacts. Geographic and demographic information.
Missouri - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1810 to 1990 (PDF)
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External links
Missouri Government
Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis
State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia
Missouri's African American History
Missouri State Tourism Office
State and Local Government on the Net
Vital Records Information
Census Data
Regions of Missouri
Bootheel | Little Dixie | St. Francois Mountains | Ozarks | Northern Plains | St. Louis metropolitan area | Kansas City metropolitan area
Largest cities
Ballwin | Blue Springs | Cape Girardeau | Chesterfield | Columbia | Florissant | Gladstone | Hazelwood | Independence | Jefferson City | Joplin | Kansas City | Kirkwood | Lee's Summit | Liberty | Maryland Heights | Raytown | St. Charles | St. Joseph | St. Louis | St. Peters | Springfield | University City | Wildwood
Counties
Adair | Andrew | Atchison | Audrain | Barry | Barton | Bates | Benton | Bollinger | Boone | Buchanan | Butler | Caldwell | Callaway | Camden | Cape Girardeau | Carroll | Carter | Cass | Cedar | Chariton | Christian | Clark | Clay | Clinton | Cole | Cooper | Crawford | Dade | Dallas | Daviess | DeKalb | Dent | Douglas | Dunklin | Franklin | Gasconade | Gentry | Greene | Grundy | Harrison | Henry | Hickory | Holt | Howard | Howell | Iron | Jackson | Jasper | Jefferson | Johnson | Knox | Laclede | Lafayette | Lawrence | Lewis | Lincoln | Linn | Livingston | Macon | Madison | Maries | Marion | McDonald | Mercer | Miller | Mississippi | Moniteau | Monroe | Montgomery | Morgan | New Madrid | Newton | Nodaway | Oregon | Osage | Ozark | Pemiscot | Perry | Pettis | Phelps | Pike | Platte | Polk | Pulaski | Putnam | Ralls | Randolph | Ray | Reynolds | Ripley | St. Charles | St. Clair | St. Francois | St. Louis (City) | St. Louis County | Ste. Genevieve | Saline | Schuyler | Scotland | Scott | Shannon | Shelby | Stoddard | Stone | Sullivan | Taney | Texas | Vernon | Warren | Washington | Wayne | Webster | Worth | Wright
Political divisions of the United States
States Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming
Federal district District of Columbia
Insular areas American Samoa | Baker Island | Guam | Howland Island | Jarvis Island | Johnston Atoll | Kingman Reef | Midway Atoll | Navassa Island | Northern Mariana Islands | Palmyra Atoll | Puerto Rico | Virgin Islands | Wake Island
