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Missouri (see pronunciations)—nicknamed The Show-Me State—is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Missouri is the 21st most extensive and the 18th most populous of the 50 United States. Missouri comprises 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis.

The four largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The land that is now Missouri was acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became known as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.

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 state lies at the intersection of the three greatest rivers of North America, with the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis, and the confluence of the Ohio River with the Mississippi north of the Bootheel. The starting points of the Pony Express and Oregon Trail were both in Missouri. The mean center of United States population as of the 2010 Census is at the town of Plato in Texas County.

Etymology and pronunciation

The state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the indigenous Missouri Indians, a Siouan-language tribe. They were called the ouemessourita (wimihsoorita), meaning "those who have dugout canoes", by the Miami-Illinois language speakers. As the Illini were the first natives encountered by Europeans in the region, the latter adopted the Illini name for the Missouri people.

While many American states have names that its natives and non-natives pronounce dissimilarly, Missouri is the only one whose name is pronounced differently even just among its present-day natives—the two most common pronunciations being /məˈzɜːri/ and /məˈzɜːrə/ . This situation of differing pronunciations has existed since the late 1600s. Further pronunciations also exist in Missouri or elsewhere in the United States, involving the realization of the first syllable as either /mə/ or /mɪ/; the stressed second syllable as either /ˈzɜːr/ or /ˈzʊər/; the third syllable as pronunciation /i/, pronunciation /ə/, pronunciation centralized /ɪ/ (), or even ∅ (in other words, a non-existent third syllable); and the phoneme /r/ as either of two allophones: pronunciation or pronunciation . Any combination of these phonetic realizations may be observed coming from speakers of American English.

Politicians often employ multiple pronunciations, even during a single speech, to appeal to a greater number of listeners. Often, "eye dialect" spellings of the state's name, such as "Missour-ee" or "Missour-uh," are used informally to phonetically distinguish pronunciations.

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, historically Missouri was considered by many to be a Southern state, 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.

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

Topography

North of, and in some cases just south of, the Missouri River lie the Northern Plains that stretch into Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Here, gentle rolling hills remain from the glaciation that once extended from the Canadian Shield to the Missouri River. Missouri has many large river bluffs along the Mississippi, Missouri, 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 with the formation of sinkholes and caves.

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. It is also among the poorest, as the economy is mostly agricultural. 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 ( Dfa) with cold winters and hot and humid summers. In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel, the climate turns into a humid subtropical climate. 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. Missouri's highest recorded temperature is 118 °F (48 °C) at Warsaw and Union on July 14, 1954 while the lowest recorded temperature is −40 °F (−40 °C) also at Warsaw on February 13, 1905.

Missouri also receives extreme weather in the form of thunderstorms and tornadoes. The most recent tornado in the state to cause damage and casualties was the 2011 Joplin tornado, which destroyed roughly 1/3 of the city of Joplin. The tornado caused an estimated $1–3 billion in damages, killed 159 (+1 non-tornadic), and injured over 1,000 people. The tornado was the first EF5 to hit the state since 1957. The tornado was the deadliest in the U.S. since 1947, making it the 7th deadliest tornado in American history, but the 27th deadliest in the world.

History

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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 long before the arrival of Europeans. St. Louis was at one time known as Mound City by the European Americans, because of the numerous surviving prehistoric 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 ethnic French Canadians, who created their first settlement in Missouri at present-day Ste. Genevieve, about an hour south of St. Louis. They had migrated about 1750 from the Illinois Country. They came from colonial villages on the east side of the Mississippi River, where soils were becoming exhausted and there was insufficient river bottom land for the growing population. Sainte-Geneviève became a thriving agricultural center, producing enough surplus wheat, corn and tobacco to ship tons of grain annually downriver to Lower Louisiana for trade. Grain production in the Illinois Country was critical to the survival of Lower Louisiana and especially the city of New Orleans.

St. Louis was founded soon after by French from New Orleans in 1764. From 1764 to 1803, European control of the area west of the Mississippi to the northernmost part of the Missouri River basin, called Louisiana, was assumed by the Spanish as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, due to Treaty of Fontainebleau (in order to have Spain join with France in the war against England). The arrival of the Spanish in St. Louis was in September 1767.

St. Louis became the center of a regional fur trade with Native American tribes that extended up the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, which dominated the regional economy for decades. Trading partners of major firms shipped their furs from St. Louis by river down to New Orleans for export to Europe. They provided a variety of goods to traders, for sale and trade with their Native American clients. The fur trade and associated businesses made St. Louis an early financial center and provided the wealth for some to build fine houses and import luxury items. Its location near the confluence of the Illinois River meant it also handled produce from the agricultural areas. River traffic and trade along the Mississippi were integral to the state's economy, and as the area's first major city, St. Louis expanded greatly after the invention of the steamboat and the increased river trade.

Napoleon Bonaparte had gained Louisiana for French ownership from Spain in 1800 under the Treaty of San Ildefonso, after it had been a Spanish colony since 1762. But, the treaty was kept secret. Louisiana remained nominally under Spanish control until a transfer of power to France on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the cession to the United States.

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. St. Charles, just west of St. Louis, was the starting point and the return destination of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which departed up the Missouri River in 1804 to explore the western territories to the Pacific Ocean. St. Louis was a major supply point for decades for parties of settlers heading west.

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 1821 the territory was admitted as a slave state as part of the Missouri Compromise with a temporary state capitol in St. Charles. In 1826 the capital was shifted to its permanent location of Jefferson City, also on the Missouri.

The state was rocked by 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, 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. In 1836 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 km) to Virginia's 65,000 square miles, which then included West Virginia).

In the early 1830s, Mormon migrants from northern states and Canada began settling near Independence and areas just north of there. Conflicts over religion and slavery arose between the 'old settlers' (mainly from the South) and the Mormons (mainly from the North). The Mormon War erupted in 1838. By 1839, with the help of an "Extermination Order" by Governor Lilburn Boggs, the old settlers forcefully expelled the Mormons from Missouri and confiscated their lands.

Conflicts over slavery exacerbated border tensions among the states and territories. From 1838 to 1839, a border dispute with Iowa over the so-called Honey Lands resulted in both states' calling up militias along the border.

With increasing migration, from the 1830s to the 1860s Missouri's population almost doubled with every decade. Most of the newcomers were American-born, but many Irish and German immigrants arrived in the late 1840s and 1850s. As they were mostly Catholic, they mostly set up their own religious institutions in the state, which had been mostly Protestant. Having fled famine and oppression in Ireland, and revolutionary upheaval in Germany, the immigrants were not sympathetic to slavery. Many settled in cities, where they created a regional and then state network of Catholic churches and schools. Nineteenth-century German immigrants created the wine industry along the Missouri River and the beer industry in St. Louis.

Most Missouri farmers practiced subsistence farming before the Civil War. The majority of those who held slaves had fewer than five each. Planters, defined by historians as those holding twenty slaves or more, 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. In order to control the flooding of farmland and low-lying villages along the Mississippi, the state had completed construction of 140 miles (230 km) of levees along the river by 1860.

American Civil War

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 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 Union General Lyon's rapid advance through 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, even under the Southern view of secession, only the state convention had the power to secede. Since the convention was dominated by unionists, and the state was more pro-Union than pro-Confederate in any event, the ordinance of secession adopted by the legislature is generally given little credence. The Confederacy nonetheless recognized it on October 30, 1861.

With the elected governor absent from the capital and the legislators largely dispersed, the state convention was reassembled with most of its members present, save 20 that fled south with Jackson's forces. The convention declared all offices vacant, and installed Hamilton Gamble as the new governor of Missouri. President Lincoln's administration immediately recognized Gamble's government as the legal Missouri government. The federal government's decision enabled raising pro-Union militia forces for service within the state as well as 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 retreated 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" or insurgents 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 portions of the Confederacy occupied by the Union 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 insurgent hostilities long after the official end of the war.

20th century to present

Between the Civil War and the end of World War II, Missouri transitioned from a rural economy to a hybrid industrial-service-agricultural economy as the Midwest rapidly industrialized. The expansion of railroads to the West transformed Kansas City into a major transportation hub within the nation. The growth of the Texas cattle industry along with this increased rail infrastructure and the invention of the refrigerated boxcar also made Kansas City a major meatpacking center, as large cattle drives from Texas brought herds of cattle to Dodge City and other Kansas towns; there the cattle were loaded onto trains destined for Kansas City, where they were butchered and distributed to the eastern markets. The first half of the twentieth century was the height of Kansas City's prominence and its downtown became a showcase for stylish Art Deco skyscrapers as construction boomed.

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

During the mid-1950s and 1960s, St. Louis and Kansas City suffered deindustrialization and loss of jobs in railroads and manufacturing, as did other Midwestern industrial cities. In 1956 St. Charles was the site of the first interstate highway project. Such highway construction made it easy for middle-class residents to leave the city for newer housing developed in the suburbs, often former farmland where land was available at lower prices. These major cities have gone through decades of readjustment to develop different economies and adjust to demographic changes. Suburban areas have developed separate job markets, both in knowledge industries and services, such as major retail malls.

Demographics

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Missouri was 6,021,988 on July 1, 2012, a 0.6% increase since the 2010 United States Census.

According to the 2010 Census, Missouri had a population of 5,988,927; 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.

In 2011, the racial composition of the state was:

• 84.0% White American (81.0% non-Hispanic white, 3.0% White Hispanic)
• 11.7% Black or African American
• 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
• 1.7% Asian American
• 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander
• 1.9% Multiracial American
• 0.1% Some other race

As of 2011, 3.7% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race). As of 2011, 28.1% of Missouri's population younger than age 1 were minorities(note: children born to white hispanics are counted as minority group).

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.

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

The five largest ancestry groups in Missouri are: German (27.4 percent), Irish (14.8 percent), English (10.2 percent), American (8.5 percent) and French (3.7 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 (56.6% of African Americans in the state lived in St. Louis or St. Louis County as of the 2010 census), Kansas City, Boone County 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 (see Missouri French). Kansas City is home to large and growing immigrant communities from Latin America esp. Mexico, Africa (i.e. Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria), and Southeast Asia including China and the Philippines; and Eastern Europe like the former Yugoslavia (see Bosnian American). A notable Cherokee Indian population exists in Missouri.

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 2010, there were 2,349,955 households in Missouri, with 2.45 people per household. The home ownership rate was 70.0 percent, and the median value of an owner-occupied housing unit was $137,700. The median household income for 2010 was $46,262, or $24,724 per capita. There were 14.0 percent (1,018,118) Missourians living below the poverty line in 2010.

The mean commute time to work was 23.8 minutes.

Language

The vast majority of people in Missouri speak English. Approximately 5.1% of the population reported speaking a language other than English at home. The Spanish language is spoken in small Latino communities in the St. Louis and Kansas City Metro areas.

Missouri is home to an endangered dialect of the French language known as Missouri French. Speakers of the dialect, who call themselves Créoles, are descendants of the French pioneers who settled the area then known as the Illinois Country beginning in the late 17th century. It developed in isolation from French speakers in Canada and Louisiana, becoming quite distinct from the varieties of Canadian French and Louisiana Creole French. Once widely spoken throughout the area, Missouri French is now nearly extinct, with only a few elderly speakers able to use it.

Religion

Of those Missourians who identify with a religion, three out of five are Protestants of various denominations. There is also a very large and influential Roman Catholic community in some parts of the state; approximately one out of five Missourians are Roman Catholic, making it the largest single Christian denomination. Areas with large Catholic communities include St. Louis, Jefferson City, Westplex, and the Missouri Rhineland (particularly that south of the Missouri River).

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 recently, those same areas have Indian and Pakistani immigrants, who have created Hindu and Muslim congregations as well.

The religious affiliations of the people of Missouri according to the American Religious Identification Survey:

• Christian – 77%
  • Roman Catholic – 19%
  • Anglican – 4%
    • Episcopal – 4%
  • Protestant – 45% (Combined)
    • Baptist – 22%
    • Methodist – 7%
    • Lutheran – 4%
  • Other Protestant – 12%
    • 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.

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. 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 USA and the Baptist Bible Fellowship International. The General Association of General Baptists has its headquarters in Poplar Bluff. 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, ranking 26th 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, and it is ranked fifth in the nation for the production of rice. 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 ingredient in Portland cement.

Missouri also has a growing science and biotechnology field. Monsanto, one of the largest gene companies in America is based in St. Louis.

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

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).

As of May 2012, the state’s unemployment rate is 7.3%, while the nation overall is 8.2%.

Taxation

Personal income is taxed in ten different earning brackets, ranging from 1.5% to 6.0%. Missouri's sales tax rate for most items is 4.225%; 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.

Energy

In 2011, 82% of Missouri's electricity was generated by coal. 10% was generated from the state's only nuclear power plant, the Callaway Plant in Callaway County, northeast of Jefferson City. 5% was generated by natural gas. 1% was generated by hydroelectric sources, such as the dams for Truman Lake and Lake of the Ozarks.

Oil wells in Missouri produced 120,000 barrels of crude oil in fiscal 2012. There are no oil refineries in Missouri.

Missouri has the potential to generate 689,519 GWh/year from 274,000 MW of wind power, and 5,382,000 GWh/year from solar power using 3,188,000 MW of photovoltaics (PV), including 13,081 MW of rooftop photovoltaics.

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 (but is first in the amount of tonnage handled). Like Kansas City, St. Louis is a major destination for train freight. Springfield remains an operational hub for BNSF Railway.

Amtrak passenger trains serve Kansas City, La Plata, Jefferson City, St. Louis, Lee's Summit, Independence, Warrensburg, Hermann, Washington, Kirkwood, Sedalia, and Poplar Bluff. A proposed high-speed rail route in Missouri as part of the Chicago Hub Network has received $31 million in funding.

The only urban light rail/subway system currently operating in Missouri is MetroLink, which connects the city of St. Louis with suburbs in Illinois and St. Louis County. It is one of the largest systems (by track mileage) in the United States. A streetcar line in downtown Kansas City is scheduled to open in 2015.

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 Union Station complex. It serves as a hub center/station for MetroLink, the MetroBus regional bus system, Greyhound, Amtrak, and taxi services.

Bus

Many cities have regular fixed-route systems, and many rural counties have rural public transit services. 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 2006–2010 traffic deaths have decreased annually from 1,257 in 2005, to 1,096 in 2006, to 992 for 2007, to 960 for 2008, to 878 in 2009, to 821 in 2010.

Interstate freeways

• Interstate 29, Interstate 229
• Interstate 35, Interstate 435 (Perimeter around Kansas City), Interstate 635
• Interstate 44
• Interstate 49
• 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 66 (Proposed)

The only section of freeway in Missouri to have High-Occupancy Vehicle Lane (HOV) is Interstate 55 from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri to Interstate 270-255 Interchange in St. Louis County. They were striped, registered, and opened on February 10, 2013. HOV Lanes are also being striped on Interstate 70 in St. Charles County through Interstate 270 in Saint Louis County, and on the North-South corridor of Interstate 270 in central St. Louis County.

United States Routes

Law and government

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 2012, all but two of Missouri's statewide elected offices are held by Democrats.

Harry S Truman (1884–1972), the 33rd President of the United States (Democrat, 1945–1953), was born in Lamar. He was a judge in Jackson County and then represented the state in the United States Senate for ten years, before being elected Vice-President in 1944. He lived in Independence after retiring.

Status as a political bellwether

Missouri is widely regarded as a bellwether in American politics, often making it a swing state. The state had a longer stretch of supporting the winning presidential candidate than any other state, having voted with the nation in every election since 1904 with three exceptions: in 1956 it voted for Democratic Governor Adlai Stevenson of neighboring Illinois over the winner, incumbent Republican President Dwight Eisenhower of neighboring Kansas, and in 2008 it voted for Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona over national winner Senator Barack Obama of neighboring Illinois. Missouri was still the closest state in the nation in both of these races, which were decided by extremely narrow margins of fewer than 4,000 votes each. However, in 2012, Missouri swung strongly Republican when it voted for former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts over the winner, incumbent President Barack Obama, by a nearly 10-point margin. There are 4,190,936 registered voters (as of Oct 24, 2012). At the state level, both Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill and Democratic Governor Jay Nixon were re-elected.

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." 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. For 2013, the annual "Freedom in the 50 States" study prepared by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranked Missouri as #3 in America for alcohol freedom and #1 for tobacco freedom (#7 for freedom overall). The study notes that Missouri's "alcohol regime is one of the least restrictive in the United States, with no blue laws and taxes well below average," and that "Missouri ranks best in the nation on tobacco freedom."

Missouri law makes it "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.

Alcohol

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 (allowing even drug stores and gas stations to sell any kind of liquor), and no differentiation of laws based on alcohol percentage. Missouri has 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.

Missouri law expressly prohibits any jurisdiction from going dry. Missouri law also expressly allows parents and guardians to serve alcohol to their children. 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).

Tobacco

As for tobacco (as of November 2012), Missouri has the lowest cigarette excise taxes in the United States, at 17 cents per pack, and the state electorate voted in 2002, 2006, and 2012 to keep it that way. In 2007, Forbes named Missouri's largest metropolitan area, St. Louis, America's "best city for smokers."

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%. 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.

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. Missouri state law permits restaurants seating less than 50 people, bars, bowling alleys, and billiard parlors to decide their own smoking policies, without limitation.

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 km) of area. St. Louis City is the most densely populated area (5,140.1 per sq. mi.) in Missouri.

The largest county by population (2012 estimate) is St. Louis County (1,000,438 residents), with Jackson County second (677,377 residents), St. Charles third (368,666), and St. Louis fourth (318,172). Worth County is the least populous with 2,171 (2010 census) residents.

Important cities and towns

Leading population centers 2010 Census
Rank	City	population	County	Kansas City St. Louis Jefferson City
1	Kansas City	463,202	Jackson, Clay, Platte, Cass
2	St. Louis	319,294
3	Springfield	159,498	Greene, Christian
4	Independence	116,830	Jackson Clay
5	Columbia	108,500	Boone
6	Lee’s Summit	91,364	Jackson Cass
7	O'Fallon	79,329	St.Charles
8	St. Joseph	76,780	Buchanan
9	St. Charles	66,794	St. Charles
10	St. Peters	52,575	St. Charles
10	Blue Springs	52,575	Jackson
12	Florissant	52,158	St. Louis County
13	Joplin	50,150	Jasper, Newton
14	Chesterfield	47,484	St. Louis County
15	Jefferson City	43,079	Cole Callaway
16	Cape Girardeau	37,941	Cape Girardeau Scott
17	Wildwood	35,517	St. Louis County
18	University City	35,371	St. Louis County
19	Ballwin	30,404	St. Louis County
20	Raytown	29,526	Jackson
based on 2010 U.S. Census Bureau figures

Jefferson City is the state capital of Missouri.

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

St. Louis is the principal city of the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, comprising 17 counties and the independent city of St. Louis; eight of those counties lie in the state of Illinois. As of 2009, St. Louis was the 18th largest metropolitan area in the nation with 2.83 million people. However, if ranked using Combined Statistical Area, it is 15th largest with 2.89 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, 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 2009, it was the 29th largest metropolitan area in the nation, with 2.068 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 12th 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 (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

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), Central Missouri State University (now the 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.

Among private institutions Washington University in St. Louis and Saint Louis University are two top ranked schools in the US. 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. Hannibal-LaGrange University in Hannibal, MO, was one of the first colleges west of the Mississippi (founded 1858 in LaGrange, MO, and moved to Hannibal, MO, in 1928).

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 Indian War Drum, which has been passed back and forth for decades.

Culture and Entertainment

Music

Many well-known musicians were born or have lived in Missouri. These include guitarist and rock pioneer Chuck Berry, singer and actress Josephine Baker, "Queen of Rock" Tina Turner, pop singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, and rappers Nelly, Chingy, and Akon, all of whom are either current or former residents of St. Louis.

Country singers from Missouri include New Franklin native Sara Evans, Cantwell native Ferlin Husky, West Plains native Porter Wagoner, and Mora native Leroy Van Dyke, along with bluegrass musician Rhonda Vincent, a native of Greentop.

Ragtime composer Scott Joplin lived in St. Louis and Sedalia.

Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker lived in Kansas City.

Rock and Roll singer Steve Walsh of the group Kansas lived in St. Joseph

The Kansas City Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are the state's major orchestras. The latter is the nation's second-oldest symphony orchestra and achieved prominence in recent years under conductor Leonard Slatkin.

Branson is well known for its music theaters, most of which bear the name of a star performer or musical group. These facilities have made Branson one of America's most popular tourist destinations..

Literature

Missouri is the native state of Mark Twain. His novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are set in his boyhood hometown of Hannibal.

Kansas City-born writer William Least Heat-Moon currently resides in Rocheport. He is best known for Blue Highways, a chronicle of his travels to small towns across America. The book was on the New York Times Bestseller list for nearly a year in 1982-1983.

Famed authors Kate Chopin, T.S. Eliot, and Tennessee Williams were all from St. Louis.

Film

Filmmaker, animator, and businessman Walt Disney spent part of his childhood in the Linn County town of Marceline before moving to Kansas City, Missouri. Disney began his artistic career in Kansas City, where he founded the Laugh-O-Gram Studio.

Several Film versions of Mark Twain's novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been made.

Meet Me in St. Louis, a musical involving the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, starred Judy Garland.

Part of the 1983 road movie National Lampoon's Vacation was shot on location in Missouri, for the Griswold's trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Thanksgiving holiday favorite Planes, Trains, and Automobiles was partially shot at Lambert–St. Louis International Airport.

White Palace was filmed in St. Louis.

The award-winning 2010 film Winter's Bone was shot in the Ozarks of Missouri.

Up in the Air starring George Clooney was filmed in St. Louis.

John Carpernter's Escape from New York was filmed in Saint Louis in the early eighties, due to the high number of abandoned buildings in the city.

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
• NFL: Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Rams
• NHL: St. Louis Blues
• Major Indoor Soccer League: St. Louis Steamers and Kansas City Comets
• Arena Football: Kansas City Command 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)
  • St. Louis Tribe (Independent, MSBL National League)
  • Sikeston Bulls (Independent, KIT League)
  • Hannibal Cavemen (Prospect League) Kansas City T-bones (Kansas City)
• Ice Hockey:
  • St. Louis Chill (Central 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 from Cincinnati in 1972; moved to Sacramento in 1985 and are now the Sacramento Kings; prior to locating in Kansas City, they were known as the Cincinnati Royals)
• American Basketball Association
  • Spirits of St. Louis, (franchise played its home games in St. Louis from 1974 through 1976; franchise folded when the ABA merged with the NBA):
• Major League Soccer:
  • Kansas City Wizards (Played in Kansas City, MO from 1996-2007, moved to Kansas City, KS and in 2010 became Sporting Kansas City)
• 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)
• Women's Professional Soccer:
  • Saint Louis Athletica (franchise folded in June 2010)
• Continental Basketball Association:
  • Teams in Kansas City and St. Louis

Naval vessels

Four 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 Template:Sclass- in service from 1900 to 1922
• USS Missouri (BB-63), an Template:Sclass- in service from 1944 to 1998; site of the official Japanese surrender of World War II; decommissioned in 1998; now a floating war memorial at Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii
• USS Missouri (SSN-780), a Template:Sclass-, joined the fleet after a commissioning ceremony July 31, 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. 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.

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.

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".

There is no official state nickname. However, the official state motto is "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto", Latin for "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law."

Wildlife

Missouri is home to a diversity of both flora and fauna. There is a large amount of fresh water present due to the Mississippi River, Missouri River, and Lake of the Ozarks, with numerous smaller tributary rivers, streams, and lakes. North of the Missouri River, the state is primarily rolling hills of the Great Plains, whereas south of the Missouri River, the state is dominated by the Oak-Hickory Central U.S. hardwood forest.

Some of the native species found in Missouri include:,

Mammals

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• Opossum
• Nine-banded armadillo
• Muskrat
• Beaver
• Eastern mole
• Little brown bat
• Big brown bat
• Mexican free-tailed bat
• Silver-haired bat
• Least shrew
• American short-tailed shrew
• Southern bog lemming
• Meadow vole
• Woodland vole

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• Hispid pocket mouse
• Meadow jumping mouse
• Plains harvest mouse
• Deer mouse
• Hispid cotton rat
• Eastern woodrat
• Marsh rice rat
• Plains pocket gopher
• American red squirrel
• Southern flying squirrel
• Gray squirrel
• Eastern chipmunk
• Thirteen-lined ground squirrel
• Woodchuck
• Eastern cottontail

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• Badger
• Raccoon
• Spotted skunk
• Striped skunk
• Long-tailed weasel
• American mink
• River otter
• Red fox
• Gray fox
• Coyote
• American black bear
• Cougar
• Bobcat
• White-tailed deer

Template:Multicol-end Within historic times, pronghorn, gray wolf, and brown bear were all found in Missouri, but have since been eliminated. Wapiti and American bison were formerly common, but are currently confined to private farms and parks.

Birds

Year-round: Template:Multicol

• Pied-billed Grebe
• Great Blue Heron
• Canada Goose
• Mallard
• Wood Duck
• Killdeer
• Common Snipe
• American Woodcock
• Turkey Vulture
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Cooper's Hawk
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• American Kestrel
• Northern Harrier
• Northern Bobwhite
• Wild Turkey
• Ring-necked Pheasant
• Rock Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Belted Kingfisher

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• Barn Owl
• Barred Owl
• Great Horned Owl
• Short-eared Owl
• Long-eared Owl
• Eastern Screech Owl
• Northern Saw-whet Owl
• Horned Lark
• Common Crow
• Blue Jay
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Carolina Chickadee
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Tufted Titmouse

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• Northern Mockingbird
• Loggerhead Shrike
• American Robin
• Eastern Bluebird
• Pine Warbler
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Red-winged Blackbird
• European Starling
• Common Grackle
• Northern Cardinal
• American Goldfinch
• Rufous-sided Towhee
• Song Sparrow
• Field Sparrow
• House Sparrow
• Carolina Wren
• Bewick's Wren
• Wood Thrush
• Brown Thrasher

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Summer/breeders: Template:Multicol

• Green-backed Heron
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• Little Blue Heron
• American Bittern
• Least Bittern
• Great Egret
• Cattle Egret
• White Ibis
• White-faced Ibis
• Virginia Rail
• King Rail
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Upland Sandpiper
• Sora
• Common Moorhen
• American Coot
• Northern Pintail
• Northern Shoveler
• Blue-winged Teal
• Hooded Merganser
• Least Tern
• Black Tern
• Black Vulture
• Mississippi Kite
• Broad-winged Hawk

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• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Black-billed Cuckoo
• Common Nighthawk
• Chimney Swift
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• American White Pelican
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Chuck-will's-widow
• Whip-poor-will
• Eastern Kingbird
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Eastern Phoebe
• Great Crested Flycatcher
• Eastern Wood-pewee
• Willow Flycatcher
• Least Flycatcher
• Acadian Flycatcher
• Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
• Scarlet Tanager
• Summer Tanager
• Barn Swallow
• Tree Swallow
• Bank Swallow
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Cliff Swallow

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• Purple Martin
• House Wren
• Carolina Wren
• Gray Catbird
• Brown Thrasher
• Wood Thrush
• Warbling Vireo
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Yellow-throated Vireo
• Bell's Vireo
• Black and White Warbler
• Prothonotary Warbler
• Blue-winged Warbler
• Northern Parula
• Cerulean Warbler
• Prairie Warbler
• Pine Warbler
• Yellow Warbler
• Yellow-throated Warbler
• Kentucky Warbler
• Hooded Warbler
• Hooded Warbler
• Worm-eating Warbler
• Louisiana Waterthrush
• Ovenbird
• American Redstart

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• Baltimore Oriole
• Orchard Oriole
• Northern Oriole
• Common Yellowthroat
• Yellow-breasted Chat
• Bobolink
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Blue Grosbeak
• Indigo Bunting
• Painted Bunting
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak
• Black-headed Grosbeak
• Blue Grosbeak
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Savannah Sparrow
• Lark Sparrow
• Chipping Sparrow
• Henslow's Sparrow
• Vesper Sparrow
• Fish Crow
• House Wren
• Marsh Wren
• Sedge Wren
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Dickcissel

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Winter residents: Template:Multicol

• Green-winged Teal
• Black Duck
• Gadwall
• Ruddy Duck
• Canvasback
• Redhead
• Ring-necked Duck
• Lesser Scaup
• Bufflehead
• Common Goldeneye
• Herring Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Bald Eagle
• Golden Eagle
• Rough-legged Hawk
• Merlin
• Ruffed Grouse
• Greater Prairie Chicken
• Brown Creeper
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• Winter Wren

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• Hermit Thrush
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
• Cedar Waxwing
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• American Tree Sparrow
• American Pipit
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Purple Finch
• Evening Grosbeak
• Red Crossbill
• White-throated Sparrow
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Fox Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• Cedar Waxwing
• Lapland Longspur
• Snow Bunting
• Rusty Blackbird
• Brewer's Blackbird
• Pine Siskin

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Reptiles and amphibians

Reptiles: Template:Multicol

• Alligator snapping turtle
• Snapping turtle
• Stinkpot
• Eastern mud turtle
• Northern map turtle
• False map turtle
• Eastern box turtle
• Western box turtle
• Painted turtle
• Blanding's Turtle
• Red-eared slider
• Chicken turtle
• Smooth softshell turtle
• Spiny softshell turtle
• Collared lizard
• Texas horned lizard

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• Eastern fence lizard
• Coal skink
• Broadhead skink
• Ground skink
• Five-lined skink
• Six-lined racerunner
• Slender glass lizard
• Western worm snake
• Black racer
• Ringneck snake
• Scarlet snake
• Mud snake
• Corn snake
• Rat snake
• Fox snake
• Milk snake

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• Eastern hognose snake
• Common kingsnake
• Coachwhip
• Smooth green snake
• Northern water snake
• Diamondback water snake
• Plain-bellied water snake
• Bullsnake
• Graham's crayfish snake
• Common garter snake
• Cottonmouth
• Copperhead
• Western pygmy rattlesnake
• Timber rattlesnake
• Massasauga

Template:Multicol-end

Amphibians: Template:Multicol

• Mudpuppy
• Lesser siren
• Hellbender
• Spotted salamander
• Marbled salamander
• Tiger salamander
• Dusky salamander
• Long-tailed salamander
• Red back salamander
• Four-toed salamander
• Eastern newt
• Eastern spadefoot toad
• Plains spadefoot toad
• Fowler's toad
• Great Plains toad
• Common toad
• Woodhouse's toad
• Eastern American toad

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• Eastern narrow-mouthed toad
• Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad
• Striped chorus frog
• Upland Chorus Frog
• Illinois chorus frog
• Blanchard's cricket frog
• Northern cricket frog
• Northern spring peeper
• Gray tree frog
• Green tree frog
• Green frog
• Bullfrog
• Pickerel frog
• Wood frog
• Northern leopard frog
• Southern leopard frog
• Plains leopard frog
• Crawfish frog

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Fish

Template:Multicol

• Bull shark
• Lamprey
• Paddlefish
• Longnose gar
• Mooneye
• Bowfin
• Herring
• American eel
• Northern pike
• Rainbow trout

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• Carp
• Fathead minnow
• Channel catfish
• Trout-perch
• Livebearer
• Striped bass
• Largemouth bass
• Bluegill
• Walleye
• Yellow perch

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Mollusks

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• Stagnant Pond Snail
• Eastern Mystery Snail
• Common Tadpole Snail
• Three-Whorled Ram's Horn
• Pearl Mussel

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• Asiatic Clam
• Filter Mussel
• Striped Forest Snail
• White-lipped Forest Snail

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Trees and shrubs

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• Shortleaf pine
• Loblolly pine
• Scotch pine
• Eastern redcedar
• Pawpaw
• Cucumbertree
• Sassafras
• American Sycamore
• Sweetgum
• Hackberry
• American elm
• Osage-orange
• Red mulberry
• Black walnut
• White walnut
• Shagbark hickory
• Bitternut hickory
• Pecan
• American chestnut
• American beech
• Northern red oak

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• Pin oak
• Scarlet oak
• Willow oak
• Blackjack oak
• White oak
• Chestnut oak
• Bur oak
• Post oak
• River birch
• American basswood
• American hornbeam
• Black willow
• Sandbar willow
• Peachleaf willow
• American willow
• Eastern cottonwood
• Sweet crabapple
• Sourwood
• American persimmon
• American plum
• Black cherry

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• Eastern redbud
• Black locust
• Honey locust
• Kentucky coffeetree
• American holly
• Possumhaw
• Flowering dogwood
• Carolina buckthorn
• Ohio buckeye
• Sugar maple
• Silver maple
• Boxelder
• Staghorn sumac
• White ash
• Prairie rose
• American hazel
• Highbush blueberry
• Poison sumac
• Nannyberry
• Buttonbush
• Honeysuckle

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Insect migrations

There has also been a migration of insects from the south to Missouri. One example of this is the wasp Polistes exclamans.

Famous Missourians

See entire collection at List of people from Missouri.

See also

• Outline of Missouri – organized list of topics about Missouri
• Index of Missouri-related articles
• List of people from Missouri

Notes

1. Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
2. Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
3. Official records for St. Louis were kept at the Weather Bureau Office from January 1874 to December 1892, Eads Bridge from January 1893 to December 1929, and at Lambert–St. Louis Int'l since January 1930.

References

1. "Metropolitan Area Rankings; ranked by population" (Microsoft Excel). Census. US. 2000. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
2. ^ "Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012" (CSV). 2012 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
3. ^ "Elevations and Distances in the United States". United States Geological Survey. 2001. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
4. Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
5. http://www.moga.state.mo.us/statutes/C000-099/0100000095.HTM
6. http://www.census.gov/const/regionmap.pdf
8. "Introduction to Missouri – The Show Me State Capital Jefferson City". Netstate.com. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
9. "Pony Express National Historic Trail".
10. Centers of Population for the 2010 Census, U.S. Census Bureau
11. McCafferty, Michael. 2004. speech/v079/79.1mccafferty.html "Correction: Etymology of Missouri" (restricted access), American Speech, 79.1:32
12. "Missouri", American Heritage Dictionary
13. ^ Wheaton, Sarah (October 13, 2012). "Missouree? Missouruh? To Be Politic, Say Both". The New York Times. pp. A1. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
14. Missouri - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam-webster.com (August 31, 2012). Retrieved on July 21, 2013.
15. ^ Lance, Donald M. (2003). "The Pronunciation of Missouri: Variation and Change in American English". American Speech. 78 (3): 255–284. doi:10.1215/00031283-78-3-255. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
16. Oxford English Dictionary
17. "Missouri pronunciation". Forvo.com. 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
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19. "UNC-CH surveys reveal where the 'real' South lies". Unc.edu. June 2, 1999. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
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21. "Missouri's Karst Wonderland – Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites, DNR". Mostateparks.com. June 6, 2008. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
22. "Income Inequality in Missouri". Ded.mo.gov. December 21, 2001. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
23. ThreadEx
24. "Station Name: MO ST LOUIS LAMBERT INTL AP". U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
25. "NowData – NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
26. "WMO Climate Normals for ST. LOUIS/LAMBERT, MO 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
27. "Historical UV Index Data - St. Louis, MO". UV Index Today. Retrieved April 22, 2023.

28. Climate data for St. Louis, Missouri (Lambert–St. Louis Int'l), 1991−2020 normals, extremes 1874−present
    Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
    Record high °F (°C)	77 (25)	85 (29)	92 (33)	93 (34)	98 (37)	108 (42)	115 (46)	110 (43)	104 (40)	94 (34)	86 (30)	76 (24)	115 (46)
    Mean maximum °F (°C)	64.7 (18.2)	71.0 (21.7)	79.4 (26.3)	86.4 (30.2)	90.4 (32.4)	95.5 (35.3)	99.2 (37.3)	99.1 (37.3)	93.4 (34.1)	87.0 (30.6)	75.5 (24.2)	66.9 (19.4)	100.7 (38.2)
    Mean daily maximum °F (°C)	40.4 (4.7)	45.8 (7.7)	56.6 (13.7)	68.0 (20.0)	77.1 (25.1)	85.9 (29.9)	89.6 (32.0)	88.3 (31.3)	81.1 (27.3)	69.2 (20.7)	55.5 (13.1)	44.5 (6.9)	66.8 (19.3)
    Daily mean °F (°C)	32.1 (0.1)	36.7 (2.6)	46.6 (8.1)	57.5 (14.2)	67.5 (19.7)	76.5 (24.7)	80.4 (26.9)	78.8 (26.0)	71.0 (21.7)	59.1 (15.1)	46.5 (8.1)	36.5 (2.5)	57.4 (14.1)
    Mean daily minimum °F (°C)	23.8 (−4.6)	27.6 (−2.4)	36.7 (2.6)	47.0 (8.3)	57.9 (14.4)	67.2 (19.6)	71.1 (21.7)	69.3 (20.7)	60.9 (16.1)	49.1 (9.5)	37.4 (3.0)	28.5 (−1.9)	48.0 (8.9)
    Mean minimum °F (°C)	4.4 (−15.3)	9.6 (−12.4)	17.8 (−7.9)	32.2 (0.1)	43.5 (6.4)	55.5 (13.1)	61.4 (16.3)	60.1 (15.6)	47.1 (8.4)	33.6 (0.9)	22.0 (−5.6)	11.0 (−11.7)	1.2 (−17.1)
    Record low °F (°C)	−22 (−30)	−18 (−28)	−5 (−21)	20 (−7)	31 (−1)	43 (6)	51 (11)	47 (8)	32 (0)	21 (−6)	1 (−17)	−16 (−27)	−22 (−30)
    Average precipitation inches (mm)	2.59 (66)	2.23 (57)	3.50 (89)	4.73 (120)	4.82 (122)	4.49 (114)	3.93 (100)	3.38 (86)	2.96 (75)	3.15 (80)	3.42 (87)	2.50 (64)	41.70 (1,059)
    Average snowfall inches (cm)	5.7 (14)	4.3 (11)	2.3 (5.8)	0.2 (0.51)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.9 (2.3)	3.2 (8.1)	16.6 (42)
    Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in)	9.3	8.7	10.8	11.5	12.6	9.8	8.9	8.4	7.3	8.5	9.0	9.0	113.8
    Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in)	4.7	3.9	1.7	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	3.2	14.5
    Average relative humidity (%)	73.0	72.0	68.3	63.5	66.5	67.1	68.0	70.0	71.6	68.7	72.2	75.8	69.7
    Average dew point °F (°C)	20.1 (−6.6)	24.1 (−4.4)	33.1 (0.6)	42.3 (5.7)	52.9 (11.6)	62.1 (16.7)	66.6 (19.2)	65.1 (18.4)	58.6 (14.8)	46.0 (7.8)	36.0 (2.2)	25.5 (−3.6)	44.4 (6.9)
    Mean monthly sunshine hours	161.2	158.3	198.3	223.5	266.5	291.9	308.9	269.8	236.1	208.4	140.9	129.9	2,593.7
    Percent possible sunshine	53	53	53	56	60	66	68	64	63	60	47	44	58
    Average ultraviolet index	1.7	2.7	4.5	6.4	7.9	9.0	9.1	8.2	6.3	4.0	2.3	—	—
    Source 1: NOAA (relative humidity, dew point, and sun 1961−1990)
    Source 2: UV Index Today (1995 to 2022)

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External links

• Missouri Government.
• Missouri Digital Heritage, Missouri Government.
• State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia.
• Missouri's African American History, Missouri Government.
• Missouri State Tourism Office.
• Energy & Environmental Data for Missouri, US: DoE.
• real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Missouri, USGS.
• U.S. Census Bureau
  • "Missouri", QuickFacts (geographic and demographic information), US: Census.
  • Missouri – Race and Hispanic Origin: 1810 to 1990 (PDF), US: Census, 71.1 kB.
• Missouri State Facts, USDA.
• "http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/Main_Page American Library Association Government Documents Roundtable", List of searchable databases produced by Missouri state agencies {{citation}}: External link in |title= (help).
• Template:Dmoz
• Missouri History, Geology, Culture, UM system.
• Historic Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Missouri, UM system.
• 1930 Platbooks of Missouri Counties, UM system.
• [REDACTED] Geographic data related to Missouri at OpenStreetMap
• "Totals", Population estimates, US: Census, 2011.
• "States metropolitan areas cities", Population (estimates & projections), US: Census.

v t e State of Missouri
Jefferson City (capital)
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Society	Abortion Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Gun laws LGBT rights Politics
Regions	Boonslick Bootheel Four State Area Honey Lands Lead Belt Lincoln Hills Little Dixie Loess Hills Mid-Missouri Mississippi Embayment Missouri Rhineland Northern Plains Osage Plains The Ozarks Platte Purchase Pony Express St. Francois Mountains
Metro areas	Columbia Jefferson City Joplin Kansas City Springfield St. Joseph St. Louis
Largest cities	Kansas City St. Louis Springfield Columbia Independence Lee's Summit O'Fallon St. Charles St. Joseph Blue Springs St. Peters Joplin Florissant Chesterfield Wentzville Jefferson City Cape Girardeau Wildwood University City Liberty Ballwin Kirkwood Raytown Maryland Heights Gladstone Belton Grandview Nixa Raymore
Counties and independent city	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
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38°30′N 92°30′W / 38.5°N 92.5°W / 38.5; -92.5

• Missouri
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