Missouri
State in central USA; nicknamed Show Me State/Bullion State
Area:
180,600 sq km/69,712 sq mi
Capital:
Jefferson City
Towns and Cities:
St Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, Independence
Physical:
Ozark Mountains and the Lake of the Ozarks; Missouri and Mississippi
rivers; Mark Twain National Forest
Features:
St Louis, with the Gateway Arch (1966, 192 m/630 ft high), in Jefferson
National Expansion Memorial Park, St Louis Art Museum, the Cathedral
of St Louis, the world headquarters of Anheuser- Busch (makers of Budweiser
beer), and the St Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame; Wilson's Creek National
Battlefield; the Pony Express National Memorial, and the birthplace
of Jesse James, in St Joseph; Ste Genevieve, the oldest permanent settlement
in Missouri, with 18th-century Creole architecture ; the Carver National
Monument, the birthplace of George Washington Carver; the Mark Twain
home and museum, Hannibal; Missouri Town (1855), in Blue Springs; the
Laura Ingalls Wilder home, Mansfield; Harry S Truman library and museum,
and the Truman home, at Independence; Fulton, site of Winston Churchill's
`Iron Curtainī speech (1946), with collection of Churchilliana in the
Church of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, bombed in London during
World War II and reassembled at Fulton; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,
Kansas City, a fine collection of Asian art; St Louis Symphony Orchestra;
`Bible Beltī centred on Springfield
Products:
Meat and other processed food, aerospace and transport equipment, lead,
zinc
Population:
(1995) 5,323,500
Famous People:
George Washington Carver, T S Eliot, Jesse James, Joseph Pulitzer,
Harry S Truman, Mark Twain
History:
Explored by Hernando de Soto for Spain in 1541; acquired by the USA
under the Louisiana Purchase (1803); became a state in 1821, following
the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Missouri remained part of the
Union during the American Civil War, although strong sympathy
for both sides existed. Many battles and skirmishes fostered a
general lawlessness that continued in the postwar exploits of
such bandits as Jesse and Frank James. While St Louis was eclipsed
by Chicago as the commercial centre of the Midwest, Kansas City
benefited from the growth of the railroads. Increasingly urbanized
and industrialized in the 20th century, Missouri is second to
Michigan in producing cars and ranks high in aerospace production.
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