Encyclopedia > History of Missouri
History of Missouri
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17th century
In 1673, Father Jacques Marguette and Louis Jolliet sailed down the Mississippi river in canoes along the area that would later become Missouri. The two established that the Mississippi river ran all the way to the sea. In 1682, Robert Cavalier, Sieur de Salle[?] took control of what was the Louisiana Territory for France.
During this time until the 19th century with the building of the first railways in the Mississippi basin, the Mississipi system waterways were almost the only means of communication and transportation in this region. During the early years of French occupation, trade with the Indians was the only important industry and was carried on using birch canoes and a few pirogues.
18th Century
By 1720 immigrants were coming in considerable numbers both by way of the Great Lakes and the mouth of the Mississippi, and to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding commerce barges and keelboats were introduced. Also in 1720, the frenchmen, Phillippe Francois Renault[?] brought the first black slaves to Missouri to work in the lead mining districts.
1724 saw Fort Orleans being built upon the north bank of the Missouri river by Etienne de Bourgmont[?] in what is now Carroll County, Missouri. A few years later, Ste. Genevieve was founded in 1750 on the Mississippi. King Louis XV issued an edict concerning the use of black slaves in the terriority and this code was continued under the Spanish regime.
Spain gained control of the region in 1762 under the Treaty of Fontainebleu[?], but did not assume control until 1770.
Saint Louis was founded in 1764 by the frenchmen Pierre Laclede Blanchette[?]. Five years later, he found Saint Charles as a trading outpost.
19th Century
| 1800s Population Growth | ||
| 1810 | 20,845 | |
| 1820 | 66,586 | |
| 1830 | 140,455 | |
| 1840 | 383,702 | |
| 1850 | 682,044 | |
| 1860 | 1,182,012 | |
| 1870 | 1,721,295 | |
| 1880 | 2,168,380 | |
| 1890 | 2,679,184 | |
Lewis and Clark set out in 1804 to map the region and in 1805, the territory of Lousianna was established with the government seat in Saint Louis.
Steamboat navigation was done on the Mississippi in 1811 with the "New Orleans[?]" steamboat travelled from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. However the boats were not able to reach St. Louis. On Dec 16 of that year, the New Madrid Earthquake[?] occurred, the largest in the history of the United States. Temors were reported as far away as Philadelphia.
The territory of Missouri was carved from the territory of Lousianna in 1812. This year saw the creation of the first general assembly of the Territory of Missouri with the five original counties being Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Ste. Genevieve.
1817, the steamboat "Zebulon M. Pike[?]" reached St. Louis. In 1817 the commerce from New Orleans to the Falls of the Ohio, at Louisville, was carried in barges and keel-boats having a capacity of 60 to 8o tons each, and 3 to 4 months were required to make a trip. In 1820 steamboats were making the same trip in 15 to 20 days, by 1838 in 6 days or less; and in 1834 there were 230 steamboats, having an aggregate tonnage of 39,000 tons, engaged in trade on the Mississippi. Large numbers of flat boats, especially from the Ohio and its tributaries, continued to carry produce down stream; an extensive canal system in the state of Ohio, completed in 1842, connected the Mississippi with the Great Lakes; these were connected with the Hudson river and the Atlantic Ocean by the Erie Canal, which had been open since 1825.
1818, Missouri requested admittance to the union as a slave state. This became a national controversy because of the slavery issue. 1820, the Missouri Compromise cleared the way for Missouri's entry to the union along with Maine, a free state, to preserve the balance of free and slave states. Additionally, the Missouri Compromise stated that the remaining portion of the Lousianna Territory above the 36°30' line was to be free from slavery. This same year, the first Missouri constitution was adopted. 1821, Missouri was admitted as the 24th state with the state capitol temporarily located in St. Charles until a permanent location could be selected. Jefferson City was chosen in 1826 as the site for the capitol.
Before the steamboat was successfully employed on the Mississippi the population of the valley did not reach 2,000,000, but the population increased from approximately 2,500,000 in 1820 to more than 6,ooo,ooo in 1840, and to 14,000,000 or more in 1860. The well-equipped passenger boats of the period immediately preceding the Civil War were also a notable feature on the Ohio and the Lower Mississippi.
During this time, both free blacks and slaves lived in Missouri. In 1824, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that "Once free, Always free". In 1846, the Dred Scott case in which Dred and Harriet Scott sued for freedom occurred. He was allowed to sue for freedom based on the fact that he had previously lived in a free state. This case continued on until 1857.
1841, saw the creation of the first state university west of the Mississippi, the University of Missouri. Six years later, St. Louis was connected by telegraph to the east coast. That year 1847, the first bank west of the Mississippi was also started.
1849, the gold rush began and St. Louis, Independence, Westport, and St. Joseph became departure points for those heading to California earning Missouri the nickname, "Gateway to the West". Kansas City was incorporated a year later in 1850 on the banks of the Missouri River.
1860, the Pony Express began its run from St. Joseph to Sacremento, California[?].
Civil War
Early before the Civil War began, Missourians voted overwhelmingly against seceeding from the Union, however Lincoln received only a small percentage of the votes, mostly from St. Louis. Sympathies ran for both sides, the Confederacy and the Union, and it was in St. Louis where the first blood was spilled in the "Camp Jackson Massacre". Because of the mixed sympathies, Missouri was the only state in the Union that did not officially succeed, but where the U.S. Army declared a state of war.
Secessionists formed their own government not recognized by the Union and seceeded from the Union and joined the Confederacy and establishing a capital at Marshall, Texas. By the end of the war, Missouri had supplied 110,000 troops for the Union army and 40,000 troops for the Confederacy. 1861, General Fremont issued a proclaimation that freed the slaves owned by those that had taken up arms against the Union.
Many of the Civil War battles occurred in Missouri, it having the largest number of engagements of any state. During this time, the Lower Mississippi, the Ohio, and its two largest tributaries,the Cumberland and the Tennessee determined the movement of the armies. Since Kentucky voted to remain in the Union, the Confederacy was unable to make use of the Ohio river. With the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson cut the Confederacy in two and gave the Union control of the entire Mississippi river.
Under Federal control, the Mississippi river was closed to commerce, and when the war was over the prosperity of the South was temporarily gone and hundreds of steamboats had been destroyed. Moreover, much of the commerce of the West had been turned from New Orleans, via the Mississippi, to the Atlantic seaboard, via the Great Lakes and by new lines of railways, the number of which rapidly increased. There was, of course, some revival of the Mississippi commerce immediately after the war, but this was checked by the bar at the mouth of the south-west pass. Relief was obtained through the Ead's jetties at the mouth of the south pass in 1879, but the facilities for the transfer of freight were far inferior to those employed by the railways, and the steamboat companies did not prosper.
1865, Missouri was the first slave state to abolish slavery, doing so before the adoption of the 13th amendment to the U.S. constitution by an ordinance of immediate emancipation. Missouri adopted a new constitution, one that denied voting rights and had prohibitions against certain occupations for former Confederacy supporters.
The Missouri's Woman's suffrage club was organized in 1867 and was the first such club in the nation. The club's purpose was to win the right to vote for women.
Missouri adopted its 3rd constitution on Oct 30, 1875. In 1882, the bankrobber Jesse James was killed in St. Joseph.
20th Century
| Army |
In 1919, Missouri became the 11th state to ratify the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote. 1927 saw Charles Lindbergh land his plane the "Spirit of St. Louis" in Paris, France.
1948, Harry S Truman was elected as President of the United States.
Construction began on the St. Louis Arch in 1965.
1980, court-order desegregation (busing) began in Missouri.
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- Missouri State Archives - Timeline (http://www.sos.state.mo.us/archives/history/timeline/timeline1.asp)
- Missouri State Archives - African American History Timeline (http://www.sos.state.mo.us/archives/history/timeline/timeline1.asp)
- Historical Population Data for Missouri (http://www.sos.state.mo.us/library/reference/census/counties1900-1990.pdf)
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