Other sources of information Fast Facts: Jefferson City about Jefferson City: Population: 41,000 City of Jefferson : Largest Employers: www.jeffcitymo.org State Government
County of Cole: Scholastic, Inc. www.colecounty.org ABB R R Donnelley Convention & Visitors Bureau: Unilever www.visitjeffersoncity.com Jefferson City is the home to state government and county government. There For an informational packet about are more than 65 historic sites Missouri’s in Jefferson City including a Missouri and its history: famous state penitentiary. Capital City
Secretary of State: Named for Thomas Jefferson, the www.sos.mo.gov/archives third president of the United States, the Jefferson City area was a part of the Secretary of State Publications Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson City is P.O. Box 1767 located on the Missouri River near the Jefferson City, MO 65102 geographic center of the state and is Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce dominated by a beautiful domed Capitol, 213 Adams Street P.O. Box 776 rising from a bluff overlooking the Mis- Jefferson City, MO 65102-0776 souri River. Lewis and Clark passed Phone: 573-634-3616 beneath that bluff on their historic expe- Fax: 573-634-3805 Web: www.jeffersoncitychamber.org dition 200 years ago. A brief look at the history of the How the City of Jefferson state capital:
became the State Capital 1803 The United States, under President Thomas Jefferson, buys the When the Missouri Territory was organized Louisiana Territory from France in 1812, St. Louis was the seat of government. St. Charles served as the capital until Jefferson 1804 The Corps of Discovery (Lewis & City was chosen as the capital in 1821. At that Clark) camps near what would later time, the city was little more than a trading post become Jefferson City located in the wilderness and was known as
Lohman’s Landing. State leaders chose the By night or by day, the Capitol is 1806 Lewis & Clark return journey site because of an agreement that the capital the focal point of the Jefferson City had to be within 40 miles of the confluence of skyline. In many cities, the capitol 1821 Missouri admitted into the Union the Osage River. Jefferson City site chosen for the building is hidden by skyscrapers, but state capital Renamed the “City of Jefferson” after not so in Jefferson City due to an ordi- President Thomas Jefferson, the little town nance that states no structure may be 1826 State Government moves to struggled. Prosperity didn’t come quickly or built higher than the State Capitol. Jefferson City easily, and many wondered if the city should 1836 Missouri State Penitentiary opens remain the capital. The present capitol building was
The city survived the Civil War, a plot to modeled after the Nation’s Capitol 1837 First Capitol burns down poison all the citizens of the city, several and is made of Carthage Marble 1849 Cholera epidemic attempts to relocate the capitol to Sedalia, and quarried in Carthage, Missouri. Two two capitol buildings burning to the ground. hundred sixty feet above the ground, 1855 Pacific Railroad comes to city Missouri was the first slave state to free its Ceres, the Roman goddess of agricul- slaves prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. ture, sits atop the Capitol and looks 1861 Federal troops seize the capitol The current Capitol was completed in 1917 down upon Jefferson City. 1911 Second state capitol building burns and is the third State Capitol building built in
Jefferson City. The first two capitol buildings 1917 Third capitol building completed were destroyed by fire — the first in 1837 and the second in 1911.