Interesting Facts About Missouri
- The state of Missouri was named after a tribe of Sioux Indians of the state called the Missouris. The word “Missouri” means “wooden canoe people” or “he of the big canoe.”
- The name of the state the “Show Me State” came into being when Missouri Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, in an 1899 speech in Philadelphia, said, “For thy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.”
- Missouri was once an important hub for transportation and commerce in early America.
- Missouri has the largest beer producing plant in the country as it houses the maker of Budweiser beer–the Anheuser-Busch.
- In 1911, a lightning strike on Missouri State Capitol that resulted in a fire destroyed the building completely.
- The University of Missouri is the first college in the world to grant a journalism degree. It opened on September 14, 1908.
- Harry S. Truman (33rd President of the U.S.) was the only president of the United States born in Missouri. (Born: 8 May 1884, Lamar, Missouri, United States; Died: 26 December 1972, Kansas City, Missouri, United States.)
- Big Springs, Missouri is one of the largest springs in the U.S. and the world. The spring has an average flow of 470 cubic feet (13,000 L) of water per second.
- Taum Sauk Mountain in the Saint Francois Mountains is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Missouri at 540 meters (1,772 feet). The topography of Taum Sauk is that of a somewhat flat ridge rather than a peak.
- On Sucker Day in Nixa, Missouri, school closes officially and the little town swells to a throng of 15,000 hungry folks. All craving a taste of the much-maligned but delicious bottom-dweller fish loathed by almost everyone else.
- Charleston holds the Dogwood-Azalea Festival annually on the 3rd weekend of April. “Charleston becomes a blooming wonderland.”
- Kansas City, Missouri has more fountains than any city in the world except Rome. Hence Kansas City is known as the City of Fountains.
- Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the fifteenth-most populous city in the state. The city is named for Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
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