Missouri

1673 – During their voyage down the Mississippi River, Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were the first Europeans to set foot on land that would later become Missouri

1682 – Explorer Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle took possession of the Louisiana Territory area for France (Apr. 9) Jean Baptiste Valle Home 1724 Fort Orleans built on the north bank of the Missouri River by Etienne de Bourgmont in today’s Carroll County; it was abandoned six years later

1750 – Approximate date of the founding of Ste. Genevieve, the first permanent white settlement

1762 – Spain gained control of the Louisiana Territory in the Treaty of Fontainebleau (Nov. 13)

1764 – City of St. Louis was founded by Pierre Laclede Liguest (Feb. 15)

1769 – City of St. Charles was established by Louis Blanchette as a trading post

1770 – The Spanish government officially assumed control of the Territory of Louisiana (May 20) 1773 Mine au Breton (later Potosi) founded

1789 – Colonel George Morgan established the city of New Madrid (Feb. 14)

1793 – Louis Lorimer received trading privileges and authority to establish a post at Cape Girardeau (Jan. 4)

1798 – Lieutenant Governor Zenon Trudeau of the Spanish government offered Daniel Boone 1000 arpents to settle in the Louisiana Territory

1800 – Moses Austin made the first sheet lead and cannonballs manufactured in Missouri

1800 – Spain returned the Louisiana Territory to France (Oct. 30) Fort Osage

1803 – The Louisiana Purchase was signed (Apr. 30)

1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition set out from St. Louis (May 14)

1805 – The Territory of Louisiana was established; the seat of government was St. Louis (Mar. 3)

1808 – The city of Ste. Genevieve was incorporated (June 18)

1808 – Joseph Charless founded the first newspaper in Missouri, the “Missouri Gazette”

1808 – Fort Osage was established on the Missouri River

1809 – The Missouri Fur Company was organized in St. Louis. The abundance of animal pelts in the Mississippi Valley region played a key role in the development of the Upper Louisiana territory. Prominent members of the Company included fur trader Manuel Lisa, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, and William Clark

1811 – The first shocks of the New Madrid earthquakes, the worst in US history, occurred (Dec. 16)

1812  -A portion of the Territory of Louisiana became the Territory of Missouri (June 4)

1812  – The first general assembly of the Territory of Missouri met (Oct. 1); the five original counties were organized: Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Ste. Genevieve

1816 – Mid-Missouri’s first circuit court opened at Cole’s Fort (July 8)

1817 – The steamboat Zebulon M. Pike reached St. Louis, the first steamboat to navigate the Mississippi River above the mouth of the Ohio River (Aug. 2)

1818 – The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives presented the first petition to Congress from Missouri requesting statehood (Jan. 8)

1821 – President James Monroe admitted Missouri as the 24th state; the state capitol was located in St. Charles until a permanent location was designated (Aug. 10)

 1821 Governor Alexander McNair signed the bill designating the site for the City of Jefferson (Dec. 31)

1826 – Jefferson City was designated Missouri’s permanent seat of government; all state records, equipment, and the Great Seal were moved to Jefferson City on October 1st 1829 Missouri State Library established by law (Jan. 22)

1837 – President Martin Van Buren issued a proclamation which completed the annexation of the Platte Purchase area to Missouri, establishing the northwestern border of the state (Mar. 28)

1837 – Missouri’s first capitol in Jefferson City was destroyed by fire (Nov. 15)

1850 – The town of Kansas (later Kansas City) was incorporated (Feb. 4)

1861 – President Abraham Lincoln revoked John Fremont’s emancipation proclamation for Missouri (Sept. 11)

1861 – Missouri’s “Rebel Legislature” adopted an Act of Secession (Oct. 28)

1865 – Slavery was abolished in Missouri by an ordinance of immediate emancipation, making Missouri the first slave state to emancipate its slaves before the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution (Jan. 11)

1865 – Missouri’s second Constitution (Drake Constitution) was adopted. A group of politicians, known as “Radicals,” favored emancipation of slaves and disfranchisement of persons who were sympathetic to the Confederacy during the Civil War. The Radicals included an “Ironclad Oath” in the new constitution to exclude former Confederate sympathizers from the vote and certain occupations, severely limiting their civil rights (Apr. 10)

1911 – Missouri State Capitol was completely destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning (Feb. 5)