Missouri

State of Missouri Flag Seal Nickname(s): The Show-Me State (unofficial) Motto(s): Salus populi suprema lex esto (Latin) Official language(s) English Demonym Missourian Capital Jefferson City Largest city Kansas City Largest metro area Greater St Louis Area[1] Area  Ranked 21st in the US  - Total 69,704 sq mi (180,533 km2)  - Width 240 miles (385 km)  - Length 300 miles (480 km)  - % water 1.17  - Latitude 36° N to 40° 37′ N  - Longitude 89° 6′ W to 95° 46′ W Population  Ranked 18th in the US  - Total 5,987,580 (2009 est.)[2] 5,595,211 (2000) - Density 86.9 (2009)/sq mi  (33.56/km2) Ranked 28th in the US  - Median income  $46,867 (35th) Elevation    - Highest point Taum Sauk Mountain[3] 1,772 ft  (540 m)  - Mean 800 ft  (240 m)  - Lowest point St. Francis River[3] 230 ft  (70 m) Admission to Union  August 10, 1821 (24th) Governor Jay Nixon (D) Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder (R) Legislature General Assembly  - Upper house Senate  - Lower house House of Representatives U.S. Senators Kit Bond (R) Claire McCaskill (D) U.S. House delegation 5 Republicans, 4 Democrats (list) Time zone Central : UTC-6/-5 Abbreviations MO US-MO Website http://www.mo.gov

Missouri State Symbols Animate insignia Amphibian American Bullfrog Bird(s) Bluebird Fish Channel Catfish Flower(s) Hawthorn Grass Big bluestem Insect Honey bee Mammal(s) Missouri Mule Tree Flowering Dogwood Inanimate insignia Dance Square Dance Dinosaur Hypsibema missouriensis [4] Fossil Crinoid Gemstone Aquamarine Mineral Galena Rock Mozarkite Slogan(s) Show Me (unofficial) Song(s) "Missouri Waltz" Route marker(s) State Quarter Released in 2003 Lists of United States state insignia

Missouri (ⁱ /mɪˈzʊəri/ or /mɪˈzʊərə/)^[5] is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States,^[6] bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2009 estimated population of 5,987,580, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest.^[2] It comprises 114 counties and one independent city. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The four largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia.^[7] Missouri was originally acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became defined as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Missouri Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.

Missouri mirrors the demographic, economic and political makeup of the nation with a mix of urban and rural culture. It has long been considered a political bellwether state.^[8] With the exceptions of 1956 and 2008, Missouri's results in U.S. presidential elections have accurately predicted the next President of the United States in every election since 1904. It has both Midwestern and Southern cultural influences, reflecting its history as a border state. It is also a transition between the Eastern and Western United States, as St. Louis is often called the "western-most Eastern city" and Kansas City the "eastern-most Western city." Missouri's geography is highly varied. The northern part of the state lies in dissected till plains while the southern part lies in the Ozark Mountains (a dissected plateau), with the Missouri River dividing the two. The confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers is located near St. Louis.^[9]

Contents 1 Etymology and pronunciation 2 Geography 2.1 Topography 2.2 Climate 3 History 4 Demographics 4.1 Religion 5 Economy 6 Transportation 6.1 Air 6.2 Rail 6.3 Bus 6.4 Rivers 6.5 Roads 6.5.1 Interstate freeways 6.5.2 United States Routes 7 Law and government 7.1 Framework 7.2 Status as a political bellwether 7.3 Laissez-faire alcohol and tobacco laws 8 Counties 9 Important cities and towns 10 Education 10.1 Missouri State Board of Education 10.2 Primary and secondary schools 10.3 Colleges and universities 11 Sports 11.1 Professional Sports Teams 11.2 Minor leagues 11.3 Former professional sports teams 12 Naval vessels 13 State nickname 14 See also 15 References 16 External links

Etymology and pronunciation

The state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the Siouan-language tribe, whose name in Illinois was ouemessourita (wimihsoorita^[10]), meaning "those who have dugout canoes".^[11] The etymology lies behind Bob Dyer's tribute song, "River of the Big Canoes".

The pronunciation of the final syllable of "Missouri" is variable and a matter of considerable controversy,^[12] with some insisting on a relatively tense vowel (as in "meet"), while others prefer a lax vowel ("mitt" or "mutt"). Speakers express strong feelings that their own rendering is the "original" or "correct" pronunciation.^[13] Individuals may vary, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch documented in the case of Governor Jay Nixon.^[14] The most thorough study of the question was done by dialectologist Donald Max Lance. Historically, a vowel halfway between the two ("missourih") was subjected to hypercorrection (the process which yields "tobacky" from a schwa-rendering of the final syllable of "tobacco"). The hypercorrect form becomes the normative way to write the word, and a spelling pronunciation develops. From a linguistic point of view, no single pronunciation is considered correct: rather, there are simply patterns of variation, diachronic as well as synchronic, according to divisions such as geography, age, education, and/or rural vs. urban location. The distribution of pronunciations has shifted over time. In general and at present, the schwa vowel correlates with proximity to Kansas City, older speakers (born before 1945), lower levels of formal education, and rural location. Lance notes less controversial but also systematic variations in pronunciation: the second consonant is most often voiced ("misery") but unvoiced by some speakers ("missive"), and the medial vowel is variously raised and unrounded ("lurk") or rounded ("lure"). Even the first syllable is variably rendered with a tense vowel or a schwa^[15]

Geography

Missouri borders eight different states, as does its neighbor, Tennessee. No state in the U.S. touches more than eight 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). The two largest Missouri rivers are the Mississippi, which defines the eastern boundary of the state, and the Missouri River, which flows from west to east through the state, essentially connecting the two largest metros, Kansas City and St. Louis.

Although today the state is usually considered part of the Midwest,^[16][17] historically Missouri was considered by many to be a Southern state,^[18] chiefly because of the settlement of migrants from the South and its status as a slave state before the Civil War. The counties that made up "Little Dixie" were those along the Missouri River in the center of the state, settled by Southern migrants who held the greatest concentration of slaves.

Residents of cities and rural areas farther north and of the state's large metropolitan areas, where most of the state's population resides (Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia), typically consider themselves Midwestern. In rural areas and cities farther south, such as (Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Springfield, and Sikeston), residents typically self-identify as more Southern.

In 2005, Missouri received 16,695,000 visitors to its national parks and other recreational areas totaling 202,000 acres (820 km²), giving it $7.41 mil. in annual revenues, 26.6% of its operating expenditures.^[19]

Topography

North of the Missouri River lie the Northern Plains that stretch into Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Here, gentle rolling hills remain behind from the glaciation that once extended from the Canadian shield to the Missouri River. Missouri has many large river bluffs along the Mississippi, Missouri River, and Meramec Rivers. Southern Missouri rises to the Ozark Mountains, a dissected plateau surrounding the Precambrian igneous St. Francois Mountains. This region also hosts karst topography characterized by high limestone content and the formation of sinkholes and caves.^[20]

The southeastern part of the state is the Bootheel region, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain or Mississippi embayment. This region is the lowest, flattest, and wettest part of the state, and among the poorest, as the economy is mostly agricultural.^[21] It is also the most fertile, with cotton and rice crops predominant. The Bootheel was the epicenter of the four New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811–1812.

Climate

Missouri generally has a humid continental climate and (Koppen climate classification Dfa), with cold winters and hot and humid summers. In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel, the climate borders on a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa). Located in the interior United States, Missouri often experiences extremes in temperatures. Without high mountains or oceans nearby to moderate temperature, its climate is alternately influenced by air from the cold Arctic and the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico.

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Missouri Cities
City	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Columbia	37/18	44/23	55/33	66/43	75/53	84/62	89/66	87/64	79/55	68/44	53/33	42/22
Kansas City	36/18	43/23	54/33	65/44	75/54	84/63	89/68	87/66	79/57	68/46	52/33	40/22
Springfield	42/22	48/26	58/35	68/44	76/53	85/62	90/67	90/66	81/57	71/46	56/35	46/26
St. Louis [22]	38/21	45/26	55/36	66/47	77/57	86/66	91/71	88/69	81/61	69/49	54/38	42/27

History

Indigenous peoples inhabited Missouri for thousands of years before European exploration and settlement. Archaeological excavations along the rivers have shown continuous habitation for more than 7,000 years. Beginning before 1000 CE, there arose the complex Mississippian culture, whose people created regional political centers at present-day St. Louis and across the Mississippi River at Cahokia, near present-day Collinsville, Illinois. Their large cities included thousands of individual residences, but they are known for their surviving massive earthwork mounds, built for religious, political and social reasons, in platform, ridgetop and conical shapes. Cahokia was the center of a regional trading network that reached from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The civilization declined by 1400 CE, and most descendants left the area before the arrival of Europeans. St. Louis was at one time known as Mound City, because of the numerous surviving mounds, since lost to urban development. The Mississippian culture left mounds throughout the middle Mississippi and Ohio river valleys, extending into the southeast as well as the upper river.

The first European settlers were mostly French Canadians, who migrated about 1750 from east of the river to the area of present-day Ste. Genevieve. It was the first European settlement in Missouri. They came from colonial villages on the east side of the Mississippi of the Illinois Country, where soils were becoming exhausted and there was insufficient river bottom land for the growing population. St. Louis was also founded by French-Canadian settlers. St. Louis became the center of a regional fur trade, which dominated its economy for decades. Ste. Genevieve was a thriving agricultural center, producing enough surplus wheat, corn and tobacco to ship tons of grain downriver to Lower Louisiana for trade. Grain production in the Illinois Country was critical to the survival of Lower Louisiana.

Part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase by the United States, Missouri earned the nickname "Gateway to the West" because it served as a major departure point for expeditions and settlers heading to the West in the 19th century. The St. Louis area was the starting point and the return destination of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which explored the western territories to the Pacific Ocean. The territory was admitted as a slave state in 1821 as part of the Missouri Compromise. River traffic and trade along the Mississippi were integral to the state's economy. To try to control regular flooding of farmland and low-lying villages, by 1860 the state had completed construction of 140 miles (230 km) of levees on the Mississippi.^[23]

The state was site of the 1812 New Madrid earthquake. Casualties were light due to the sparse population.

Originally the state's western border was a straight line, defined as the meridian passing through the Kawsmouth,^[24] the point where the Kansas River enters the Missouri River. The river has moved since this designation. This line is known as the Osage Boundary.^[25] In 1835 the Platte Purchase was added to the northwest corner of the state after purchase of the land from the native tribes, making the Missouri River the border north of the Kansas River. This addition increased the land area of what was already the largest state in the Union at the time (about 66,500 square miles (172,000 km²) to Virginia's 65,000 square miles (which then included West Virginia.) ^[26]

As many of the early American settlers in western Missouri migrated from the Upper South, they brought enslaved African Americans for labor, and a desire to continue their culture and the institution of slavery. They settled predominantly in 17 counties along the Missouri River, in an area of flatlands that enabled plantation agriculture and became known as "Little Dixie". In the early 1830s, Mormon migrants from northern states and Canada began settling near Independence and areas just north of there. Conflicts over slavery and religion arose between the 'old settlers' (mainly from the South) and the Mormons (mainly from the North and Canada). The 'Mormon War' erupted. By 1839 settlers expelled the Mormons from Missouri.

Conflicts over slavery exacerbated border tensions among the states and territories. In 1838–1839 a border dispute with Iowa over the so-called Honey Lands resulted in both states' calling up militias along the border. After many incidents with Kansans crossing the western border for attacks (including setting a fire in the historic Westport area of Kansas City), a border war erupted between Missouri and Kansas.

From the 1830s to the 1860s, Missouri's population almost doubled with every decade. Most of the newcomers were Americans, but many Irish and German immigrants arrived in the late 1840s and 1850s. Having fled famine, oppression and revolutionary upheaval, they were not sympathetic to slavery.

Most Missouri farmers practiced subsistence farming. The majority of those who held slaves had fewer than 5 each. Planters, defined by historians as those holding 20 or more slaves, were concentrated in the counties known as "Little Dixie", in the central part of the state along the Missouri River. The tensions over slavery had chiefly to do with the future of the state and nation. In 1860 enslaved African Americans made up less than 10% of the state's population of 1,182,012.^[27]

After the secession of Southern states began in 1861, the Missouri legislature called for the election of a special convention on secession. The convention voted decisively to remain within the Union. Pro-Southern Governor Claiborne F. Jackson ordered the mobilization of several hundred members of the state militia who had gathered in a camp in St. Louis for training. Alarmed at this action, Union General Nathaniel Lyon struck first, encircling the camp and forcing the state troops to surrender. Lyon then directed his soldiers, largely non-English-speaking German immigrants, to march the prisoners through the streets, and they opened fire on the largely hostile crowds of civilians who gathered around them. Soldiers killed unarmed prisoners as well as men, women and children of St. Louis in the incident that became known as the "St. Louis Massacre".

These events heightened Confederate support within the state. Governor Jackson appointed Sterling Price, president of the convention on secession, as head of the new Missouri State Guard. In the face of General Lyon's rapid advance in the state, Jackson and Price were forced to flee the capital of Jefferson City on June 14, 1861. In the town of Neosho, Missouri, Jackson called the state legislature into session. They enacted a secession ordinance. However, since the pro-Union state convention had been given the sole power to do such a thing, and the state was more pro-Union than pro-Confederate, this ordinance is generally given little credence. Nevertheless, the ordinance was recognized by the Confederacy on October 30, 1861.

With the elected governor absent from his capital and the legislators largely dispersed, Union forces installed an unelected pro-Union provisional government with Hamilton Gamble as provisional governor. President Lincoln's Administration immediately recognized Gamble's government as the legal government. This decision provided both pro-Union militia forces for service within the state and volunteer regiments for the Union Army.

Fighting ensued between Union forces and a combined army of General Price's Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops from Arkansas and Texas under General Ben McCulloch. After winning victories at the battle of Wilson's Creek and the siege of Lexington, Missouri and suffering losses elsewhere, the Confederate forces had little choice but to retreat to Arkansas and later Marshall, Texas, in the face of a largely reinforced Union Army.

Though regular Confederate troops staged some large-scale raids into Missouri, the fighting in the state for the next three years consisted chiefly of guerrilla warfare. "Citizen soldiers" such as Colonel William Quantrill, Frank and Jesse James, the Younger brothers, and William T. Anderson made use of quick, small-unit tactics. Pioneered by the Missouri Partisan Rangers, such insurgencies also arose in other portions of the Confederacy occupied during the Civil War. Recently historians have assessed the James brothers' outlaw years as continuing guerrilla warfare after the official war was over. The activities of the 'Bald Knobbers' of south-central Missouri in the 1880s has also been seen as an unofficial continuation of hostilities long after the official end of the war.

In 1930, there was a diphtheria epidemic in the area around Springfield which killed approximately 100 people. Serum was rushed to the area and stopped the epidemic.

During the mid-1950s and 1960s, St. Louis suffered deindustrialization and loss of jobs in railroads and manufacturing as did other major industrial cities. At the same time highway construction made it easy for middle-class residents to leave the city for newer housing in the suburbs. St. Louis has gone through decades of readjustment to developing a different economy. Suburban areas have developed separate job markets, both in knowledge industries and services, such as major retail malls. In 1956 St. Charles was the site of the first interstate highway project.^[28]

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1810	19,783		—
1820	66,586		236.6%
1830	140,455		110.9%
1840	383,702		173.2%
1850	682,044		77.8%
1860	1,182,012		73.3%
1870	1,721,295		45.6%
1880	2,168,380		26.0%
1890	2,679,185		23.6%
1900	3,106,665		16.0%
1910	3,293,335		6.0%
1920	3,404,055		3.4%
1930	3,629,367		6.6%
1940	3,784,664		4.3%
1950	3,954,653		4.5%
1960	4,319,813		9.2%
1970	4,676,501		8.3%
1980	4,916,686		5.1%
1990	5,117,073		4.1%
2000	5,595,211		9.3%
Est. 2009	5,987,580	[2]	7.0%

In 2009, Missouri had an estimated population of 5,987,580; an increase of 392,369 (7.0 percent) since the year 2000. From 2000 to 2007, this includes a natural increase of 137,564 people since the last census (480,763 births less 343,199 deaths), and an increase of 88,088 people due to net migration into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 50,450 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 37,638 people. Over half of Missourians (3,294,936 people, or 55.0%) live within the state's two largest metropolitan areas–-St. Louis and Kansas City. The state's population density 86.9 in 2009, is also closer to the national average (86.8 in 2009) than any other state.

The U.S. Census of 2000 found that the population center of the United States is in Phelps County, Missouri. The center of population of Missouri itself is located in Osage County, in the city of Westphalia.^[29]

As of 2004, the population included 194,000 foreign-born (3.4 percent of the state population).

Demographics of Missouri (csv)
By race	White	Black	AIAN*	Asian	NHPI*
2000 (total population)	86.90%	11.76%	1.08%	1.37%	0.12%
2000 (Hispanic only)	1.96%	0.12%	0.07%	0.03%	0.01%
2005 (total population)	86.54%	12.04%	1.03%	1.61%	0.13%
2005 (Hispanic only)	2.49%	0.14%	0.07%	0.03%	0.01%
Growth 2000–05 (total population)	3.23%	6.15%	-0.57%	21.83%	10.71%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only)	2.57%	5.94%	-1.34%	21.81%	10.99%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only)	32.07%	26.42%	10.52%	22.82%	8.09%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

The five largest ancestry groups in Missouri are: German (23.5 percent), Irish (12.7 percent), American (10.5 percent), English (9.5 percent) and French (3.5 percent). "American" includes some of those reported as Native American or African American, but also European Americans whose ancestors have lived in the United States for a considerable time.

German Americans are an ancestry group present throughout Missouri. African Americans are a substantial part of the population in St. Louis, Kansas City, and in the southeastern Bootheel and some parts of the Missouri River Valley, where plantation agriculture was once important. Missouri Creoles of French ancestry are concentrated in the Mississippi River Valley south of St. Louis. Approximately 40,000–50,000 recent Bosniak immigrants live mostly in the St. Louis area. Kansas City is home to large and growing immigrant communities from Mexico, Sudan, Somali, and Southeast Asia.

In 2004, 6.6 percent of the state's population was reported as younger than 5 years old, 25.5 percent younger than 18, and 13.5 percent was 65 or older. Females were approximately 51.4 percent of the population. 81.3 percent of Missouri residents were high school graduates (more than the national average), and 21.6 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher. 3.4 percent of Missourians were foreign-born, and 5.1 percent reported speaking a language other than English at home.

In 2000, there were 2,194,594 households in Missouri, with 2.48 people per household. The homeownership rate was 70.3 percent, and the mean value of an owner-occupied dwelling was $89,900. The median household income for 1999 was $37,934, or $19,936 per capita. There were 11.7 percent (637,891) Missourians living below the poverty line in 1999.

The mean commute time to work was 23.8 minutes.

Religion

Of those Missourians who identify with a religion, three out of five are Protestants. There is also a moderate-sized Roman Catholic community in some parts of the state; approximately one out of five Missourians are Roman Catholic. Areas with large Catholic communities include St. Louis, Jefferson City, Westplex, and the Missouri Rhineland (particularly that south of the Missouri River).^[30] The St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas also have important Jewish communities who have contributed much to the culture and charities of the cities; more recent, those same areas have Indian and Pakistani immigrants have created Hindu and Muslim congregations as well.

The religious affiliations of the people of Missouri according to the American Religious Identification Survey:^[31]

• Christian – 77%
  • Protestant
    • Baptist – 22%
    • Methodist – 7%
    • Episcopal – 4%
    • Lutheran – 4%
    • Other Protestant – 12%
  • Roman Catholic – 19%
  • Latter Day Saint – 1%*
  • Other or unspecified Christian – 8%
• Other religions – 2%
• Not religious – 15%
• No answer – 5%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church with 856,964; the Southern Baptist Convention with 797,732; and the United Methodist Church with 226,578.^[32]

Several religious organizations have headquarters in Missouri, including the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, which has its headquarters in Kirkwood, as well as the United Pentecostal Church International in Hazelwood, both outside St. Louis. Kansas City is the headquarters of the Church of the Nazarene. Independence, near Kansas City, is the headquarters for the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), and the group Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This area and other parts of Missouri are also of significant religious and historical importance to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), which maintains several sites/visitors centers, and whose members make up about 1 percent, or 62,217 members, of Missouri's population. Springfield is the headquarters of the Assemblies of God and the Baptist Bible Fellowship International. The General Association of General Baptists has its headquarters in Poplar Bluff. The Pentecostal Church of God is headquartered in Joplin. The Unity Church is headquartered in Unity Village.

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Missouri's total state product in 2006 was $225.9 billion. Per capita personal income in 2006 was $32,705,^[19] ranking 26^th in the nation. Major industries include aerospace, transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, printing/publishing, electrical equipment, light manufacturing, and beer.

The agriculture products of the state are beef, soybeans, pork, dairy products, hay, corn, poultry, sorghum, cotton, rice, and eggs. Missouri is ranked 6th in the nation for the production of hogs and 7th for cattle. Missouri is ranked in the top five states in the nation for production of soy beans. As of 2001, there were 108,000 farms, the second largest number in any state after Texas. Missouri actively promotes its rapidly growing wine industry.

Missouri has vast quantities of limestone. Other resources mined are lead, coal, and crushed stone. Missouri produces the most lead of all of the states. Most of the lead mines are in the central eastern portion of the state. Missouri also ranks first or near first in the production of lime, a key ingedient in Portland cement.

Tourism, services and wholesale/retail trade follow manufacturing in importance.

Personal income is taxed in 10 different earning brackets, ranging from 1.5 percent to 6.0 percent. Missouri's sales tax rate for most items is 4.225 percent. Additional local levies may apply. More than 2,500 Missouri local governments rely on property taxes levied on real property (real estate) and personal property. Most personal property is exempt, except for motorized vehicles. Exempt real estate includes property owned by governments and property used as nonprofit cemeteries, exclusively for religious worship, for schools and colleges and for purely charitable purposes. There is no inheritance tax and limited Missouri estate tax related to federal estate tax collection.

Missouri is the only state in the Union to have two Federal Reserve Banks: one in Kansas City (serving western Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, northern New Mexico, and Wyoming) and one in St. Louis (serving eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, western Kentucky, western Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and all of Arkansas).^[33]

As of January 2010, the state’s unemployment rate is 9.5%.^[34]

Transportation

Air

The state of Missouri has two major airport hubs: Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and Kansas City International Airport.

Rail

Two of the nation's three busiest rail centers are located in Missouri. Kansas City is a major railroad hub for BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern Railway, Kansas City Southern Railway, and Union Pacific Railroad. Kansas City is the second largest freight rail center in the US. Like Kansas City, St. Louis is a major destination for train freight. Amtrak passenger trains serve Kansas City, La Plata, Jefferson City, St. Louis, Lee's Summit, Independence, Warrensburg, Hermann, Washington, Kirkwood, Sedalia, and Poplar Bluff.

The only urban light rail/subway system in Missouri is the St. Louis MetroLink which connects the city of St. Louis with suburbs in Illinois and St. Louis County. It is one of the largest (track mileage) systems in the USA. In 2007 preliminary planning was being performed for a light rail system in the Kansas City area, but was defeated by voters in November 2008.

The Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center in St. Louis is the largest active multi-use transportation center in the state. It is located in Downtown St. Louis next to the historic St. Louis Union Station complex. It serves as a hub center/station for the city's rail system St. Louis MetroLink and regional bus system St. Louis MetroBus, Greyhound, Amtrak and city taxi services.

Springfield remains an operational hub for BNSF Railway.

Bus

Many cities have regular fixed-route systems, and many rural counties have rural public transit services. Kansas City has the state's only Bus Rapid Transit system, dubbed MAX or Metro Area Express. The original Main Street MAX route debuted in 2005 and second Troost Avenue MAX route is due to launch in early 2011.

Greyhound, Trailways, and Megabus all provide inter-city bus service in Missouri.

Rivers

The Mississippi River and Missouri River are commercially navigable over their entire lengths in Missouri. The Missouri was channelized through dredging and jettys and the Mississippi was given a series of locks and dams to avoid rocks and deepen the river. St. Louis is a major destination for barge traffic on the Mississippi River.

Roads

Main article List of Missouri highways

Several highways, detailed below, traverse the state.

Following the passage of Amendment 3 in late 2004, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) began its Smoother, Safer, Sooner road-building program with a goal of bringing 2,200 miles (3,500 km) of highways up to good condition by December 2007. From 2006–2008 traffic deaths have decreased annually from 1,257 in 2005, to 1,096 in 2006, to 974 for 2007, to 941 for 2008.^[35]

Interstate freeways

• Interstate 29, Interstate 229
• Interstate 35, Interstate 435 (Perimeter around Kansas City), Interstate 635
• Interstate 44
• Interstate 55, Interstate 155, Interstate 255 (the perimeter around the Illinois side of St. Louis)
• Interstate 57
• Interstate 64
• Interstate 70, Interstate 170, Interstate 270 (the perimeter around the Missouri side of St. Louis), Interstate 470, Interstate 670
• Interstate 72
• Interstate 49 (In Progress)^[36]
• Interstate 66 (Proposed)

United States Routes

North-south routes	East-west routes
U.S. Route 59 U.S. Route 159 U.S. Route 61 U.S. Route 63 U.S. Route 65 U.S. Route 67 U.S. Route 69 U.S. Route 169 U.S. Route 71 U.S. Route 275	U.S. Route 412 U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 36 U.S. Route 136 U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 54 U.S. Route 56 U.S. Route 60 U.S. Route 160 U.S. Route 460 (decommissioned in Missouri) U.S. Route 62 U.S. Route 66 (decommissioned) U.S. Route 166 U.S. Route 400

Law and government

Missouri Government
Governor of Missouri	Jay Nixon (D)
Lieutenant Governor of Missouri:	Peter Kinder (R)
Missouri Attorney General:	Chris Koster (D)
Missouri Secretary of State:	Robin Carnahan (D)
Missouri State Auditor:	Susan Montee (D)
Missouri State Treasurer:	Clint Zweifel (D)
Senior United States Senator:	Kit Bond (R)
Junior United States Senator:	Claire McCaskill (D)

Framework

The current Constitution of Missouri, the fourth constitution for the state, was adopted in 1945. It 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 Missouri General Assembly.

The House of Representatives has 163 members who are apportioned based on the last decennial census. The Senate consists of 34 members from districts of approximately equal populations. The judicial department comprises the Supreme Court of Missouri, which has seven judges, the Missouri Court of Appeals (an intermediate appellate court divided into three districts, sitting in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield), and 45 Circuit Courts which function as local trial courts. The executive branch is headed by the Governor of Missouri and includes five other statewide elected offices. Following the election of 2008, all but one of Missouri's statewide elected offices are held by Democrats.

Status as a political bellwether

Past Presidential Elections Results

Year	Republican	Democratic	Third Parties
2008	49.39% 1,445,814	49.25% 1,441,911	1.36% 39,889
2004	53.30% 1,455,713	46.10% 1,259,171	0.60% 16,480
2000	50.42% 1,189,924	47.08% 1,111,138	2.50% 58,830
1996	41.24% 890,016	47.54% 1,025,935	11.22% 242,114
1992	33.92% 811,159	44.07% 1,053,873	22.00% 526,238
1988	51.83% 1,084,953	47.85% 1,001,619	0.32% 6,656
1984	60.02% 1,274,188	39.98% 848,583	0.00% None
1980	51.16% 1,074,181	44.35% 931,182	4.49% 94,461
1976	47.47% 927,443	51.10% 998,387	1.42% 27,770
1972	62.29% 1,154,058	37.71% 698,531	0.00% None
1968	44.87% 811,932	43.74% 791,444	11.39% 206,126
1964	35.95% 653,535	50.92% 1,164,344	0.00% None
1960	49.74% 962,221	50.26% 972,201	0.00% None
1956	49.89% 914,289	50.11% 918,273	0.00% None
1952	50.71% 959,429	49.14% 929,830	0.15% 2,803
1948	41.49% 655,039	58.11% 917,315	0.39% 6,274
1944	48.43% 761,524	51.37% 807,804	0.20% 3,146
1940	47.50% 871,009	52.27% 958,476	0.23% 4,244
1936	38.16% 697,891	60.76% 1,111,043	1.08% 19,701
1932	35.08% 564,713	63.69% 1,025,406	1.22% 19,775
1928	55.58% 834,080	44.15% 662,562	0.27% 4,079
1924	49.58% 648,486	43.79% 572,753	6.63% 86,719
1920	54.56% 727,162	43.13% 574,799	2.32% 30,839
1916	46.94% 369,339	50.59% 398,032	2.46% 19,398
1912	29.75% 207,821	47.35% 330,746	22.89% 159,999
1908	48.50% 347,203	48.41% 346,574	3.08% 22,150
1904	49.93% 321,449	46.02% 296,312	4.05% 26,100
1900	45.94% 314,092	51.48% 351,922	2.58% 17,642

Missouri is widely regarded as a state bellwether in American politics. The state has a longer stretch of supporting the winning presidential candidate than any other state, having voted with the nation in every election since 1904 with two exceptions: in 1956 when it voted for Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois over the winner, incumbent President Dwight Eisenhower of Kansas, and in 2008 when it voted for Senator John McCain of Arizona over national winner Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, both by extremely narrow margins.

Laissez-faire alcohol and tobacco laws

Missouri has been known for its population's generally "stalwart, conservative, noncredulous" attitude toward regulatory regimes, which is one of the origins of the state's unofficial nickname, the "Show-Me State."^[37] As a result, and combined with the fact that Missouri is one of America's leading alcohol and tobacco-producing states, regulation of alcohol and tobacco in Missouri is among the most laissez-faire in America.

With a large German immigrant population and the development of a brewing industry, Missouri always has had among the most permissive alcohol laws in the United States. It never enacted statewide prohibition. Missouri voters rejected prohibition in three separate referenda in 1910, 1912, and 1918. Alcohol regulation did not begin in Missouri until 1934. Today, alcohol laws are controlled by the state government, and local jurisdictions are prohibited from going beyond those state laws. Missouri has no statewide open container law or prohibition on drinking in public, no alcohol-related blue laws, no local option, no precise locations for selling liquor by the package (thus allowing even drug stores and gas stations to sell any kind of liquor), and no differentiation of laws based on alcohol percentage. Missouri had no laws prohibiting "consumption" of alcohol by minors (as opposed to possession), and state law protects persons from arrest or criminal penalty for public intoxication.^[38] Missouri law expressly prohibits any jurisdiction from going dry.^[39] Missouri law also expressly allows parents and guardians to serve alcohol to their children.^[40] The Power & Light District in Kansas City is one of the few places in the United States where a state law explicitly allows persons over the age of 21 to possess and consume open containers of alcohol in the street (as long as the beverage is in a plastic cup).^[41]

See also: Smoking laws of Missouri

As for tobacco, as of May 2010 Missouri has the lowest cigarette excise taxes in the United States,^[42] and the electorate voted in 2002 and 2006 to keep it that way.^[43] In 2007, Forbes named Missouri's largest metropolitan area, St. Louis, America's "best city for smokers."^[44] According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2008 Missouri had the fourth highest percentage of adult smokers among U.S states, at 24.5%.^[45] Although Missouri's minimum age for purchase and distribution of tobacco products is 18, tobacco products can be distributed to persons under 18 by family members on private property.^[46] No statewide smoking ban ever has been seriously entertained before the Missouri General Assembly, and in October 2008, a statewide survey by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services found that only 27.5% of Missourians support a statewide ban on smoking in all bars and restaurants.^[47] Missouri state law permits bars, restaurants which seat less than 50 people, bowling alleys, and billiard parlors to decide their own smoking policies, without limitation.^[48]

Additionally, in Missouri, it is "an improper employment practice" for an employer to refuse to hire, to fire, or otherwise to disadvantage any person because that person lawfully uses alcohol and/or tobacco products when he or she is not at work.^[49]

Counties

Missouri has 114 counties and one independent city (St. Louis).

The largest county by size is Texas County (1,179 sq. miles) and Shannon County is second (1,004 sq. miles). Worth County is the smallest (266 sq. miles). The independent city of St. Louis has only 62 square miles (160 km²) of area. St. Louis City is the most densely populated area (5,724.7 per sq. mi.) in Missouri.

The largest county by population (2008 estimate) is St. Louis County (991,830 residents), with Jackson County second (668,417 residents), St. Louis third (354,361), and St. Charles fourth (349,407). Worth County is the least populous with 2,039 residents.

Important cities and towns

Leading population centers
Rank	City	population[50]	County	Kansas City St. Louis
1	Kansas City	480,129	Jackson, Clay, Platte, Cass
2	St. Louis	354,361
3	Springfield	156,206	Greene
4	Independence	121,212	Jackson
5	Columbia	100,733	Boone
6	Lee’s Summit	84,208	Jackson
7	O'Fallon	74,976	St.Charles
8	St. Joseph	73,912	Buchanan
based on 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates

Jefferson City is the state capital of Missouri.

The five largest cities in Missouri are Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, Independence, and Columbia.^[51]

St. Louis is the principal city of the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, comprising seventeen counties and the independent city of St. Louis; eight of those counties lie in the state of Illinois. As of 2008, Greater St. Louis was the 18th largest metropolitan area in the nation with 2.81 million people. However, if ranked using Combined Statistical Area, it is 16th largest with 2.88 million people. Some of the major cities making up the St. Louis Metro area in Missouri include St. Charles, St. Peters, Florissant, Chesterfield, Creve Coeur, Wildwood, Maryland Heights, O'Fallon, Clayton, Ballwin, Valley Park, and University City.

Kansas City is Missouri's largest city and the principal city of the fifteen-county Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area, including six counties in the state of Kansas. As of 2008, it was the 29th largest metropolitan area in the nation, with 2.002 million people. Some of the other major cities comprising the Kansas City metro area in Missouri include Independence, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Raytown, Liberty, and Gladstone.

Branson is a major tourist attraction in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri.

Education

Missouri State Board of Education

The Missouri State Board of Education has general authority over all public education in the state of Missouri. It is made up of eight citizens appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Missouri Senate.

Primary and secondary schools

Education is compulsory from ages seven to seventeen per Statute 167.031, RSMo, states that any parent, guardian or other person having custody or control of a child between the ages of seven (7) and the compulsory attendance age for the district, must ensure that the child is enrolled in and regularly attends public, private, parochial school, home school or a combination of schools for the full term of the school year.

The term "compulsory attendance age for the district" shall mean seventeen (17) years of age or having successfully completed sixteen (16) credits towards high school graduation in all other cases. Children between the ages of five (5) and seven (7) are not required to be enrolled in school. However, if they are enrolled in a public school their parent, guardian or custodian must ensure that they regularly attend. Missouri schools are commonly but not exclusively divided into three tiers of primary and secondary education: elementary school, middle school or junior high school and high school. The public schools system includes kindergarten to 12^th grade. District territories are often complex in structure. In some cases, elementary, middle and junior high schools of a single district feed into high schools in another district. High school athletics and competitions are governed by the Missouri State High School Activities Association or MSHSAA.

Homeschooling is legal in Missouri and is an option to meet the compulsory education requirement. It is neither monitored nor regulated by the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education^[52]

A supplemental education program, the Missouri Scholars Academy, provides an extracurricular learning experience for gifted high school students in the state of Missouri. The official MSA website describes the goals of the Academy to be as such: "The academy reflects Missouri's desire to strive for excellence in education at all levels. The program is based on the premise that Missouri's gifted youth must be provided with special opportunities for learning and personal development in order for them to realize their full potential."

Another highly accepted gifted school is the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing, which is located at the Northwest Missouri State University.

Colleges and universities

The University of Missouri System is Missouri's statewide public university system. The flagship institution and largest university in the state is the University of Missouri in Columbia. The others in the system are University of Missouri–Kansas City, University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the state established a series of normal schools in each region of the state, originally named after the geographic districts: Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) (1867), University of Central Missouri (1871), Southeast Missouri State University (1873), Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) (1905), Northwest Missouri State University (1905), Missouri Western State University (1915), and Missouri Southern State University (1937). Lincoln University and Harris-Stowe State University were established in the mid-nineteenth century and are historically black colleges and universities.

Notable highly rated^[53] private institutions within the state include Washington University in St. Louis and Saint Louis University. There are numerous junior colleges, trade schools, church universities and other private universities in the state. A. T. Still University was the first osteopathic medical school in the world.

The state funds a $2000, renewable merit-based scholarship, Bright Flight, given to the top three percent of Missouri high school graduates who attend a university in-state.

The 19th century border wars between Missouri and Kansas have continued as a sports rivalry between the University of Missouri and University of Kansas. The rivalry is chiefly expressed through football and basketball games between the two universities. It is the oldest college rivalry west of the Mississippi River and the second oldest in the nation. Each year when the universities meet to play, the game is coined "Border War." An exchange occurs following the game where the winner gets to take a historic marching band drum, which has been passed back and forth for decades.

Sports

Missouri hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics at St. Louis, the first time the games were hosted in the United States.

Professional Sports Teams

• Major League Baseball: Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals
• National Football League: Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Rams
• National Hockey League: St. Louis Blues
• Central Hockey League: Missouri Mavericks
• Women's Professional Soccer: Saint Louis Athletica (franchise folded in June 2010)
• Major Indoor Soccer League: St. Louis Steamers and Kansas City Comets
• Arena Football: Kansas City Brigade and River City Rage (UIFL)
• World Team Tennis: Kansas City Explorers, Springfield Lasers and St. Louis Aces
• Cycling: Tour of Missouri

Minor leagues

• Baseball:
  • Springfield Cardinals (Class AA, Texas League)
  • River City Rascals )O'Fallon) (Independent, Frontier League)
  • Chillicothe Mudcats (Independent, M.I.N.K. League)
  • Excelsior Springs Cougars (Independent, M.I.N.K. League)
  • Farmington Firebirds (Independent, KIT League)
  • Joplin Outlaws (Independent, M.I.N.K. League)
  • Marysville Magpies (Independent, Jayhawk League)
  • Nevada Griffins (Independent, M.I.N.K. League)
  • Ozark Generals (Independent, M.I.N.K. League)
  • St. Joe Mustangs (Independent, M.I.N.K. League)
  • Sedalia Bombers (Independent, M.I.N.K. League)
  • Sikeston Bulls (Independent, KIT League)
  • Hannibal Cavemen (Prospect League)
• Ice Hockey:
  • St. Louis Chill (Midwest Hockey League)
  • Missouri Mavericks (Central Hockey League)

Former professional sports teams

• National Football League:
  • St. Louis Cardinals (moved from Chicago in 1960; moved to Tempe, Arizona in 1988 and are now the Arizona Cardinals)
  • St. Louis All Stars (active in 1923 only)
  • Kansas City (NFL) (Blues/Cowboys) (active 1924–1926, folded)
  • St. Louis Gunners (independent team, joined the NFL for the last three weeks of the 1934 season and folded thereafter)
• Major League Baseball (American League):
  • St. Louis Browns (moved from Milwaukee in 1902; moved to Baltimore, Maryland after the 1953 season and are now the Baltimore Orioles)
  • Kansas City Athletics (moved from Philadelphia in 1955; moved to Oakland, California after the 1967 season and are now the Oakland Athletics
• National Basketball Association:
  • St. Louis Bombers (charter BAA franchise in 1946, joined the NBA when it formed in 1949; ceased operations in 1950)
  • St. Louis Hawks (moved from Milwaukee in 1955; moved to Atlanta in 1968 and are now the Atlanta Hawks)
  • Kansas City Kings (moved to Sacramento in 1985 and are now the Sacramento Kings)
• National Hockey League:
  • Kansas City Scouts (1974 expansion team, moved to Denver, Colorado in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies, and would move again to Newark, New Jersey; now called the New Jersey Devils)
  • St. Louis Eagles (1934 relocation of the original Ottawa Senators, folded after the 1934–35 season)
• Major League Soccer:
  • Kansas City Wizards (founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1995; moved to Kansas City, Kansas in 2007)
• Continental Basketball Association:
  • Teams in Kansas City and St. Louis

Naval vessels

Several US Navy vessels have been named after the state.

• USS Missouri (1841), a sidewheel frigate launched in 1841 and destroyed by fire in 1843
• USS Missouri (BB-11), a Maine-class battleship in service from 1900 to 1922
• USS Missouri (BB-63) a decommissioned Iowa-class battleship and the site of the official Japanese surrender of World War II
• USS Missouri (SSN-780), a Virginia-class submarine joins the fleet after a commissioning ceremony 31 July 2010 at the Naval Submarine Base New London.

State nickname

The use of the unofficial nickname the Show-Me State has several possible origins. The phrase "I'm from Missouri" means I'm skeptical of the matter and not easily convinced. This is related to the state's unofficial motto of "Show Me," whose origin is popularly ascribed to an 1899 speech by Congressman Willard Vandiver, who declared that "I come from a country that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me." However, according to researchers, the phrase was in circulation earlier in the 1890s.^[54] According to another legend, the phrase was a reference to Missouri miners brought to Leadville, Colorado to take the place of striking miners and being unfamiliar with the mining methods there required frequent instruction.^[55]

It has also been known as the Puke State, perhaps on account of an 1827 gathering at the Galena Lead Mines. George Earlie Shankle ^[56] "...so many Missourians had assembled, that those already there declared the State of Missouri had taken a 'puke.'"^[57] Within the state, “pukes” referred before the Civil War to impoverished citizens who nonetheless supported slavery, the equivalent of “poor white trash.”^[58] Walt Whitman has listed “pukes” as a nickname for Missourians.^[59]

Missouri is also known as "The Cave State" with over 6000 recorded caves (second to Tennessee). Perry County has both the largest number of caves and the single longest cave in the state.^[60]

Other nicknames include "The Lead State", "The Bullion State", "The Ozark State", "Mother of the West", "The Iron Mountain State", and "Pennsylvania of the West".^[61]

There is no official state nickname,^[62] however the official state motto is "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto", Latin for "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law."^[63]

See also

References

External links

• Missouri Government
• Missouri Digital Heritage
• State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia
• Missouri's African American History
• Missouri State Tourism Office
• Energy & Environmental Data for Missouri
• USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Missouri
• U.S. Census Bureau
  • Missouri QuickFacts. Geographic and demographic information.
  • Missouri – Race and Hispanic Origin: 1810 to 1990PDF (71.1 KB)
• Missouri State Facts
• List of searchable databases produced by Missouri state agencies hosted by the American Library Association Government Documents Roundtable.
• Missouri at the Open Directory Project

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Mayors of cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in Missouri     Mark Funkhouser (Kansas City) Francis G. Slay (St. Louis) Jim O'Neal (Springfield) Don Reimal (Independence) Bob McDavid (Columbia) State capital: John Landwehr, (Jefferson City)

Preceded by Maine

List of U.S. states by date of statehood Admitted on August 10, 1821 (24th)

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