It seems like only yesterday — well , in reality , 192 years ago — that Missouri became the 24th body politic in the Union . allow ’s lionise with 11 facts about the Show Me State .
1.Eight unlike states border Missouri . Name them aright without a map to win … our deathless respect .
2.To appeal to as many voters as potential , politicians sometimes pronounce " Missouri"two different ways — Missouree and Missouruh — in the same speech . pronunciation used to correlate to geography , with the -uh sound being more rife in rural areas . Now it ’s more of a generational difference .
3.Maybe we should call it the Read Me State . Famous Missourian writers include T.S. Eliot , Maya Angelou , Mark Twain , Tennessee Williams , and Sara Teasdale .
4.With more than 6000 know caves , Missouri ’s also know as The Cave State .
5.Richland , Missouri , is the only urban center in the U.S. with acave restaurant . ( Do n’t interest : There are n’t any bats . )
6.Harry S. Truman was the only U.S. President to hail from Missouri . After he left the White House in 1953 , he and his wife Bess moved back to the Independence home they shared with his mother - in - practice of law and lived off his $ 112.56 monthly Army pension .
7.The 1904 World ’s Fair in St. Louis introduced the masses to a number of new delicacy , including the waffle strobile , cotton candy , and Dr. Pepper .
8.St . Louis hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics — the first Olympic Games ever held in the U.S.—at the same time as the World ’s Fair . It was complete chaos . Athletes competed for four - and - a - one-half months with one result each day of the funfair . But only 42 of the 91 result really included competitors from other countries . The craziest part , though , was the marathon . Almost half of the runner incur heat stroke , and the first - post victor chicane by catch a motorcar ride from mi nine to mile 19 .
9.Another event that twelvemonth : rise a greased perch .
10.Missouri ’s one of 12 states with its own prescribed horse . The Missouri Fox Trotter is a mid - sized mesomorphic breed from the Ozarks that ’s popular on ranches .
11.Earthquakes are n’t just for California . Four of the largest in North American story — up to a moment magnitude of 8.0 — occurred from December 1811 to February 1812 in New Madrid , Missouri .
