Treaty of Fontainebleau

On November 13, 1762, Spain gained the Louisiana Territory from France in the Treaty of Fontainebleau. 


Kansas City Missouri

August 13, 1801

On this date the “Mother of Kansas City” was born. Bernice Therese Menard Chouteau and her husband Francois Chouteau came from St. Louis to establish a trading post in 1821. They were the first white settlers in what is now Kansas City.


June 10, 1804

Lewis and Clark spent this day walking the prairies of central Missouri. They wrote of being impressed with the combination of good soil, grass, and an abundance of wild fruit near present day New Cambridge.  


May 14, 1804

The Lewis and Clark Expedition (the Voyage of Discovery) left St. Louis to explore the unknown west.  


April 30, 1803

The treaty that authorized the Louisiana Purchase was signed on this date in Paris.


Robert De La Salle Louisiana Territory

April 9, 1682

Robert de La Salle took possession of this Louisiana Territory, which included modern day Missouri, for France and named the area for King Louis XIV.


De Le Salle

March 19, 1687

The French explorer Robert de La Salle, who expeditioned in Missouri and the Mississippi Valley, was murdered on this date by mutineers.


Meriwether Lewis

February 28, 1803

Congress set aside money on this date for a small military unit to explore the valleys of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers. Thomas Jefferson chose a childhood friend, Meriwether Lewis, to head the expedition.