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History

1673

During their voyage down the Mississippi River, Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were the first Europeans to set foot on land that would later become Missouri

1682

Explorer Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle took possession of the Louisiana Territory area for France (Apr. 9)

1724

Fort Orleans built on the north bank of the Missouri River by Etienne de Bourgmont in today’s Carroll County; it was abandoned six years later

1750

Approximate date of the founding of Ste. Genevieve, the first permanent white settlement

1762

Spain gained control of the Louisiana Territory in the Treaty of Fontainebleau (Nov. 13)

1764

City of St. Louis was founded by Pierre Laclede Liguest (Feb. 15)

1861

The Battle of Wilson’s Creek resulted in a Union retreat and southwestern Missouri was left in Confederate hands until the Battle of Pea Ridge (Aug. 10)

President Abraham Lincoln revoked John Fremont’s emancipation proclamation for Missouri (Sept. 11)

Missouri’s "Rebel Legislature" adopted an Act of Secession (Oct. 28)

1862

 In a three-day battle at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, the Union Army forced the Confederates, excluding the state guard from Missouri, to retreat; this battle effectively ended the threat of Confederate military control in Missouri (Mar. 6-8)

1863

William Clarke Quantrill and his band of pro-Southern guerillas raided the pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas, killing nearly 150 men and boys. This attack served to avenge the imprisonment of their wives, mothers, and sisters in Kansas City (Aug. 21)

Brigadier General Thomas Ewing issued General Order No. 11, requiring all people living in Jackson, Cass, Bates, and northern Vernon counties to vacate the area unless their loyalty to the Union could be proven (Aug. 25)

1864

George Washington Carver born near Diamond, Missouri

1865

Slavery was abolished in Missouri by an ordinance of immediate emancipation, making Missouri the first slave state to emancipate its slaves before the adoption of the 13^th Amendment to the US Constitution (Jan. 11)

1866

Lincoln Institute (later Lincoln University) was incorporated as an institution for black students in Missouri (Apr. 6)

The Missouri Historical Society was organized in St. Louis (Aug. 11)

1867

The Missouri Woman’s Suffrage Club was organized in St. Louis; the sole purpose of this organization was the political enfranchisement of women, the first such organization in the United States (May 8)

1870

M. Lemma Barkeloo was the first woman lawyer in Missouri (St. Louis); She was the first woman trial lawyer in the United States, and the first woman lawyer to try a case in federal court

1871

Phoebe W. Couzins of St. Louis became Missouri's first woman law school graduate when she graduated from the Washington University Law Department (May 8) Couzins later became the nation's first Woman U.S. Marshal in 1887

1872

Governor B. Gratz Brown and family moved into the newly completed Governor’s Mansion (Jan. 20)

1873

The Missouri Supreme Court upheld a decision by the St. Louis Circuit Court, denying Virginia Minor the right to register to vote

1873

Susan Blow opened the first public kindergarten in the United States in St. Louis

1874

The first train robbery by the James Gang took place at Gads Hill (Jan. 31)

1874

The Eads Bridge, spanning the Mississippi River, was opened in St. Louis (Jul. 4)

1875

Grasshopper plague in Missouri caused an estimated $15 million worth of damages

1875

Missouri’s third Constitution was adopted (Oct. 30)

1881

Governor Thomas Crittenden offered a $5000 reward for the arrest and conviction of members of the Jesse James gang (Jul. 28)

1882

Jesse James was killed by Bob Ford in St. Joseph (Apr. 3)

1891

St. Louis’ Wainwright Building, one of America’s first skyscrapers, was designed by Louis Sullivan

1894

The American School of Osteopathy was incorporated by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still in Kirksville (Oct. 30)

1898

Volunteers for the Spanish-American War began arriving in St. Louis (May 4)

1899

Scott Joplin's "The Maple Leaf Rag" was published in Sedalia, Missouri

The State Historical Society of Missouri was incorporated in Columbia (Mar. 9)

1901

The first State Fair held at Sedalia opened (Sept. 9)

1901

The Monsanto Company was founded in St. Louis (Nov. 29)

1904

The 1904 World’s Fair opened in St. Louis (Apr. 30)

1907

The primary election law was adopted in Missouri

1909

Missouri Supreme Court handed down a decision in the case against Standard Oil Company, affirming the company’s violation of Missouri antitrust laws

1911

Missouri State Capitol was completely destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning (Feb. 5)

1913

Direct election of senators was authorized; previously, US senators from Missouri were elected by the General Assembly

1919

Governor Frederick D. Gardner signed a law granting presidential suffrage to women (Apr. 5)

Missouri became the eleventh state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment granting suffrage to women (Jul. 2)

1920

The Nineteenth Amendment was added to the U. S. Constitution on August 26.  Marie Byrum became the first woman to vote in Missouri history (Aug. 31)

1921

The Centennial Road Law, providing for the construction of a modern system of Missouri highways, was signed into law (Aug. 4)

1922

Mellcene T. Smith and Sarah Lucille Turner became the first women elected to the Missouri state legislature (Nov. 7)

1927

Charles Lindbergh landed the "Spirit of St. Louis" in Paris (May 21)

1931

A bill creating the Missouri State Highway Patrol was signed by Governor Henry S. Caulfield (Apr. 24)

1931

Bagnell Dam was completed, forming the Lake of the Ozarks, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world with approximately 1400 miles of shoreline

1933

William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, was opened to the public in Kansas City

1936

Thomas Hart Benton painted A Social History of Missouri in the State Capitol Building's House Lounge

1937

The first Missouri Conservation Commission was appointed (Jul. 1)

1938

The United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Lloyd Gaines case. The court struck a blow to Missouri’s "separate but equal" laws, stating that in the absence of an equal law school for black students, Gaines should be admitted to the University of Missouri law school (Dec. 12)

1939

Kansas City "Boss" Tom Pendergast was sentenced to fifteen months in the federal penitentiary for income tax evasion (May 22)

1939

The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was organized by J.S. McDonnell; it merged with Douglas to form McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation in 1967

1940

The Ellis Fischel State Cancer Center was opened in Columbia, becoming the first state-owned and operated hospital west of the Mississippi River devoted exclusively to the care of cancer patients

1945

The Missouri Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Kraemer v. Shelley St. Louis housing segregation case

1945

Missouri’s fourth, and current, Constitution became effective (Mar. 30)

1945

U.S. Vice President Harry S Truman, from Independence, became President upon the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Apr. 12)

Japan signed documents of surrender ending World War II in the Pacific on the deck of the USS Missouri (Sept. 2)

1946

Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of England, delivered his "Iron Curtain" speech at Fulton’s Westminster College (Mar. 5)

1948

President Harry S Truman elected to the Presidency

1952

Leonor K. Sullivan became Missouri’s first woman U.S. Representative

1954

The Missouri State Penitentiary Riot (Sept. 22)

1957

Missouri Commission on Human Rights was created (June 8)

1965

The Gateway Arch (Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) designed by Eero Saarinen was completed. Located on the original settlement site of St. Louis, it symbolizes the role of St. Louis in the development of the western frontier

1968

Race riots in Kansas City in response to the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (April)

1972

Mary Gant became Missouri’s first woman state senator

1977

Gwen B. Giles became Missouri’s first African-American woman state senator

1980

Court-ordered desegregation began in Missouri, attempting to alleviate the racial isolation of black students. The court determined that the State of Missouri was required to pay half of the cost of school desegregation plans; numerous legal issues arose (May)

1982

Government workers began taking soil samples, testing for dioxin at Times Beach; the town was later evacuated

1984

Margaret B. Kelly became the first woman to hold statewide office in Missouri when she was appointed to the office of State Auditor (May 30)

1987

Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Knoster was designated as the home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber unit

Ann K. Covington became the first woman appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court

1988

Missouri’s first presidential primary on the occasion of Richard Gephardt, US Congressman from Missouri, running for the Democratic nomination

The Missouri Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Nancy Cruzan "right to life" case

1992

Missouri voters approved riverboat gambling excursions on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers

1993

Outstanding Schools Act was passed; it was a $310 million measure to reform Missouri schools and their funding

The Great Flood of 1993 devastated parts of Missouri and the Midwest