Missouri

Missouri is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is the 21st most extensive, and the 18th most populous of the fifty states. The state comprises 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis.

As defined by the 2010 US census, the four largest urban areas in order of population are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. The mean center of the United States population at the 2010 census was in the town of Plato in Texas County. The state’s capital is Jefferson City. The land that is now Missouri was acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became known as the Missouri Territory. Part of this territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.

Missouri’s geography is highly varied. The northern part of the state lies in dissected till plains and the southern portion lies in the Ozark Mountains (a dissected plateau), with the Missouri River dividing the regions. The state lies at the intersection of the three greatest rivers of the United States, with the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis, and the confluence of the Ohio River with the Mississippi north of the Bootheel. The starting points for the Pony Express, Santa Fe Trail, and Oregon Trail were all located in Missouri as well.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Missouri

Missouri, showing major cities and roads.

Missouri is landlocked and borders eight different states as does its neighbor, Tennessee. No state in the U.S. touches more than eight. Missouri is bounded by Iowa on the north; by Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee across the Mississippi River on the east; on the south by Arkansas; and by Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska (the last across the Missouri River) on the west. The two largest rivers are the Mississippi (which defines the eastern boundary of the state) and the Missouri River (which flows from west to east through the state) essentially connecting the two largest metros of Kansas City and St. Louis.

Although it is usually today considered part of the Midwest, Missouri was historically considered by many to be a border state, chiefly because of the settlement of migrants from the South and its status as a slave state before the Civil War, balanced by the influence of the St. Louis. The counties that made up “Little Dixie” were those along the Missouri River in the center of the state, settled by Southern migrants who held the greatest concentration of slaves.

In 2005, Missouri received 16,695,000 visitors to its national parks and other recreational areas totaling 202,000 acres (820 km²), giving it $7.41 million in annual revenues, 26.6% of its operating expenditures.

Climate

Main article: Climate of Missouri

Missouri map of Köppen climate classification.

Missouri generally has a humid continental climate with cold snowy winters and hot, humid, and wet summers. In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel, the climate becomes humid subtropical. Located in the interior United States, Missouri often experiences extremes in temperatures. Without high mountains or oceans nearby to moderate temperature, its climate is alternately influenced by air from the cold Arctic and the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico. Missouri’s highest recorded temperature is 118 °F (48 °C) at Warsaw and Union on July 14, 1954 while the lowest recorded temperature is −40 °F (−40 °C) also at Warsaw on February 13, 1905.

Located in Tornado Alley, Missouri also receives extreme weather in the form of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. The most recent tornado in the state to cause damage and casualties was the 2011 Joplin tornado, which destroyed roughly one-third of the city of Joplin. The tornado caused an estimated $1–3 billion in damages, killed 159 (+1 non-tornadic), and injured over 1,000 people. It was the first EF5 to hit the state since 1957 and the deadliest in the U.S. since 1947, making it the seventh deadliest tornado in American history and 27th deadliest in the world. St. Louis and its suburbs also have a history of experiencing particularly severe tornadoes, the most recent memorable one being an EF4 tornado that damaged Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on April 22, 2011. One of the worst tornadoes in American history struck St. Louis on May 27, 1896.

Transportation

Airports

Missouri has two major airport hubs: Lambert–St. Louis International Airport and Kansas City International Airport. Residents of Mid-Missouri use Columbia Regional Airport (COU) to fly to either Chicago (ORD) or Dallas (DFW). Southern Missouri has the Springfield-Branson National Airport (SFG) with multiple non-stop destinations.

Rail

Amtrak station in Kirkwood.

Two of the nation’s three busiest rail centers are located in Missouri. Kansas City is a major railroad hub for BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern Railway, Kansas City Southern Railway, and Union Pacific Railroad. Kansas City is the second largest freight rail center in the US (but is first in the amount of tonnage handled). Like Kansas City, St. Louis is a major destination for train freight. Springfield remains an operational hub for BNSF Railway.

Amtrak passenger trains serve Kansas City, La Plata, Jefferson City, St. Louis, Lee’s Summit, Independence, Warrensburg, Hermann, Washington, Kirkwood, Sedalia, and Poplar Bluff. A proposed high-speed rail route in Missouri as part of the Chicago Hub Network has received $31 million in funding.

The only urban light rail/subway system operating in Missouri is MetroLink, which connects the city of St. Louis with suburbs in Illinois and St. Louis County. It is one of the largest systems (by track mileage) in the United States. A streetcar line in downtown Kansas City is scheduled to open in 2015.

The Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center in St. Louis is the largest active multi-use transportation center in the state. It is located in downtown St. Louis, next to the historic Union Station complex. It serves as a hub center/station for MetroLink, the MetroBus regional bus system, Greyhound, Amtrak, and taxi services.

Mississippi River at Hannibal.

Bus

Many cities have regular fixed-route systems, and many rural counties have rural public transit services. Greyhound and Trailways provide inter-city bus service in Missouri. Megabus serves St. Louis, but discontinued service to Columbia and Kansas City in 2015.

Rivers

The Mississippi River and Missouri River are commercially navigable over their entire lengths in Missouri. The Missouri was channelized through dredging and jetties and the Mississippi was given a series of locks and dams to avoid rocks and deepen the river. St. Louis is a major destination for barge traffic on the Mississippi.

Roads

Main article: List of Missouri highways

Several highways, detailed below, traverse the state.

Following the passage of Amendment 3 in late 2004, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) began its Smoother, Safer, Sooner road-building program with a goal of bringing 2,200 miles (3,500 km) of highways up to good condition by December 2007. From 2006–2010 traffic deaths have decreased annually from 1,257 in 2005, to 1,096 in 2006, to 992 for 2007, to 960 for 2008, to 878 in 2009, to 821 in 2010.

Interstate freeways

• Interstate 29,
• Interstate 229
• Interstate 35,
• Interstate 435 (Perimeter around Kansas City),
• Interstate 635
• Interstate 44
• Interstate 49
• Interstate 55,
• Interstate 155,
• Interstate 255 (the perimeter around the Illinois side of St. Louis)
• Interstate 57
• Interstate 64
• Interstate 70,
• Interstate 170,
• Interstate 270 (the perimeter around the Missouri side of St. Louis),
• Interstate 470,
• Interstate 670
• Interstate 72
• Interstate 66 (Proposed)

Interstate 70 in Central Missouri.

The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge connecting Cape Girardeau to East Cape Girardeau, Illinois.

The only section of freeway in Missouri to have High-Occupancy Vehicle Lane (HOV) is Interstate 55 from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri to Interstate 270-255 Interchange in St. Louis County. They were striped, registered, and opened on February 10, 2013. HOV Lanes are also being striped on Interstate 70 in St. Charles County through Interstate 270 in Saint Louis County, and on the North-South corridor of Interstate 270 in central St. Louis County.

United States Routes

See also: List of Missouri state highways and Missouri Supplemental Route

Major cities

See also: List of cities in Missouri and List of towns and villages in Missouri

Wildlife

Missouri is home to a diversity of both flora and fauna. There is a large amount of fresh water present due to the Mississippi River, Missouri River, and Lake of the Ozarks, with numerous smaller tributary rivers, streams, and lakes. North of the Missouri River, the state is primarily rolling hills of the Great Plains, whereas south of the Missouri River, the state is dominated by the Oak-Hickory Central U.S. hardwood forest.

Sports

Main article: Sport in Missouri

Missouri hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics at St. Louis, the first time the games were hosted in the United States.

The St. Louis Cardinals playing at Busch Stadium.

Missouri has four major sports teams: the Royals and Cardinals of MLB, the Chiefs of the NFL, and the Blues of the NHL.

Professional Major League Teams

• MLB: Louis Cardinalsand Kansas City Royals
• NFL: Kansas City Chiefs
• NHL: Louis Blues
• MLS: Sporting Kansas City

Former Professional Major League Teams

• National Football League:
  • Louis Cardinals (moved from Chicago in 1960; moved to Tempe, Arizona in 1988 and are now the Arizona Cardinals)
  • Louis All Stars (active in 1923 only)
  • Kansas City Blues/Cowboys (active 1924–1926, folded)
  • Louis Gunners (independent team, joined the NFL for the last three weeks of the 1934 season and folded thereafter)
  • Louis Rams 1995-2015 moved from Los Angeles and then back to Los Angeles
• Major League Baseball (American League):
  • Louis Browns (moved from Milwaukee in 1902; moved to Baltimore, Maryland after the 1953 season and are now the Baltimore Orioles)
  • Kansas City Athletics (moved from Philadelphia in 1955; moved to Oakland, California after the 1967 season and are now the Oakland Athletics)
• National Basketball Association:
  • Louis Bombers (charter BAA franchise in 1946, joined the NBA when it formed in 1949; ceased operations in 1950)
  • Louis Hawks (moved from Milwaukee in 1955; moved to Atlanta in 1968 and are now the Atlanta Hawks)
  • Kansas City Kings (moved from Cincinnati in 1972; moved to Sacramento in 1985 and are now the Sacramento Kings; prior to locating in Kansas City, they were known as the Cincinnati Royals)
• National Hockey League:
  • Kansas City Scouts (1974 expansion team, moved to Denver, Colorado in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies, and would move again to Newark, New Jersey; now called the New Jersey Devils)
  • Louis Eagles (1934 relocation of the original Ottawa Senators, folded after the 1934–35 season)
• Major League Soccer:
  • Kansas City Wiz/Kansas City Wizards (founded in 1995, but moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas City, Kansas, in 2010 and became Sporting Kansas City)

Culture and Entertainment

Music

Many well-known musicians were born or have lived in Missouri. These include guitarist and rock pioneer Chuck Berry, singer and actress Josephine Baker, “Queen of Rock” Tina Turner, pop singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, and rappers Nelly, Chingy and Akon, all of whom are either current or former residents of St. Louis.

Country singers from Missouri include New Franklin native Sara Evans, Cantwell native Ferlin Husky, West Plains native Porter Wagoner, Tyler Farr of Garden City, and Mora native Leroy Van Dyke, along with bluegrass musician Rhonda Vincent, a native of Greentop.

Rapper Eminem was born in St. Joseph and also lived in Savannah and Kansas City.

Ragtime composer Scott Joplin lived in St. Louis and Sedalia.

Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker lived in Kansas City.

Rock and Roll singer Steve Walsh of the group Kansas was born in St. Louis and grew up in St. Joseph.

The Kansas City Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are the state’s major orchestras. The latter is the nation’s second-oldest symphony orchestra and achieved prominence in recent years under conductor Leonard Slatkin.

Branson is well known for its music theaters, most of which bear the name of a star performer or musical group. These facilities have made Branson one of America’s most popular tourist destinations..

Literature

Missouri is the native state of Mark Twain. His novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are set in his boyhood hometown of Hannibal.

Kansas City-born writer William Least Heat-Moon currently resides in Rocheport. He is best known for Blue Highways, a chronicle of his travels to small towns across America. The book was on the New York Times Bestseller list for nearly a year in 1982-1983.

Famed authors Kate Chopin, T. S. Eliot and Tennessee Williams were all from St. Louis.

Film

Filmmaker, animator, and businessman Walt Disney spent part of his childhood in the Linn County town of Marceline before moving to Kansas City, Missouri. Disney began his artistic career in Kansas City, where he founded the Laugh-O-Gram Studio.

Several Film versions of Mark Twain’s novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been made.

Meet Me in St. Louis, a musical involving the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, starred Judy Garland.

Part of the 1983 road movie National Lampoon’s Vacation was shot on location in Missouri, for the Griswold’s trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.

The Thanksgiving holiday film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles was partially shot at Lambert–St. Louis International Airport.

White Palace was filmed in St. Louis.

The award-winning 2010 film Winter’s Bone was shot in the Ozarks of Missouri.

Up in the Air starring George Clooney was filmed in St. Louis.

John Carpenters’ Escape from New York was filmed in Saint Louis in the early eighties, due to the high number of abandoned buildings in the city.

Part of the 1973 movie, Paper Moon, which starred Ryan and Tatum O’Neal, was filmed in St. Joseph.

Most of HBO’s film “Truman” were filmed in Kansas City, Independence, and the surrounding area. Gary Sinise won an Emmy for his portrayal of Harry Truman in the 1995 film.

“Ride With the Devil” starring Jewel and Tobey Maguire were also filmed in the countryside of Jackson County (also where the historic events of the film took place).

Gone Girl, A 2014 film starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tyler Perry was filmed in Cape Girardeau.