50 Fun Facts About Missouri

What is the capital of Missouri?

It is only the 16th-largest city in the state and the ninth-least-populous state capital in the country.

What is Missouri's famous unofficial nickname, printed on its licence plates?

Congressman Willard Vandiver is credited with the phrase in an 1899 speech: 'I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me.'

Missouri is also called the Cave State because it has more than how many recorded caves?

Only Tennessee has more; Perry County has the most caves and the single longest one.

The state is named after a river, which was named after the Missouria people. What does their name mean?

French colonists adapted the Illinois-language name Wimihsoorita.

Missouri joined the Union in 1821 on what terms?

Maine was admitted as a free state to keep the balance, and slavery was banned in Louisiana Purchase lands north of 36°30'.

Which free state was admitted alongside Missouri under the Missouri Compromise?

The Senate tied the two bills together; Henry Clay broke the House deadlock.

Where was Missouri's temporary capital before the 1826 move to its Missouri River home?

St. Charles was also the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804.

Which was the first permanent European settlement in Missouri, founded by the French in 1735?

St. Louis followed in 1764; the whole territory came to the US with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

How tall is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis?

It is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible structure, clad in stainless steel.

Which Finnish-American architect designed the Gateway Arch?

He won the design competition in 1947; construction ran from 1963 to 1965 at a cost of $13 million.

What is the Gateway Arch's mathematical shape?

It commemorates westward expansion and is officially dedicated 'to the American people'.

Mark Twain's boyhood home, the setting for Tom Sawyer, was which Missouri river town?

He was born in nearby Florida, Missouri, and moved to Hannibal at four.

In which tiny Missouri village was Samuel Clemens, later Mark Twain, born in 1835?

Missouri has all four of those town names; Clemens was the sixth of seven children.

Twain was born shortly after the appearance of what, and predicted he would 'go out with it'?

He did: he died in April 1910, the day after the comet's closest approach.

Which US president was born in Lamar, Missouri, and raised in Independence?

He became president when FDR died in 1945.

What does the 'S' in the 33rd president's name stand for?

Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young both got a nod, a common Southern practice.

What business did Truman open after returning from World War I?

He then became a Jackson County judge and a US senator before the vice presidency.

St. Louis hosted a World's Fair in 1904 to mark the centennial of what?

The same year the city hosted the first Olympic Games held in the United States.

Which sporting event did St. Louis host in 1904, a first for the United States?

They ran alongside the World's Fair.

Which treat was reputedly born at the 1904 St. Louis fair when a vendor ran out of paper cups?

Syrian concessionaire Ernest Hamwi supposedly rolled a waffle into a cone; historians still argue about it.

Which drink's popularity 'rapidly increased' after Richard Blechynden served it at the 1904 fair?

It had been around since the 1860s but the sweltering fair made it a national habit.

The barbecue style of the state's biggest western city is known for a thick, sweet sauce made with what?

Henry Perry is credited as its originator, and burnt ends are the local speciality.

Which St. Louis-based company is the world's largest beer producer?

It has been owned by Belgium's AB InBev since a 2008 hostile takeover.

Adolphus Busch was the first American brewer to do what, in 1876?

He was also first to pasteurise beer and to bottle it extensively.

Which musical genres does the state claim as its birthplace?

Scott Joplin published in Sedalia; Chuck Berry, Tina Turner and Sheryl Crow are all Missourians.

Which 'Father of Rock and Roll' was born into a middle-class St. Louis family in 1926?

He ran his own club, Berry's Club Bandstand, in the city.

Walt Disney was born in Chicago but raised largely in which Missouri metropolis from 1911?

He attended Benton Grammar School there and discovered vaudeville and movies through a classmate.

The Pony Express ran from Sacramento to which Missouri city?

It promised delivery in ten days but lasted only 18 months before the telegraph killed it in 1861.

How long did the Pony Express operate?

It cut cross-country message time to about 10 days but went bankrupt when the telegraph arrived.

In which Missouri city did the 1857 Dred Scott case begin?

Scott's owner had settled in St. Louis in 1830; Chief Justice Taney wrote the 7-2 opinion.

Which resort town in the Ozarks is famous for its strip of live-entertainment theatres along Highway 76?

The Presley family moved their show there in 1967 and the Baldknobbers followed; there are now more than 50 theatres.

Which 1907 novel made the Ozarks resort town a tourist destination and its author a millionaire?

Harold Bell Wright's book was an international bestseller; a museum to him sits inside the World's Largest Toy Museum.

Lake of the Ozarks was created by damming which river?

Bagnell Dam, built by Union Electric, made it the largest man-made lake in the US at the time.

What is the name of the dam that created Lake of the Ozarks?

The 2,543-foot dam required clearing the old town of Linn Creek.

How many World Series had the St. Louis Cardinals won between 1926 and 2025?

They also won nineteen NL pennants in that span, driven by Branch Rickey's invention of the farm system.

The state's NFL team began life in 1960 as which franchise?

AFL founder Lamar Hunt moved them to Kansas City in 1963.

Which title game did the Chiefs win as the final contest before the AFL-NFL merger took full effect?

They were the second AFL team, after the Jets, to beat an NFL team in the big game.

Which city, the largest of the Mississippian culture, sits across the Mississippi from St. Louis?

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest earthen construction in the Americas north of Mexico.

What breaded, deep-fried appetiser was created and popularised in St. Louis?

Locals call them T-ravs and dip them in marinara.

The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis is informally known by the name of which founder?

Its herbarium holds more than 7.5 million specimens.

Which pair of natural disasters rocked the state in 1811-12?

Casualties were few only because so few people lived there.

Missouri backed the winning presidential candidate every election from 1904 to 2004 except which year?

Adlai Stevenson of neighbouring Illinois carried Missouri but lost to Eisenhower.

How many counties does Missouri have, plus the independent city of St. Louis?

St. Louis separated from its county in 1876.

What is the low, flat, southeastern corner of Missouri called?

It is the warmest, wettest and poorest part of the state.

Which two Indigenous nations lived in Missouri when Europeans arrived in the 17th century?

The Missouria gave the river, and then the state, its name.

Which town just west of St. Louis was the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804?

They ascended the Missouri River from there toward the Pacific.

Which of these authors was NOT from St. Louis?

Hemingway was from Oak Park, Illinois; the other three all grew up in St. Louis.

Roughly what is Missouri's population?

That makes it the 19th-most populous state and 21st in land area.

Which is the state's third-largest city, principal city of its own metro area in the southwest?

Kansas City and St. Louis are the two largest; Columbia is home to the University of Missouri.

What was Truman's Executive Order 9981 of 1948?

He had grown up in segregated Missouri, where the practice was widely accepted.