Missouri History

In early America, taverns were as ubiquitous as churches; every town had at least one. In Arrow Rock, that tavern was owned by a man named Joseph Huston. A founding father of the town, he arrived in Missouri in 1819, and helped transform the settlement into a thriving village where the Missouri River and the Santa Fe Trail intersected.

From the jacket worn by Mark Twain to Truman's famous "The Buck Stops Here" sign, you can find these historical icons within the borders of the Show-Me State.

Here's how citizens of Chillicothe came together to save a historic church that was built in 1868.

Finally, on December 18, 1818, Congress heard the petition again. This marked the beginning of a long, slow grind toward eventual statehood in 1821. Between 1818 and 1821, the question of Missouri’s status was mired in a contentious debate over slavery.

Ginger Rogers was born as Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence in 1911, and she spent her early years in Independence and Kansas City. Ginger is best remembered for movies made with dancing partner Fred Astaire. She is famously credited for doing everything Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels.

Although the phrase “ghost town” might call to mind the tumbleweed-strewn roads and abandoned wooden storefronts of the Old West, ours tell a different tale. A detour through these rural locales reveals stories of a changing world and devastating acts of nature.

“There are deep things you can’t explain in English that you can in Shawnee,” he says. “It’s a spiritual language. Everything means something: the ground, the trees, the relationship of sky, water, rock. My father used to say that if you want help from the Creator, you have to speak with the language you were put here with.”

Visit these sites to learn more about the state's native heritage.

Dominated by the new US government, Missouri’s indigenous groups struggled against efforts to marginalize them—and sometimes against the indifference of their own young people. The native groups are gone from here now. But they—and their heritage—survive.

On October 27 Spirit of the Civil War, a community living history event, will truly transform downtown Lexington into its 19th century look and feel. Serving as both a reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and a community fall festival, this event has attractions that will delight visitors of every stripe.