Introduction to History of Missouri
Missouri has been inhabited since at least 8000 B.C. Its earliest known peoples were prehistoric hunters. The Mound Builders, whose earthworks are found in many parts of the state, came several thousand years later. At the time of European exploration, the region was occupied by many Indian tribes. The most numerous and powerful were the Osage, who lived in the south and west. The Missouri, after whom the state was named, were in the north. )
Important dates in Missouri1673 Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet were probably the first Europeans to see the mouth of the Missouri River.1682 Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, claimed the Mississippi Valley, including Missouri, for France. He named the region Louisiana.c. 1735 Settlers established Missouri's first permanent white settlement, at Ste. Genevieve.1762 France gave the Louisiana region to Spain.1764 Pierre Laclede Liguest and Rene Auguste Chouteau established St. Louis.1800 Spain returned the Louisiana region to France.1803 France sold the Louisiana region to the United States.1812 The U.S. Congress made Missouri a territory.1815 Indian attacks on Missouri settlements ended when the Indians and United States government officials signed a peace treaty at Portage des Sioux.1821 Missouri became the 24th state on August 10.1837 Missouri gained its six northwestern counties as a result of the Platte Purchase.1854 Border warfare began between antislavery Kansans and proslavery Missourians.1861-1865 Missouri became a battleground during the American Civil War.1904 The Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held in St. Louis.1931 Bagnell Dam on the Osage River was completed, forming the Lake of the Ozarks.1945-1953 Harry S. Truman of Independence became the 33rd president of the United States.1965 The last section of the stainless steel Gateway Arch was put in place in St. Louis. The nation's tallest monument, it is 630 feet (192 meters) high.1993 Disastrous flooding in the Midwest caused billions of dollars in damage to Missouri crops and property.French and Spanish Rule
The Missouri River, around which early development of the present state centered, was discovered by French explorers Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette in 1673. The territory became part of Louisiana when Sieur de La Salle claimed the Mississippi Valley for France in 1682.
A Jesuit mission established in 1700 at the future site of St. Louis was short-lived. So also was the outpost, at the juncture of the Missouri and Grand rivers, built by Étienne Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, in 1723. Fur trading developed as French trappers moved into the river basin. The mining of lead was begun about 1723, and led to the founding of the first permanent settlement, Ste. Genevieve, in 1735.
Although Louisiana west of the Mississippi River became officially Spanish in 1762, it remained French in character. St. Louis was established as a fur-trading post in 1764, and was settled by French families from Canada and from Louisiana east of the Mississippi, which had become British in 1763. After the Revolutionary War Spain encouraged settlement by colonists from the United States. One of these was Daniel Boone, who in 1799 moved with his family to the Missouri Valley about 30 miles (48 km) west of St. Louis.
Gateway to the West
The United States purchased Louisiana in 1803, and divided it into two regions—the Territory of Orleans to the south, and the District (later Territory) of Louisiana to the north. The Missouri River was the natural pathway to the still-unexplored northern division. In 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedition ascended the river on its historic journey to the Northwest. Fort Osage was established by William Clark in 1808 on the Missouri about 22 miles (35 km) east of the mouth of the Kansas River.
In 1812 the Territory of Louisiana was renamed Missouri Territory. The lower Missouri Valley applied for statehood in 1817. This touched off a congressional debate about the extension of slavery that ended with the Missouri Compromise of 1820. In 1821 Missouri was admitted to the Union as a state in which slavery was permitted. It was the 24th state to be admitted, and the first west of the Mississippi River. The boundaries were the same as now, except in the northwest corner. The capital was at St. Charles until 1826, when it was moved to Jefferson City. In 1837 the state's western boundary line was extended in the north to the Missouri River, after purchase from the Indians of this tract, called the Platte Purchase.
The fur trade begun by the French was actively developed by the Americans. Until the Civil War St. Louis was the major outfitting place and market for the fur trappers working up the Missouri Valley and in the Rocky Mountains.
Trade between the United States and the Spanish Southwest was prohibited by Spain. In 1821, when Mexico became independent, an overland route was established from the Missouri River town of Franklin to Santa Fe. Later the starting point was moved westward to Independence, and then to Westport Landing (Kansas City). After 1842 the trail to Oregon, which branched off the Santa Fe Trail, became the overland route to the west coast. In 1860 St. Joseph, end of railway lines from Chicago, became the eastern terminus of the Pony Express.
Civil War Period
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) set off a Missouri-Kansas border war, as pro- and anti-slavery groups tried to win influence over Kansas. Pro-slavery Missourians, called “border ruffians," made armed raids over the border, and Kansas abolitionists retaliated. The fighting was largely stopped in 1859, but only two years later Missouri again was torn by conflict when the Civil War began.
Although Missouri permitted slavery, it did not secede from the Union. At the start of the Civil War, Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, who favored the South, was deposed by Union troops. This action led to the first land battle of the war, fought at Boonville in June, 1861. It was followed in August by a major engagement at Wilson's Creek (near Springfield). Missouri was harassed throughout the war by Confederate guerrilla bands such as Quantrill's Raiders.
Later Development
After the war, Missouri entered a long period of recovery and readjustment. The Radical Republicans held power briefly, but were displaced by the Democrats, who won the election of 1872 and remained the dominant political force during the last quarter of the 19th century.
When the rivers were the main routes and steamboats the chief mode of transportation, Missouri had close ties with New Orleans and the South. However, as railways were extended and steamboating declined, the state became more closely allied with the North and the East. St. Louis and Kansas City grew into large industrial cities. Many European immigrants were attracted to these new manufacturing centers. Wages remained low, however, and there was widespread industrial unrest, with workers striking to demand reforms. There also was much rural discontent. Although improved farming methods were adopted and production increased, farmers did not become prosperous.
In the early years of the 20th century, the reform administrations of governors Joseph W. Folk (1905–09) and Herbert W. Hadley (1909–13) sponsored many progressive measures. The direct primary, the initiative, and the referendum were enacted. Monopolies were prosecuted. Railroads were placed under stricter controls, and public utilities and child labor were regulated.
The first two decades of the 20th century were prosperous. In the early 1920's, however, farm prices fell drastically, and the state's agriculture was plunged into depression. A decade later, the Great Depression caused widespread economic hardship. During this period, the state set up welfare programs to aid the needy and expanded its public works programs.
World War II brought diversification of industry and a general prosperity. During the war, the first Missourian to become President, Harry S. Truman, took office. In the mid-20th century, the long-depressed Ozark region of the south emerged as a vacation area. The damming of rivers for flood control created large artificial lakes that became recreation centers.
In 1973, many sections of the state were inundated by the waters of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in the worst floods in Missouri's history. This flooding was surpassed by the Great Flood of 1993, in which 24 persons died, 1.7 million acres (688,000 hectares) were flooded, and damages to property and crops totaled $2.7 billion.
In the 1970's, Missouri's urban populations, primarily in the middle-class, began to move to the suburbs. The larger cities, such as Kansas City and St. Louis, suffered both from loss of financial support as well as inadequate public transportation and rising levels of crime. Downtown redevelopment programs began in an effort to attract tourists and new businesses. Farm equipment production and expanded factories helped the state's economy stay strong through the late 1990's and into the early 2000's. Tourism then became a billion-dollar industry for the state; St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield hosted many conventions, while the Ozarks and nearby Branson attracted vacationers.
Environmental problems arose in the early 1980's through the 1990's; runoff, the discovery of toxic chemicals in fish, and groundwater contamination all plagued the Missouri landscape throughout the state. In Times Beach, near St. Louis, poisonous dioxin was found; the U.S. government bought the homes and businesses located there and finished cleanup in 1997. The land was then turned over to the state, and Route 66 State Park was established.