Missouri History Timeline

Events 1 - 100 of 103

• 1764-02-15 St. Louis, Missouri founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclède
• 1805-03-03 Louisiana-Missouri Territory forms
• 1808-11-10 Osage Treaty / Treaty of Fort Clark, Osage Nation cedes territory in Missouri and Arkansas to the US

• 1811-12-16 Earthquake hits New Madrid, Missouri, causing widespread damage
• 1812-01-23 7.8 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri
• 1812-02-07 8.2 earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri
• 1812-06-04 Louisiana Territory officially renamed "Missouri Territory"
• 1816-08-24 The Treaty of St. Louis is signed by the USA and the united tribes of Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi in St. Louis, Missouri
• 1820-03-03 Missouri Compromise passes, allowing Missouri to join the United States despite slavery still being legal there.
• 1820-12-20 Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men aged between 21 & 50
• 1821-08-10 Missouri admitted as 24th US state
• 1830-07-15 Indian tribes, Sioux, Sauk & Fox, sign fourth Treaty of Prairie du Chien giving the US most of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri
• 1838-10-27 Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated

• 1843-05-22 First wagon train departs Independence, Missouri for Oregon with 700-1,000 migrants
• 1846-08-14 The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3 kg chondrite-type meteorite strikes near the town of Cape Girardeau in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
• 1849-05-17 Fire destroy Centrum in St Louis, Missouri
• 1852-11-18 Rose Philippine Duchesne dies in St. Charles, Missouri. She would be canonized on July 3, 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
• 1854-05-30 Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals Missouri Compromise creating the territories of Kansas and Nebraska

• 1861-05-10 Union troops march on state militia in St Louis, Missouri
• 1861-06-12 Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson calls for 50,000 volunteers to stop Federal "invasion" from taking over his state after US Army forces led by Nathaniel Lyon arrest pro-Confederate state militia at Fort Jackson
• 1861-07-05 Battle of Carthage, Missouri - US General Sigel attacks pro-secessionist
• 1861-08-02 Skirmish at Dug Springs, Missouri results in Union victory
• 1861-08-10 Battle of Wilson's Creek [Battle of Oak Hills], fought near Springfield, Missouri, General Lyon killed, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
• 1861-08-14 Martial Law is declared at St Louis, Missouri, due to pro-secession sentiment which surged throughout Missouri after the Battle of Wilson's Creek

• 1861-08-16 Skirmishes at Fredericktown/Kirkville, Missouri
• 1861-08-30 John Frémont issues proclamation freeing slaves of Missouri rebels
• 1861-10-25 First Battle of Springfield [Zagonyi's Charge], fought in Springfield, Missouri, Union victory (US Civil War)
• 1861-10-26 Pony Express (Missouri to California) ends after 19 months

• 1861-11-28 Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to Confederacy
• 1862-03-03 Union forces under General Pope lay siege to New Madrid, Missouri (US Civil War)
• 1862-09-30 First Battle of Newtonia (American Civil War), Newton County, Missouri
• 1864-04-04 US Civil War: Skirmish at Elkin's Ford (Little Missouri River), Arkansas
• 1864-09-27 Battle at Pilot Knob (Ft Davidson) Missouri: 1700 killed or injured
• 1864-10-15 Confederate troops occupy Glasgow, Missouri
• 1864-10-23 Battle of Westport, Missouri: Union General Samuel R Curtis defeats Confederate General Stirling Price

• 1864-10-28 Second Battle of Newtonia (American Civil War), Newton County, Missouri
• 1865-02-27 Civil War skirmish near Sturgeon, Missouri

• 1865-08-15 Battle of Lone Jack, Missouri: fierce fighting between Union soldiers and Confederate forces prompted by bushwacker attacks destroys town of Lone Jack

• 1866-10-30 Jesse James' gang robs bank in Lexington, Missouri ($2000)
• 1867-03-02 Jesse James' gang robs bank in Savannah Missouri, 1 killed
• 1867-05-23 Jesse James' gang robs a bank in Richmond, Missouri, killing two and taking $4,000
• 1869-12-07 Jesse James first confirmed bank robbery - he and his brother rob a bank in Gallatin, Missouri, shots cashier in a revenge killing

• 1874-01-31 Jesse James gang robs a train at Gads Hill, Missouri
• 1875-07-07 Jesse James gang robs train in Otterville, Missouri
• 1878-07-09 American inventor Henry Tibbe patents an improved corncob pipe design
• 1879-01-22 James Shields (D) elected US senator from Missouri after previously serving as US senator from Illinois & Minnesota
• 1880-04-18 An F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100.
• 1881-02-01 US Assay Office in St Louis, Missouri authorized
• 1881-07-01 US Assay Office in St Louis, Missouri opens
• 1892-04-21 Black longshoremen strike for higher wages in St Louis, Missouri
• 1905-02-13 -40°F (-40°C) Warsaw, Missouri (state record)
• 1911-03-03 1st US federal cemetery with Union & Confederate graves opens, Missouri
• 1911-06-30 US Assay Office in St Louis, Missouri closes
• 1916-01-18 A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite stikes a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri
• 1917-07-02 Race riot in East St Louis, Illinois escalates - Black neighborhood attacked and burned, 40-200 killed over 2 days and 6000 left homeless [1]
• 1927-09-29 Tornado strikes St Louis, Missouri, 85 die

• 1932-01-02 Young gang shoot dead 6 police in Springfield Missouri
• 1932-08-10 A 5.1-kg (11.2-pound) chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.
• 1934-06-14 WOQ-AM in Kansas City Missouri goes off the air
• 1936-01-02 1st electron tube to enable night vision described, St Louis, Missouri
• 1936-03-27 WOS-AM in Jefferson City Missouri goes off the air
• 1944-01-29 USS Missouri, the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy, is launched
• 1945-08-26 Japanese diplomats board USS Missouri to receive instructions on Japan's surrender at the end of WWII

• 1951-07-13 Great Flood: 2.000,000 acres in Kansas and Missouri in central US are flooded from rain swollen Missouri and Kansas Rivers
• 1952-03-21 -22] Tornadoes in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky cause 343 deaths

• 1953-08-01 KMBC TV channel 9 in Kansas City, Missouri (MET/ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1954-07-14 118°F (48°C), Warsaw & Union, Missouri (state record)
• 1957-02-17 A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.

• 1965-07-20 18.18" (46.18 cm) of rainfall, Edgarton, Missouri (state 24-hr record)
• 1965-10-28 Gateway Arch (630' (190m) high) completed in St Louis, Missouri
• 1982-12-23 The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces it has identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.
• 1983-02-23 The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri
• 1987-12-06 3 satanist Missouri teenagers bludgeon comrade to death for "fun"
• 1988-02-29 KWK-FM in St Louis Missouri changes call letters to WKBG
• 1989-07-22 Kristin Huxhold, 18, of Missouri, crowned America's Junior Miss
• 1991-12-20 Missouri court sentences Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the "honor killing" of their teenaged daughter Palestina in St. Louis; he dies of diabetes complications before execution, she dies of natural causes while in prison
• 1992-04-01 Battleship USS Missouri, on which the Japanese surrender took place, decommissioned
• 2011-05-22 An EF5 Tornado strikes the US city of Joplin, Missouri killing at least 158 people, the single deadliest US tornado since modern record keeping began in 1950
• 2012-04-28 Tent collapse in St Louis, Missouri, kills one and injures 110 people
• 2014-11-25 Missouri Governor Jay Nixon orders hundreds more US National Guard troops to the town of Ferguson to prevent a second night of rioting and looting
• 2014-11-25 Protest erupt across US after a decision by Missouri grand jury not to bring charges against a white policeman who shot dead a black teenager
• 2014-12-03 Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot dead unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, resigns
• 2015-11-09 Tim Wolfe, President of the University of Missouri, resigns amid protests of endemic racism on campus
• 2017-08-22 Missouri Governor Eric Greitens grants stay of execution for Marcellus Williams in light of possible new DNA eividence
• 2018-05-29 Missouri Governor Eric Greitens resigns over an extramarital affair and illegal use of a donor list
• 2018-07-13 Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay record $4.7 billion in damages in talc cancer case by jury in US state of Missouri
• 2018-07-19 A duck boat sinks in Table Rock Lake, Missouri, drowning 17 people

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Birthdays 1 - 100 of 510

• 1809-09-20 Sterling "Old Pap" Price, American lawyer, U.S. Army Brigadier General and politician (11th Governor of Missouri), born in Prince Edward County, Virginia (d. 1867)
• 1813-03-22 Gabriel René Paul, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1886)
• 1820-09-03 George Hearst, American businessman and politician (U.S. Senator from California), born in Sullivan, Missouri (d. 1891)
• 1820-12-17 Frederick Tracy Dent, American General (Union Army), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1892)
• 1821-02-19 Francis Preston Blair Jr., (Rep-Missouri), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1875)
• 1822-07-22 John George Walker, American Major General (Confederate Army), born in Jefferson City, Missouri (d. 1893)
• 1824-12-26 Augustus Louis Chetlain, American Major General (Union Army), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1914)
• 1831-01-14 John Bullock Clark Jr., American general (Confederate Army), born in Fayette, Missouri (d. 1903)
• 1832-07-21 Henrietta Maria Morse King, American rancher and philanthropist, born in Boonville, Missouri (d. 1925)
• 1833-03-14 John S. Marmaduke, 25th Governor of Missouri and Major General (Confederate Army), born in Saline County, Missouri (d. 1887)
• 1834-10-01 Francis Cockrell, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Warrensburg, Missouri (d. 1915)

• 1836-09-13 John McCausland, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1927)
• 1838-11-13 Joseph F. Smith, 6th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, born in Far West, Missouri (d. 1918)
• 1840-08-01 Aldine Silliman Kieffer, American composer, born in Miami, Missouri (d. 1904)
• 1842-12-03 Phoebe Hearst, American philanthropist and suffragist, born in Franklin County, Missouri (d. 1919)

• 1851-02-08 Kate O'Flaherty Chopin, American writer, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1904)

• 1854-05-24 John Riley Banister, American law officer and cowboy, born in Banister Hollow, Camden County, Missouri (d. 1918)

• 1861-05-03 Emmett Dalton, American outlaw of the Old West (The Dalton Gang), born in Belton, Missouri (d. 1937)

• 1864-03-14 Casey [John] Jones, American railroad engineer who dies trying to save a train (Ballad of Casey Jones), born in Missouri (d. 1900)
• 1864-10-20 James F. Hinkle, American politician, sixth Governor of New Mexico, born in Franklin County, Missouri (d. 1951)
• 1864-12-12 Paul Elmer More, American critic and essayist, born in Saint Louis, Missouri (d. 1937)
• 1867-08-04 Jake Beckley, American Baseball HOF first baseman (23,767 putouts MLB record; career .308 hitter; Pittsburgh Alleghenys/Pirates; NY Giants; Cincinnati Reds; St. Louis Cardinals), born in Hannibal, Missouri (d. 1918)
• 1868-08-16 Bernarr McFadden, American physical culture advocate, credited with beginning the culture of health and fitness in the United States, born in Mill Spring, Missouri (d. 1955)
• 1869-11-20 Clark Griffith, American Baseball HOF pitcher (MLB ERA leader 1898 Chicago Colts/Orphans) and manager (Chicago WS, NY Highlanders, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Sens [owner]), born in Clear Creek, Missouri (d. 1955)
• 1870-01-02 Tex Rickard, American boxing promoter and entrepreneur (founder NHL New York Rangers; builder third incarnation of Madison Square Garden, NYC), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1929)
• 1870-09-22 Arthur Pryor, American band composer and trombone player, born in Saint Joseph, Missouri (d. 1942)
• 1871-11-10 Winston Churchill, American author (Crisis, Crossing), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1947)
• 1874-04-28 [Hooper] Sidney Toler, American theater director, playwright, stage and screen actor (Madame X; Meeting at Midnight; Charlie Chan films, 1938-46), born in Warrensburg, Missouri (d. 1947)
• 1874-10-12 Jimmy Burke, American baseball third baseman Pittsburgh Pirates; coach World Series 1932 NY Yankees; and manager St. Louis Cardinals 1905, Browns 1918-20, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1942)

• 1876-06-29 Nellie Tayloe Ross, American educator, politician, 1st woman to serve as a governor (Wyoming, 1925-27), and administrator (Director of US Mint, 1933-53), born in Saint Joseph, Missouri (d. 1977)
• 1877-09-28 Stanner E.V. Taylor, American director and screenwriter (Lucky Jim, Ramona), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1948)
• 1879-07-05 Dwight F. Davis, American politician (49th United States Secretary of War) and founder of Davis Cup, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1945)
• 1879-10-15 Jane Darwell [Patti Woodward], American actress (The Grapes of Wrath, Huckleberry Finn), born in Palmyra, Missouri (d. 1967)
• 1879-11-08 King Baggot, American actor and director (Tumbleweeds), born in St Louis, Missouri (d. 1948)
• 1882-01-05 Herbert Bayard Swope, U.S. journalist who coined the term "Cold War", born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1958)
• 1882-01-17 Noah Beery, American character actor (Story of Esther, The Mark of Zorro), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1946)
• 1882-12-31 Ben A. Jones, American horse trainer (US Champion trainer by earnings 1941, 43, 44, 52; Kentucky Derby x 6 including Citation, Whirlaway), born in Parnell, Missouri (d. 1961)
• 1884-01-12 Louis Horst, American dance choreographer and composer, born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1964)
• 1884-03-16 Harrison Ford, American silent screen actor (Rubber Tires, Vanity Fair, Love In High Gear), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1957)

• 1885-11-02 Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (Sun's position in galaxy), born in Nashville, Missouri (d. 1972)

• 1886-10-30 Zoe Akins, American playwright (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1935), born in Humansville, Missouri (d. 1958)
• 1887-09-19 Lynne Overman, American actor (Reap the Wild Wind), born in Maryville, Missouri (d. 1943)
• 1887-11-15 Marianne Moore, American poet (Pulitzer 1951, Collected Poems), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1972)

• 1888-11-02 Dutch Zwilling, American baseball outfielder (Federal League HR all-time leader), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1978)
• 1889-03-04 Pearl White [Victoria], American actress and stunt woman (Perils of Pauline), born in Green Ridge, Missouri (d. 1938)
• 1889-04-15 Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and muralist (Lonesome Road), born in Neosho, Missouri (d. 1975)
• 1889-09-19 Ernest Truex, American actor (Fluffy, Scared, His Girl Friday, Pete & Gladys, Mr Peepers), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1973)
• 1889-10-25 'Smoky' Joe Wood, American baseball pitcher/outfielder (World Series 1912, 15, 20; MLB wins leader 34–5 1912; pitched no-hitter 1911; Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1985)

• 1890-06-21 Frank Sherman Land, founder of the Order of DeMolay, born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1959)
• 1890-06-26 Jeanne Eagels, American actress and former Ziegfeld Girl (Rain, Under False Colors), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1929)

• 1890-10-01 Alice Joyce, American actress (Song O' My Heart), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1955)
• 1891-04-15 Wallace Reid, American actor, director and screenwriter referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover" (Every Inch a Man), born in St Louis, Missouri (d. 1923)
• 1891-11-10 Carl W. Stalling, American film composer (Disney's Silly Symphonies; Warner Brothers Cartoons), born in Lexington, Missouri (d. 1972)
• 1892-06-06 Donald F. Duncan Sr., American entrepreneur (Duncan Toys Company), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1971)

• 1893-07-25 Dorothy Dickson, American actress and dancer (Paying The Piper; Danny Boy), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1995)
• 1893-09-06 Irving Bacon, American actor (Branded Men, Fort Ti), born in St Joseph, Missouri (d. 1965)
• 1893-12-23 Ann O'Neal [Patsy Ann Epperson], American actress (Professional Father), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1971)
• 1894-10-11 Albert Stoessel, American violinist, conductor, composer, and educator, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1943)

• 1895-06-14 Cliff Edwards, American singer, aka "Ukulele Ike" (Walt Disney's Pinocchio - "Jiminy Cricket"; "When You Wish Upon a Star"), born in Hannibal, Missouri (d. 1971)
• 1896-11-25 Rex Maupin, American orchestra leader (Tin Pan Alley TV), born in St Joseph, Missouri (d. 1966)
• 1896-11-25 Virgil Thomson, American composer and music critic (Four Saints in Three Acts; Louisiana Story), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1989)
• 1897-09-03 Sally Benson, American writer (Meet Me In St. Louis), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1972)
• 1897-09-05 Morris Carnovsky, American actor (Dead Reckoning), born in St Louis, Missouri (d. 1992)
• 1897-11-18 Jules Buffano, American composer and pianist (Jimmy Durante Show), born in St Louis, Missouri (d. 1960)
• 1898-03-06 Jimmy Conzelman, American Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, coach, team owner (Chicago Cardinals), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1970)
• 1898-03-10 Cyrus "Cy" Kendall, American actor (Tarzan's New York Adventure, Mysteries of Chinatown), born in St Louis, Missouri (d. 1953)
• 1898-07-04 Johnny Lee, American actor (Song of the South, The Amos 'n' Andy Show), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1965)
• 1899-01-15 Goodman Ace, American writer, radio presenter, actor and humorist (Better of Goodman), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1982)
• 1899-03-08 Elmer Keith, American firearms enthusiast and author (Guns & Ammo), born in Missouri (d. 1984)
• 1899-05-02 George Hamilton Combs, American politician and TV and radio commentator (Through the Curtain), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1977)
• 1899-06-16 Helen Traubel, American soprano, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1972)
• 1899-10-14 Red McKenzie, American jazz singer (played comb-with-tissue-paper), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1948)
• 1899-11-16 Mary Margaret McBride, American radio personality (WOR-AM, NYC), born in Paris, Missouri (d. 1976)
• 1899-12-03 Howard Kinsey, American tennis player (French Open doubles 1924, US Open doubles 1926; Wimbledon singles 1926 runner-up), born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1966)
• 1900-10-31 Cal Hubbard, American Baseball HOF umpire (AL 1936-51) and Pro/College Football HOF tackle (4 × NFL C'ship 1927, 29–31; 4 × First-team All-Pro; NY Giants, GB Packers), born in Keytesville, Missouri (d. 1977)
• 1900-12-25 Gladys Swarthout, American mezzo-soprano (La Gioconda), born in Deepwater, Missouri (d. 1969)
• 1901-03-16 Edward Pawley, American actor (Angels with Dirty Faces), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1988)
• 1901-06-26 Stuart Symington, U.S. senator from Missouri (1953–76), born in Amherst, Massachusetts (d. 1988)
• 1901-08-30 Roy Wilkins, American civil rights activist and longtime executive director of NAACP, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1981)
• 1901-09-25 Bud Houser, American field athlete (Olympic gold discus & shot put 1924, discus 1928), born in Winigan, Missouri (d. 1994)
• 1901-10-02 Charles Stark "Doc" Draper, American Scientist and Engineer who headed the team that invented the Apollo Guidance Computer and inertial navigation technology for aircraft, space vehicles, and submarines, born in Windsor, Missouri (d. 1987)

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