Located just east of the US’s center-spot, which is in neighboring Kansas, Missouri is something of a meeting point for the cultures of the east, west and south of the country.
This is summed up in its nickname, ‘the Gateway to the West’, and visualized in the iconic Gateway Arch in second-largest city, St Louis.
While this 630 ft high structure – the tallest monument in the US – appears modern in style, it was actually designed in 1947, and completed in 1968.
St Louis has a long association with performing arts and live music, particularly the blues, jazz and ragtime genres, and its clubs and venues witnessed the earliest performances of the likes of Chuck Berry and Miles Davis.
In fact, live music is a theme that runs through much of the state. Branson, in the south, claims to be the ‘live music capital of the world’, while the state’s largest city, Kansas City (not to be confused with the city of the same name in neighboring state Kansas), is renowned for a jazz scene that, in its heyday, featured greats such as legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker.
Missouri’s Kansas City is also famed for its passion for barbecue cooking, its numerous boulevards (only Paris has more), and its many fountains (second only to Rome).
Compared to other states in the Great Plains region, Missouri has less farmland and more forest. The Ozark Mountain Region – a highland region covering much of the southern part of the state – offers plenty of scope for outdoor exploration.
Popular activities include horse riding, canoeing, cycling, hiking, skiing and fishing.
Missouri: Fast facts
• Located in the Midwest region of the US; borders with Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska (only Tennessee has as many direct neighbors)
• Capital is Jefferson City and largest city is Kansas City (not to be confused with Kansas City, Kansas)
• Missouri has voted for the eventual winner in all but two presidential elections since 1904
• Famous Missourians include poets T. S. Eliot and Marianne Moore, hip hot artist Akon, filmmaker Robert Altman, and Mark Twain, author of the ‘Great American Novel’, Huckleberry Finn
• Major products include soy beans, rice, lead and lime (the material, not the fruit)
• Missouri has more than 6,000 caves; only Tennessee has more
• Popular US drink iced tea is thought to have first been enjoyed at the 1904 World’s Fair in St Louis
• Memorable place names include Poplar Bluff, Rolla, Rocky Comfort, Walnut Shade and Excelsior Springs
Top universities in Missouri
Missouri’s top-ranked university, Washington University in St Louis (‘Wash U’), is placed at 78 in the 2011/12 QS World University Rankings.
The university is medium-sized, with about 6,000 full-time undergraduate students, 6,000 graduate students and 1,000 part-time/evening students.
Wash U is joined in the top 400 by the University of Missouri. ‘Mizzou’, as it is known, has more than 33,000 students, and prides itself on its diversity; students come from across Missouri, around the US, and 115 countries.
Mizzou is based in Columbia, the state’s fifth-largest city. Columbia ranks in the top 10 of Forbes magazine’s 2011 list of the USA’s Best Small Places for Business and Careers, based on factors including average property prices and income, cost of living, unemployment rate and college attainment.
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