Today in Missouri History
Cities in Missouri: Springfield, MI - St. Louis
Historical Events
Events 1 - 76 of 76
1764-02-15 - St. Louis, Missouri founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue
1805-03-03 - Louisiana-Missouri Territory forms
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 in St. Louis, Missouri.
1820-03-03 - Missouri Compromise passes, allowing slavery in Missouri
1820-12-20 - Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 & 50
1821-08-10 - Missouri admitted as 24th US state
1830-07-15 - 3 Indian tribes, Sioux, Sauk & Fox, signs a treaty giving the US most of Minnesota, Iowa & Missouri
1838-10-27 - Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated.
1841-04-06 - Cornerstone laid for 2nd Mormon temple, Nauvoo, Missouri
1841-05-01 - 1st emigrant wagon train leaves Independence, Missouri for Calif
1843-05-22 - 1st wagon train, 1000+ depart Independence Missouri for Oregon
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1854-05-30 - Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed Missouri Compromise opens north slavery
1854-08-30 - John Fremont issues proclamation freeing slaves of Missouri rebels
1861-06-12 - Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson calls for 50,000 volunteers to stop Federates from taking over his state
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
1861-11-28 - Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to Confederate Army
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 - Skirmish at Elkin's Ford (Little Missouri River), Arkansas
1864-09-27 - Battle at Pilot Knob (Ft Davidson) American Civil War, Missouri: 1700 killed/injured
1864-09-27 - Centralia Massacre (Missouri): 24 unarmed Union soldiers captured and executed by "Bloody Bill" Anderson/Frank
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
1865-03-12 - Affair near Lone Jack, Missouri
Folk Hero of the American Old West Wild Bill Hickok
1865-07-21 - In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown.
1866-02-13 - Jesse James holds up his 1st bank, Liberty, Missouri ($15,000)
1866-10-30 - Jesse James gang robs bank in Lexington Missouri ($2000)
1867-03-02 - Jesse James gang robs bank in Savannah Missouri, 1 dead
1867-05-23 - Jesse James-gang rob bank in Richmond Missouri (2 die, $4,000 taken)
1868-12-07 - Jesse James gang robs bank in Gallatin Missouri, kills 1
1873-08-26 - 1st free kindergarten in the U.S. started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri
1874-01-31 - Jesse James gang robs train at Gads Hill, Missouri
1874-06-22 - Dr Andrew T Still, discovers the science of osteopathy
1875-07-07 - Jesse James robs train in Otterville Missouri
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
1905-02-13 - -40°F (-40°C) Warsaw, Missouri (state record)
Outlaw Jesse James
1911-03-03 - 1st US federal cemetery with Union & Rebel 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.
1927-09-29 - Tornado strikes St Louis Missouri, 85 die
1928-07-07 - Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri. It is described as the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped".
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 KC Missouri goes off the air
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 Missouri to receive instructions on Japan's surrender at the end of WW II
1945-09-02 - V-J Day; formal surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri (WW II ends)
1946-03-05 - Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech (Fulton Missouri)
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.
British war time Prime Minister Winston Churchill
1957-07-06 - Harry S Truman Library forms in Independence, Missouri
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 - A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1992-04-01 - Battleship USS Missouri (on which, Japan surrendered) 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
Famous Birthdays
Birthdays 1 - 52 of 52
1821-02-19 - Francis Preston Blair Jr, Lexington Ky, (Rep-Missouri)
1847-09-05 - Jesse James, Missouri, outlaw, son of a clergyman, (d. 1882)
1860-09-13 - John J. Pershing (Blackjack), Laclede, Missouri, US commander (WW I), (d. 1948)
1875-09-16 - James Cash Penney, Hamilton Missouri, department store founder (J C Penney), (d. 1971)
1882-12-31 - Ben Jones, Missouri, horse trainer (Citation, Whirlaway)
1884-03-16 - Harrison Ford, Kansas City, Missouri, silent screen actor (Rubber Tires, Vanity Fair, Love In High Gear)
1884-05-08 - Harry Truman, Lamar Missouri, 33rd US President (D) (1945-1953), (d. 1972)
1888-09-26 - T S Eliot, St Louis Missouri, poet/dramatist/critic (Waste Land-Nobel 1948), (d. 1965)
1889-04-15 - Thomas Hart Benton, Missouri, painter/muralist (Lonesome Road)
1893-12-23 - Ann O'Neal, Missouri, actress (Nana-Professional Father)
1895-06-14 - Cliff Edwards, "Ukulele Ike", Hannibal Missouri, singer (54th Street Revue, When You Wish Upon a Star)
Author and Nobel Laureate T S Eliot (1888-09-26)
1898-07-04 - Johnny Lee, Missouri, actor (Calhoun-Amos 'n' Andy)
1900-10-31 - Carl Hubbard, Missouri, baseball & football Hall of Famer
1900-12-25 - Gladys Swarthout, Deepwater Missouri, mezzo-soprano (La Gioconda)
1914-03-08 - Jacob B Bakema, urban developer (St Louis Missouri)
1916-07-23 - Ben Weber, St Louis Missouri, composer (Thorne Music Award-1965)
1917-01-05 - Jane Wyman, St. Joseph, Missouri, American actress (Magnificent Obsession) and 1st Mrs Ronald Reagan (d. 2007)
1920-08-18 - Shelley Winters, St Louis Missouri, actress (A Place in the Sun, A Patch of Blue & Poseidon Adventure), (d. 2006)
1921-08-13 - Jimmy McCracklin, St. Louis, Missouri,blues musician, (d. 2012)
1923-11-08 - Jack Kilby, Jefferson City, Missouri, electrical engineer and Nobel laureate (handheld calculator, integrated circuit), (d. 2005)
1923-11-20 - Beryl Sprinkel, Missouri, economist (Council of Economic Advisers)
1926-03-04 - James J. Eagan, Former Mayor of Florissant, Missouri (d. 2000)
1926-07-29 - Donald Carter, St Louis, Missouri, professional bowler, six-time bowler of the year, (d. 2012)
1929-09-14 - Mel Hancock, (Rep-R-Missouri)
1929-12-02 - Harvey Phillips, Aurora Missouri, tubist (NYC Ballet Orch)
1931-04-01 - Charles Price, Kansas City, Missouri, American Businessman and diplomat, (d. 2012)
Engineer Jack Kilby (1923-11-08)
1935-01-15 - Malcolm Frager, St Louis, Missouri, pianist
1936-09-05 - John C Danforth, (Sen-R-Missouri, 1977- )
1939-03-06 - Christopher Bond, (Sen-R Missouri)
1942-11-02 - Shere Hite, St Joseph Missouri, sex therapist (Hite Report)
1944-05-15 - Bill Alter, Missouri State Senator
1944-11-17 - Eugene Clarke, Tipton Missouri, rock guitarist
1947-04-27 - Ann Peebles, Missouri, singer (I Can't Stand the Rain)
1949-02-22 - Leslie Charleson, KC Missouri, actress (Monica-General Hospital)
1951-01-12 - Rush Limbaugh, Girardeau Missouri, American right wing radio personality
1951-10-16 - Alan Wheat, (Rep-D-Missouri, 1983- )
1951-11-14 - Sandahl Bergman, KC Missouri, actress (Conan, All that Jazz)
1953-07-24 - Claire McCaskill, American politician, junior senator from Missouri
1954-06-19 - Kathleen Turner, Springfield, Missouri, American actress (Accidental Tourist, Jewel of Nile)
1957-10-27 - Jeff East, Kansas City, Missouri, American actor (Huckleberry Finn, Superman)
1958-10-10 - J Eddie Peck, Joplin Missouri, actor (Bold & Beautiful-Cole Howard)
1958-10-18 - James M Talent, (Rep-R-Missouri)
1964-01-08 - Virgil Hill, Missouri, middleweight boxer (Olympic-silver-1984)
1964-06-06 - Sherry J Traylor, Mexico Missouri, Miss Missouri-America (1991)
1971-06-08 - Amanda Jahn, Miss USA-Missouri (1997)
1971-07-23 - Aimee Rinehart, Miss Missouri USA (1996)
1972-01-15 - Kimberly Anne Massaro, St Louis Mo, Miss America (Missouri-5th-1997)
1972-02-05 - Erin Phillips, Mexico Missouri, Miss America-Missouri (1996)
1972-05-20 - Michael Cox, Hannibal Missouri, 1.5k runner
Rapper Eminem (1972-10-17)
1972-10-17 - Eminem [Marshall Bruce Mathers III], Saint Joseph, Missouri, rapper and movie star ('The Real Slim Shady', 'Stan' and '8 Mile')
1978-06-11 - Leah Sexton, Miss Missouri Teen USA (1996)
1978-08-29 - Larissa Meek, Miss Missouri Teen USA (1997)
Famous Weddings
Weddings 1 - 1 of 1
2012-11-03 - Professional bull rider Luke Snyder (30) weds Jennifer Manna (34) at Big Cedar Lodge outside of Branson, Missouri
Famous Deaths
Deaths 1 - 6 of 6
1820-09-26 - Daniel Boone, frontiersman, dies in Missouri at 85
1864-01-31 - Hamilton Rowan Gamble, US judge/governor of Missouri (1861-64), dies
1943-12-15 - Thomas W "Fats" Waller, jazz pianist (Hot Chocolate), dies at 39 in KC Missouri
1961-06-13 - Ben Jones, Missouri, horse trainer (Citation, Whirlaway), dies at 79
1988-09-01 - Leonor Sullivan, (Rep-D-Missouri, 1955-77), dies at 86
1991-04-21 - Richard Bolling, (Rep-D-Missouri), dies at 74
Today in History via RSS Feed
Today in History via Email
