Quilters from across the state provided blocks.

Quilt blocks representing western Missouri counties and communities across the state are featured in the Missouri Bicentennial Quilt, which is now on display for a final stop in the Kansas City area at the State Historical Society of Missouri Kansas City Research Center. The center is located at Miller Nichols Library, 800 E. 51st St., on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus.

The quilt exhibition runs through September 15. The exhibition opened with a public reception on August 2. For the six-week exhibition, the Missouri Bicentennial Quilt will be exhibited during regular visiting hours at the SHSMO Kansas City Research Center. For updated hours, please visit https://shsmo.org/visit/kansas-city 

Photo courtesy State Historical Society of Missouri

Using one block from each of Missouri’s 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis, the quilt showcases the diversity of Missouri’s culture, people, and geography. To honor Missouri’s 200 years of statehood, the State Historical Society, the Missouri Star Quilt Company, and the Missouri State Quilters Guild teamed up to find quilters for each of the individual quilt blocks. Quilters from across the state submitted 6.5 x 6.5-inch blocks to represent the county where they live or have a connection. Over the winter of 2019-2020, Missouri Star Quilt Company stitched the blocks together and gave the Missouri Bicentennial Quilt its final look. 

“Due to popular demand, we are excited to extend the tour of the Missouri Bicentennial Quilt into 2022 so more people can see it in their region before it is placed at the Missouri Quilt Museum,” said Beth Pike, Missouri Bicentennial coordinator for the State Historical Society of Missouri. “The quilt has brought many people together to tell a story of who we are and how we see ourselves and fellow Missourians in other counties. One of our goals for the bicentennial commemorations was to help start and continue that conversation across the state.”  

Following the exhibition in Kansas City, the quilt will be on long-term loan at the Missouri Quilt Museum in Hamilton. The community is also home to the Missouri Star Quilt Company, which attracts tens of thousands of tourists each year to the small town in Caldwell County, northeast of Kansas City.