Missouri history in 61 dated events, from over 10,000 years ago (Clovis-culture hunters left a stone point among mastodon bones at the Kimmswick Bone Bed,) to November 11, 2026. Every row links the National Park Service, state archive, agency or encyclopedia page it was read from.
Header photo: The bridge at St. Louis, a print of the Eads Bridge with views of its construction; the bridge opened July 4, 1874. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-08973.
- 61dated events
- 10eras
- over 10,000 years agoearliest date on the list
- 21source pages cited
- First peoples
- Colonial era
- Territorial era
- Early statehood
- Civil War
- Reconstruction
- Industry and growth
- Early 1900s
- War and civil rights
- Modern Missouri
Download this data: CSV · JSON · 61 events · free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link to It’s Missouri. All open data: catalog.json.
First peoples
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| over 10,000 years ago | Clovis-culture hunters left a stone point among mastodon bones at the Kimmswick Bone Bed, the first eastern North American site to show people and mastodons coexisted. | Mastodon State Historic Site, Imperial (Jefferson) | Missouri State Parks – Mastodon State Historic Site history |
| 8,000 to 10,000 years ago | People of the Dalton and Archaic periods lived in Graham Cave. | Graham Cave State Park (Montgomery) | Missouri State Parks – Graham Cave State Park |
| A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1400 | Mississippian peoples built a fortified village and civic-ceremonial mound center at Towosahgy. | Towosahgy State Historic Site, East Prairie (Mississippi) | Missouri State Parks – Towosahgy State Historic Site |
| about 1640 to the late 1670s | An Illinois (Iliniwek) village of perhaps 8,000 people stood above the Des Moines River, the only Illinois village site found in Missouri. | Iliniwek Village State Historic Site, Alexandria (Clark) | Missouri State Parks – Iliniwek Village State Historic Site |
Colonial era
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1673 | Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, voyaging down the Mississippi, became the first Europeans to visit what would become Missouri. | Mississippi River | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| 1700 | Jesuit missionaries founded the Mission of St. Francis Xavier near modern Des Peres, the first European settlement in Missouri; it was abandoned in 1703. | Near Des Peres (St. Louis County) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| 1700 to 1775 | A Big Osage village of 2,000 to 3,000 people in about 200 lodges occupied a hilltop in western Missouri. | Osage Village State Historic Site, Walker (Vernon) | Missouri State Parks – Osage Village State Historic Site |
| 1719 | Workers for the Company of the Indies began mining lead at Mine la Motte; the next year operator Philippe Renault brought the first enslaved people to colonial Missouri as forced labor. | Mine la Motte (Madison) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| by 1750 | Ste. Genevieve, the first permanent European settlement in Missouri, was established by French Canadian settlers drawn to Le Grand Champ. | Ste. Genevieve | NPS – Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park |
| February 15, 1764 | Pierre Laclede Liguest, his stepson Auguste Chouteau and other fur traders founded St. Louis. | St. Louis (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| 1769 | Louis Blanchette established St. Charles as a trading post. | St. Charles | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| May 26, 1780 | Spanish soldiers and local militia defended St. Louis at Fort San Carlos against a British-led attack, the westernmost battle of the Revolutionary War. | St. Louis (near Fourth and Walnut streets) (St. Louis City) | NPS – Battle of St. Louis (article) |
| 1785 | After the flood of 1785, Ste. Genevieve relocated about three miles northwest to higher ground. | Ste. Genevieve | NPS – Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park |
Territorial era
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 30, 1803 | The Louisiana Purchase between France and the United States was signed, doubling the size of the country and including present-day Missouri. | (signed in Paris) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| May 21, 1804 | William Clark, Meriwether Lewis and the Corps of Discovery set out from St. Charles. | St. Charles | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| November 3, 1804 | The Treaty of St. Louis, signed at Portage des Sioux, had Sauk and Fox representatives cede land in Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin to the United States. | Portage des Sioux (St. Charles) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| November 10, 1808 | The Treaty of Fort Clark, the first treaty with the Osage, established Fort Osage as a federal trading post. | Fort Osage, Sibley (Jackson) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| December 16, 1811 | An estimated magnitude 7.5 earthquake centered in southeastern Missouri devastated New Madrid; quakes and aftershocks continued into April 1812. | New Madrid | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
| March 6, 1820 | The Missouri Compromise and Missouri’s Enabling Act were signed, letting Missouri enter as a slave state and Maine as a free state. | (Washington, D.C.) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820 |
Early statehood
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 10, 1821 | President James Monroe proclaimed Missouri the 24th state; the capital sat in St. Charles until a permanent site was chosen. | St. Charles | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| September 1821 | William Becknell opened the Santa Fe Trail to wagon trade, making it a commercial highway. | Santa Fe Trail (central and western Missouri) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| December 30, 1824 | In the freedom suit Winny v. Whitesides, the Missouri Supreme Court set the ‘once free, always free’ precedent. | Missouri Supreme Court | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| October 1, 1826 | Missouri state government moved permanently to Jefferson City. | Jefferson City (Cole) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| 1838 to 1839 | Cherokee people forcibly removed on the Trail of Tears crossed southern Missouri; nine of the 13 detachments crossed the Mississippi at today’s Trail of Tears State Park. | Trail of Tears State Park, near Jackson (Cape Girardeau) | Missouri State Parks – Trail of Tears State Park |
| October 27, 1838 | Gov. Lilburn Boggs ordered that Mormons ‘must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary’; Gov. Kit Bond rescinded the order on June 25, 1976. | Western Missouri | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| April 6, 1846 | Dred and Harriet Scott, an enslaved couple, sued for their freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court. | Old Courthouse, St. Louis (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| February 16, 1847 | The General Assembly passed a law prohibiting the education of Black people, free or enslaved. | Jefferson City (Cole) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| 1849 | With the California gold rush, St. Louis, Independence, St. Joseph and Westport Landing became main departure points for emigrants, making Missouri the ‘Gateway to the West.’ | St. Louis, Independence, St. Joseph, Westport | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| March 6, 1857 | The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, in a case that began in St. Louis, ruled Scott lacked standing and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. | (U.S. Supreme Court; case from St. Louis) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| September 18, 1858 | The Butterfield Overland Mail began carrying mail and passengers on a route that ran by train from St. Louis to Tipton, then by stagecoach toward San Francisco. | St. Louis and Tipton | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
| April 3, 1860 | The Pony Express made its first run from St. Joseph to Sacramento; its last run was October 24, 1861. | St. Joseph (Buchanan) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860 |
Civil War
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 19, 1861 | A State Convention voted 98-1 against seceding from the Union. | Missouri State Convention | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
| May 10, 1861 | Union volunteers under Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon captured 669 secessionist militia at Camp Jackson; Lyon’s men fired into a hostile crowd, killing at least 28 civilians. | St. Louis (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
| July 5, 1861 | The Battle of Carthage was fought, which the state calls the earliest full-scale battle of the Civil War. | Carthage (Jasper) | Missouri State Parks – Battle of Carthage State Historic Site |
| August 10, 1861 | The Battle of Wilson’s Creek ended in a Union defeat that left southwestern Missouri in Confederate hands. | Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic (Greene) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
| October 29, 1862 | At Island Mound, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers fought pro-Confederate guerrillas, the first time Black soldiers saw combat in the Civil War. | Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site, near Butler (Bates) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
| August 25, 1863 | Union Gen. Thomas Ewing’s General Order No. 11 forced residents of Jackson, Cass, Bates and northern Vernon counties to leave unless their loyalty could be proven, creating the ‘Burnt District.’ | Jackson, Cass, Bates and northern Vernon counties | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
| September 27, 1864 | Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price failed to take Fort Davidson at the Battle of Pilot Knob, opening Price’s Raid. | Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site (Iron) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
| January 11, 1865 | Missouri’s Constitutional Convention abolished slavery in the state, three weeks before Congress proposed the 13th Amendment. | St. Louis (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
Reconstruction
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 17, 1866 | Lincoln Institute, founded by Black Civil War soldiers of the 62nd and 65th U.S. Colored Infantry, received its first students. | Jefferson City (Cole) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
| April 1869 | Big Mound, a Mississippian earthwork that gave St. Louis the nickname ‘Mound City,’ was destroyed for railroad development. | St. Louis (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869 |
Industry and growth
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 4, 1874 | The Eads Bridge opened across the Mississippi at St. Louis. | St. Louis (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1870-1899 |
| September 18, 1899 | The copyright for Scott Joplin’s ‘Maple Leaf Rag,’ published in Sedalia, was registered. | Sedalia (Pettis) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1870-1899 |
Early 1900s
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 30, 1904 | The Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World’s Fair) opened; the city also hosted the first Olympic Games held in the United States. | St. Louis (Forest Park) (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949 |
| February 5, 1911 | Lightning set fire to the Missouri State Capitol, destroying it; the new Capitol was completed in 1917 and dedicated October 6, 1924. | Jefferson City (Cole) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949 |
| 1920 | Andrew ‘Rube’ Foster established the Negro National League at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City. | Kansas City (18th & Vine) (Jackson) | Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – About |
| November 11, 1926 | President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the Liberty Memorial before more than 150,000 people. | Kansas City (Jackson) | National WWI Museum and Memorial – Built by Kansas Citians, Embraced by the Nation |
| January 5, 1931 | Missouri became the third state to complete and pave its portion of Route 66. | Route 66 across Missouri | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949 |
War and civil rights
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 12, 1938 | In Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Lloyd Gaines should be admitted to the University of Missouri law school absent an equal school for Black students. | Columbia (University of Missouri) (Boone) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949 |
| January 12, 1942 | Cleo Wright was lynched in Sikeston, the last lynching of a Black man in Missouri; it led to the first U.S. Justice Department civil rights intervention. | Sikeston (Scott) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949 |
| April 12, 1945 | Harry S Truman of Independence became President on the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. | Independence (Jackson) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949 |
| March 5, 1946 | Winston Churchill delivered his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech at Westminster College. | Fulton (Callaway) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949 |
| May 3, 1948 | In Shelley v. Kraemer, a St. Louis case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the 14th Amendment barred courts from enforcing racially restrictive housing covenants. | St. Louis (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949 |
| June 27, 1950 | A Cole County judge ordered the University of Missouri to enroll Black students; Gus Ridgel was the first admitted that August. | Columbia (Boone) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1950-Present |
Modern Missouri
| When | What happened | Where | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 28, 1965 | The Gateway Arch, designed by Eero Saarinen, was completed on the original site of St. Louis. | St. Louis (St. Louis City) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1950-Present |
| April 1993 to October 1993 | The Great Flood of 1993 set record crests on the Missouri River at Jefferson City (July 30) and the Mississippi at St. Louis (August 1). | Missouri and Mississippi rivers | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1950-Present |
| August 9, 2014 | The death of Michael Brown, 18, shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, drew national protests. | Ferguson (St. Louis County) | Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1950-Present |
| October 30, 2020 | Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park was formally established. | Ste. Genevieve | U.S. Dept. of the Interior press release, Oct. 30, 2020 |
| August 10, 2021 | Missouri marked the 200th anniversary of statehood with a ceremony on the State Capitol steps. | Jefferson City (Cole) | State Historical Society of Missouri – Missouri 2021 Presents: Missouri Bicentennial Commemoration |
| 2026 | Missouri’s America 250 Commission plans statewide commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, including the Battle of Fort San Carlos. | Statewide | America 250 Missouri Commission – About the Commission |
| November 11, 2026 | The Liberty Memorial marks 100 years since its dedication; the National WWI Museum and Memorial holds a Centennial Veterans Day Weekend on Nov. 6-9 and Nov. 11, 2026, with a free public ceremony on the grounds. | Liberty Memorial, Kansas City (Jackson) | National WWI Museum and Memorial – Events |
What we could not verify
- Two official sources word Ste. Genevieve’s founding differently: the NPS calls it the “first permanent European settlement” in Missouri, and the State Archives says “first permanent white settlement.” Both say it was established by 1750.
- The State Archives dates the Battle of Island Mound to October 29, 1862; the Missouri State Parks page for the site gives only the year 1862.
We re-check these when the source pages change. Spot something we missed? Use the corrections page.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Missouri history timeline?
Yes. The Missouri State Archives publishes a six-part Timeline of Missouri History running from 1673 to the present, with record citations. Our timeline has 61 dated entries, from Clovis hunters at the Kimmswick Bone Bed more than 10,000 years ago to 2026 (source: Missouri State Archives: Timeline of Missouri History).
What was the Missouri Compromise?
The Missouri Compromise and Missouri’s Enabling Act were signed on March 6, 1820. They let Missouri enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It came 17 years after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, which brought present-day Missouri into the United States (source: Missouri State Archives: Timeline of Missouri History, 1673-1820).
When did Missouri abolish slavery?
On January 11, 1865, Missouri’s Constitutional Convention meeting in St. Louis abolished slavery in the state, three weeks before Congress proposed the 13th Amendment. Missouri had stayed in the Union after a state convention voted 98-1 against secession on March 19, 1861 (source: Missouri State Archives: Timeline of Missouri History, 1861-1869).
Last checked October 20, 2026 by the It’s Missouri editors against each operator’s, agency’s or organizer’s own page.
Sources
- Missouri State Parks – Mastodon State Historic Site history
- Missouri State Parks – Graham Cave State Park
- Missouri State Parks – Towosahgy State Historic Site
- Missouri State Parks – Iliniwek Village State Historic Site
- Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1673-1820
- Missouri State Parks – Osage Village State Historic Site
- NPS – Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park
- NPS – Battle of St. Louis (article)
- Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1821-1860
- Missouri State Parks – Trail of Tears State Park
- Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1861-1869
- Missouri State Parks – Battle of Carthage State Historic Site
- Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1870-1899
- Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1900-1949
- Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – About
- National WWI Museum and Memorial – Built by Kansas Citians, Embraced by the Nation
- Missouri State Archives – Timeline of Missouri History: 1950-Present
- U.S. Dept. of the Interior press release, Oct. 30, 2020
- State Historical Society of Missouri – Missouri 2021 Presents: Missouri Bicentennial Commemoration
- America 250 Missouri Commission – About the Commission
- National WWI Museum and Memorial – Events
Cite this page: It's Missouri, “Missouri History Timeline: 61 Dated Events With Sources”, itsmissouri.com/history/timeline/ (updated ). By the It's Missouri editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.