Missouri is the 18th most populous and 21st largest of the 50 US states. It is located in the United States’ Midwestern region. On August 10, 1821, the state was granted statehood, making it the 24th state to join the union. Missouri has 114 counties and is known as the “Show-Me State.” Jefferson City is the state capital, which is situated in the center of the state. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the interesting facts about Missouri.
MO is the abbreviation for Missouri. It was named after the Missouris, a Sioux Indian tribe. The word “town of the large canoes” is frequently mistranslated as “muddy water.” It is the 18th most populous state, with a population of 6,137,428 people (as of 2019). Let us learn more about Missouri’s history, geography, people, economy, and more with some interesting facts about Missouri.
Check out our list of the 10 interesting facts about Missouri
1. The world’s first ready-made pancake mix was invented in Missouri.
There was a surplus of flour in St. Joseph, Missouri, around the close of the nineteenth century. Two enterprising young people from St Joseph’s had an idea that would transform the breakfast food game forever.
They used flour, baking powder, cornflour, and salt, among other simple and affordable items. Then they marketed it as a self-rising pancake mix, making it the world’s first commercially available pancake mix. Aunt Jemima’s Pancake Mix was introduced to the market in 1889.
2. Missouri doesn’t actually translate into “muddy water.”
For a long time, people have claimed that Missouri roughly translates to “muddy water,” but this is incorrect. Instead, the state of Missouri was named after the Siouan tribe Missouri. The most likely explanation for Missouri’s translation is that it was given by neighboring tribes who spoke a Miami-Illinois language. “Those who have dugout canoes,” it roughly translates.
3. Missouri does not have an official pronunciation.
Missouri isn’t an outlier when it comes to this idea, but it takes it to a whole new level. Missouri is the only state in the United States where there is no single correct pronunciation. Missouri residents say “Missoor-ee,” “Mussour-ah,” and even “Mizzoor-ee” when referring to their home state.
Linguists have spent a long time trying to figure out why people pronounce the state differently, and they’ve come up with no logical explanation.
4. The first Europeans to reach Missouri were the French.
Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit priest, and Louis Jolliet, an explorer, were the first Europeans to cross through what is now known as Missouri. They left Michigan on canoes with only five other men in 1673. They went down the Mississippi River to within 435 miles (700 kilometers) of the Gulf of Mexico before turning around.
5. Missourians fought on both sides of the Civil War.
When a number of southern US states begin secession from the Union in 1861, Missouri formed a committee to decide the state’s fate, whether to remain in the Union or join the Confederate states. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of remaining in the Union, but Missouri Governor Claiborne F. Jackson disagreed.
Instead, he chose Sterling Price, the president of the secession conference, as the state’s militia commander and prepared to battle for the cause. After departing Jefferson City, the two and their followers fought the Union army with Confederate troops from Arkansas and Texas.
6. Mark Twain was born in Missouri.
On November 30, 1835, he was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, and it was later in life that he adopted the name Mark Twain for his writing career. Twain was born in the Missouri village of Florida but grew up in the nearby town of Hannibal.
Twain worked for a few modest news outlets in his early years before quitting everything to become a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River for 18 months. He didn’t write his masterpieces until much later in life, after the Civil War, and based them largely on his own experiences on the Mississippi River.
7. Missouri was hit by the deadliest tornado (Tri-State tornado) in US history.
Missouri is smack center in the middle of Tornado Alley, a stretch of the central United States that runs north to south and sees more than its fair share of violent thunderstorms and tornadoes all year.
With that in mind, it’s hardly surprising that Missouri was the site of the deadliest tornado ever recorded in the US. On March 18, 1925, a catastrophic force known as the Tri-State Tornado erupted near Ellington, Missouri.
8. Missouri’s geography altered a lot before it became a state in the United States.
The French and Indian War broke out shortly after France established St. Genevieve, which France eventually lost to Britain in 1763. Near the end of the war, France handed up the authority of the Louisiane to Spain, which continued to develop the territory with the help of French immigrants fleeing British rule.
In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte retook possession of Missouri for France, but in 1803 he sold it to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Missouri became a part of the District of Louisiana in 1804, which became Louisiana Territory in 1805. It wasn’t until August 10, 1821, that Missouri joined the Union as the 24th state.
9. St. Louis, Missouri hosted the first Olympic Games in the United States.
It was the first time the Olympics were held outside of Europe, and it took place in 1904. The games were originally scheduled to take place in Chicago, but St. Louis caused such a commotion that the Olympic committee decided to relocate them.
Only 65 of the 651 participants were from outside of North America, resulting in a very North American Olympic Games.
10. Missouri has a few laws that are simply weird.
The “brothel law,” which specifies that no more than four unrelated women can stay in the same house, is the first bizarre law. We can see how this regulation came to be, despite the fact that it was never revoked. Furthermore, it is illegal in Missouri to intoxicate elephants, scare babies, or honk another person’s horn.
Missouri is a really lovely state to live in or visit these days, with some amazing national parks and vibrant cities. The state has a lot of history attached to it. Some of the interesting facts about Missouri are mentioned above. We hope you like this article. Please leave your feedback in the comment section below.
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