THINGS TO DO IN MISSOURI

Demographics

Statehood: August 10, 1821, the 15th state

Capital: Jefferson City

Total Area: 21st among states, 180,545 sq km (69,709 sq mi)

Water Area: 2,100 sq km (811 sq mi)

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

Total Population:  17th among states
2000 census -  5,595,211
2005 estimate -  5,800,310

Population Density in 2000: 31 people per sq km (80 per sq mi)

Distribution in 1990: 69% Urban, 31% Rural

Economy:
Gross State Product - $195 billion (2003)
Personal income per Capita - $29,464 (2003)

Largest cities in 2000:
Kansas City: 444,387
St. Louis: 352,572
Springfield: 151,580

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.

State Facts