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Facts about Missouri

History | Symbols | Interesting Facts | Famous People

Demographics
Statehood:  August 10, 1821, the 15th state

Capital:  Jefferson City

Total Area:  21st among states, 180,553 sq km (69,704 sq mi)

Water Area:  2,100 sq km (811 sq mi)

Highest Point:  Taum Sauk Mountain, 540 m (1,772 ft)

Total Population:  18th among states
2010 census -  5,998,927

Population Density in 2010:  87.1 people per sq mi

Distribution in 2000:  69.6% Urban, 30.4% Rural

Economy:  
 Gross State Product - $246.7 billion (2010)
Personal income per Capita - $35,676 (2009)

Largest cities in 2010: 
 Kansas City:  459,787
St. Louis:  319,294
Springfield:  159,498

  • Missouri suffered the most from the devastating flood of 1993, when flood crests set record heights along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
     

  • Missouri is first in the nation in production of lead. Lead deposits led the French to found Sainte Genevieve, the first permanent European settlement in Missouri, about 1750.
     

  • Among the early immigrants to St. Louis were Adolphus Busch and Eberhard Anheuser, who helped make brewing a national industry.

  • The tallest monument built in the U.S., the Gateway Arch, in St. Louis, is 630 feet tall.
     

  • Ice-cream cones were first served in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition world’s fair in St. Louis.
     

  • The first parachute jump from an airplane was made at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis on March 1, 1912.
     

  • The first Olympics held in the United States occurred in St. Louis in 1904.
     

  • Walt Disney grew up in Marceline.  Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A. is based on that town.