Missouri celebrates 200 years

BY DIANA LAMBDIN MEYER

If you prefer your birthday parties with a helping of ice cream, Missouri may be your perfect vacation spot this summer. For it was at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis that one of the first ice cream cones was served to the public.

Therefore, it’s only appropriate that the treat was later recognized as the official dessert of Missouri. And as the 24th state celebrates its 200th birthday this summer, there will be lots of ice cream cones to enjoy.

The biggest party is expected to take place in St. Charles, just west of St. Louis. It was here on the banks

of the Missouri River that Lewis and Clark officially launched their exploration of the American West in May 1804. St. Charles served as the state’s first capital for five years. Today, all of the 11 rooms and their furnishings remain as part of the Missouri First State Capitol Historic Site.

“Missouri becoming a state was a deeply political event tied to the issue of slavery and the economic conditions of the 1820s,” says Sue Love, assistant superintendent of the historic site. “There’s no place better than St. Charles to understand the Missouri Compromise and life on the expanding frontier in the 1820s.”

Although Missouri became a state on Aug. 10, which falls on a Tuesday this year, the majority of events in St. Charles will take place the preceding weekend.

In addition to tours of the historic site, there will be quilt shows, cake decorating contests, art events and evening concerts. A daylong “reverse parade” will take place on the Katy Trail, a railsto-trails park that crosses the state. The >

Find out more about the state’s bicentennial events and order a copy of the Missouri Bicentennial Passport at missouri2021. org.

parade will feature several bands, floats and other exhibits in stationary positions along the trail.

Spend a few days in St. Charles, shopping along the brick-lined streets, exploring the Lewis & Clark Boat House and sipping local wines. If river conditions are good, and they usually are in August, rent a kayak, canoe or raft and explore the mighty Missouri River up close and personal.

Missouri is defined by its rivers, including the Mississippi that forms the eastern border of the state. It is here that you’ll find the oldest town in Missouri in the village of Ste. Geneviève.

In 1735, French fur trappers became the first Europeans to colonize the area, and the French heritage remains strong today. Most of the buildings date to the early 1800s and serve as bed-and-breakfast inns, restaurants and shops.

Ste. Gen, as the locals call it, will celebrate Missouri’s big birthday the weekend of Aug. 13, combining the party with the community’s annual Jour de Fête, an outdoor craft fair with a French flair.

Ste. Gen was one of several communities that had vied for the opportunity to serve as Missouri’s capital, but that honor was eventually bestowed upon Jefferson City in 1826.

Named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson (or Jeff) City was chosen because of its location on the Missouri River, which was the primary means of transportation at that time.

The Capitol itself was not completed until 1917, but it was worth the wait for this Renaissance-style domed building. The building is home to the Missouri State Museum.

If COVID-19 mandates allow, take a tour to access the famous Thomas Hart Benton Mural in the old Senate chamber. Learn more about the life-altering decisions made here at the Missouri Museum on the first floor. l

The U.S. Post Office has released a Missouri bicentennial stamp featuring the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site, a water-powered mill constructed in the 1820s. See it in person, along with one of the state’s four remaining covered bridges, in rural Burfordville, near Cape Girardeau in southeast Missouri.