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.