Missouri History Timeline
1900 – 1949: Glory Years, Wars then Depression
1901: First Missouri State Fair is held in Sedalia.
1904: World’s Fair is held in St. Louis.
1904: First Olympic Games in America held in St. Louis.
1905: The world’s first gas station opens in St. Louis.
1911: The second Missouri Capitol building is destroyed by fire.
1913: The Missouri State Flag is designed.
1918 – World War I ends.
1919: Missouri ratifies the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.
1920: 26-year-old Marie Byrum of Hannibal is the first woman to vote in Missouri.
1927: Charles Lindbergh lands the “Spirit of St. Louis” in Paris.
1928: Sliced bread debuts in Chillicothe.
1929: Stock market crash is precursor to The Great Depression.
1931: Missouri State Highway Patrol is formed.
1931: Bagnell Dam is completed making Lake of the Ozarks.
1933: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art opens in Kansas City.
1935 – Thomas Hart Benton paints A Social History of Missouri in the House Lounge in the Missouri State Capitol.
1938: The United States Supreme Court rules in the Lloyd Gaines case dealing with the “separate but equal” laws in Missouri.
1939: Kansas City “Boss” Tom Pendergast sentenced to 15 months in prison for income tax evasion.
1940: The Ellis Fischel State Cancer Center opens in Columbia.
1944: Senator Harry S. Truman of Independence is elected Vice President.
1944: The All-St. Louis World Series between the Cardinals and Browns
1945: Missouri’s fourth, and current, Constitution goes into effect.
1945: Vice President Harry S Truman becomes President after the death of FDR.
1945: World War II ends as Japan surrenders on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri
1946: “Iron Curtain” speech delivered by Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton.
1948: President Harry S Truman wins election as President.
1949: The Missouri Waltz becomes the official state song.
