Capital Relocation

After serving as the territorial capital, St. Charles served as the temporary capital of the State of Missouri until the state government was permanently relocated to Jefferson City.

Missouri's general assembly first met on June 4, 1821 at St. Charles during a special session convened by Governor Alexander McNair. The general assembly last adjourned in St. Charles on January 21, 1826. At this time all state property was loaded onto a keelboat and transported by river to Jefferson City.

Sources

• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.
• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri's Struggle for Statehood, 1804-1821. Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1916.

Truman's Day

An unlikely pick as Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1944 running mate, Harry S Truman would become president and win an unlikely re-election. With the ratification of the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the day January 20 was destined to be a recurring day of significance in the life of the President from Missouri.

On January 20, 1945, Truman would be inaugurated as the 34th Vice President. After Roosevelt's death in April 1945, his ascension to the Oval Office as the 33rd President, his stunning re-election in 1948, Truman would be inaugurated for a second term on January 20, 1949; the first televised presidential inauguration.

Four years later, after attending Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration, Truman boards a train and heads home to Independence, MO on January 20, 1953.

It would be exactly 8 years before Truman returned to the nation's capital to attend John F. Kennedy's January 20, 1961. It was on January 20, 1966 that Truman, at his namesake presidential library, announced the formation of the Harry S. Truman Center for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem.

Sources

• Harry S Truman Library & Museuam. “The 1949 Inauguration of President Harry S. Truman Historical Facts At-A-Glance.” Accessed January 17, 2011. http://www.trumanlibrary.org/quiz/inaug.htm.
• The Presidential Timeline Project of the Learning Technology Center (The University of Texas at Austin). "Harry S Truman." Accessed January 17, 2011. http://www.presidentialtimeline.org/html/timeline.php?id=33

County Creation

With 5 territorial counties in 1812, Missouri evolved into a state with 114 counties. The 114th county (Worth) was created February 1861.

On January 19, 1833 Pulaski county was organized from Crawford County. Pulaski County was named for Polish General Casmir Pulaski who fought in the American Revolution and is credited with saving the life of George Washington.

Pulaski County was 1 of 9 counties formed in January 1833 (see lists below for other 8). At that time, January 1833 was the largest monthly increase in the number of Missouri Counties and increased the number of counties by 27% from 33 to 42.

January 1833 would later be surpassed by January 1841 (15 counties on Jan 29) and February 1845 (19 counties on February 14) for the most counties created in one month.

January 2, 1833

• Carroll County; from Ray County; named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton
• Clinton County; from Clay County; named for New York Governor DeWitt Clinton
• Greene County; from Crawford and Wayne counties; named for Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Greene
• Lewis County; from Marion County; named for Captain Meriwether Lewis

January 5, 1833

• Morgan County; from Cooper County; named for Revolutionary War General Daniel Morgan
• Ripley County; from Wayne County; named for Revolutionary War soldier Eleazar W. Ripley
• Warren County; from Montgomery County; named for Revolutionary War General Joseph Warren

January 26, 1833

• Pettis County; from Cooper and Saline counties, named for Missouri Congressman Spencer Pettis

Source:

• Missouri Secretary of State. “Missouri History: What are the Origins of Missouri Counties?” Accessed January 18, 2011. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/counties.asp.

To Secede or Not Secede

In the early days of 1861 Missourians fell into three categories: Unconditional Unionists, Conditional Unionists, and Secessionists. As the names imply, the Unconditional Unionists were for remaining a part of the United States no matter what; the Conditional Unionists were in favor of remaining in the Union so long as the Federal Government made no further encroachments on state sovereignty; and the Secessionists felt immediate secession was necessary and justified to maintain state sovereignty. In early 1861 most Missourians were Conditional Unionists.

On January 18, 1861 the Missouri Legislature passed a bill that called for a State Convention to settle the secession question. Elections were held February 18 to elect delegates. With a hope of remaining neutral in impending struggle, Missouri elected a convention of delegates opposing secession. Former Governor Sterling Price would became the president of the convention.

Price was typical of many who opposed secession early in the war, but after certain events became secessionists. After presiding over the convention that voted against secession, Price would later become the commanding general of the Missouri State Guard, a Major General in the Confederate Army, and a popular choice in discussions across the south as successor to President Jefferson Davis.

Sources

• Harvey, Charles M. “Missouri from 1849 to 1861.” Missouri Historical Review, Volume II No. 1 (October 1907).
• Snead, Thomas L. The Fight for Missouri. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1886.
• McReynolds, Edwin C. Missouri: A History of the Crossroads State. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.

Debtor's Prison

Yesterday we blogged about the passage of a law that established the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. Today, we highlight the abolishment of imprisonment for unpaid debt. In his 1842 message to the general assembly, Governor Thomas Reynolds presented the dilemma of recent federal bankruptcy laws. Now a person with unpaid debt could declare bankruptcy to avoid the debt or face imprisonment under Missouri's debtor laws. Neither case would help resolve the unpaid debt.

In December 1842, the Missouri Senate passed a bill introduced by Benjamin P. Major calling for the abolishment of imprisonment for debt. The House bill introduced by Thomas B. Hudson passed with much debate and amendment. On January 17, 1843, a bill that passed both chambers was signed into law by Governor Reynolds.

Source

• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.

Missouri State Penitentiary

For those familiar with Jefferson City, the Missouri State Penitentiary near downtown, with its historic buildings and stone walls was an iconic landmark. The facility was featured in a History Channel series (ShowMeHistory.net contributor Mark Schreiber was interviewed and featured). The prison housed many notorious criminals and was the scene of major riots that, in the days before the internet and instant "news," captured the nation's attention.

In the 1830s, Jefferson City was still fending off challenges as the state capital. As the state was developing rival towns lobbied for this privilege. But on January 16, 1833 ¹ the general assembly passed a law providing for the acquisition of land and construction of a penitentiary house in Jefferson City; this seemed to settle the calm the activity of other towns trying to become the state capital - at least for a while.

The prison was completed March 1, 1836, consisted of one cellblock, the keeper's house, and utility buildings on was 4 acres and had a capacity of 40 inmates. The penitentiary received its first prisoner, Wilson Eidson of Greene County, on March 8, 1836. In November 1836, the warden reported to the general assembly that the penitentiary had 14 prisoners.

When the Jefferson City Correctional Center opened in September 2004, the nearly 2000 inmates were transferred from the State Penitentiary and the historic prison ceased its function of housing prisoners. Today the site of the Missouri State Penitentiary is being redeveloped and the construction of a new federal courthouse is nearing completion. The Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau conducts historic tours of the site, with Mark Schreiber as primary tour guide.

¹Early sources give the date January 16; later in the Official State Manuals of the 1960s the date is listed as January 18.

Sources

• Official Manual, State of Missouri 2005-2006. Jefferson City: Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State.
• Official Manual, State of Missouri 1963-1964. Jefferson City: Warren E. Hearnes, Secretary of State.
• Schreiber, Mark and Laura Burkhardt Moeller. Somewhere in Time: 170 Years of Missouri Corrections. Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, 2004.
• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.

Super Bowl I

In the 1960s, professional football had 2 leagues but no unified champion. That changed after the 1966 season when the first AFL-NFL championship game was played. The Kansas City Chiefs were a perennial AFL powerhouse in the 1960s and they faced the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers in what would become known as Super Bowl I.

Played in the Los Angeles Coliseum, the game kicked off at 1:00pm and was broadcast on CBS. While one-third of the Los Angeles Coliseum's 95,000 seats were empty, more than 65 million people watch the television broadcast. The television audience was the largest to watch a sporting event in the U.S. at that time.

Kansas City quarterback Len Dawson completed 11 of 15 pass attempts in the first half but the Chiefs trailed the Packers 14-10 at half-time. Kansas City would not score in the second half, and the final score was Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10.

Source

• MacCambridge, Michael. America's Game. New York: Random House, 2004.