Missouri History

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.

A conversation with Chief Geoffrey M. Standing Bear of the Osage Nation, based in Pawhuska, Oklahoma

At a time when the nations of Europe were competing for global control of trade and land, the New World offered the ideal opportunity to fill European coffers and expand their empires. The only problem was that someone already lived here.

Looking for more reading on the Osage and Missouria tribes? Parts 2 and 3 of our special series are forthcoming in September and October, but in the mean time we highly recommend this selection of books that cover the subject.