5 THINGS

How Much MO Do You Know?

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT OUR STATE.

BY PEG GILL · ILLUSTRATIONS BY NATHAN BRINER

YOU MIGHT BE A MISSOURI NATIVE — or you came for college and stayed. Or maybe you relocated for a job. In any case, you may not be aware of certain facts about our great state. In honor of its statehood bicentennial this year, (the 24th in the U.S.), we gathered some obscure occurrences about the Show-Me State. From meaningful inventions to questionable quests, here are five things about MO you may not know:

1Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat! The first successful parachute jump ever made from a moving airplane was by Captain Berry at St. Louis in 1912. Note the words “successful” and “moving” in that one. Yikes!

2Whiskered Wacko. When Abraham Lincoln ran for president, one of his biggest objectors was Valentine Tapley of Pikes County. He swore if Lincoln ever became president, he would never shave again. Well, Lincoln did become president. And Tapley stayed true to his odd oath. When he died in 1910, his facial hair had hit 12½ feet long!

3Cone Zone. The ice cream cone was invented during the St. Louis World Fair in 1904, when an ice cream vendor ran out of cups and a nearby waffle vendor rolled up waffles to hold the ice cream. The ice cream vendor subsequently sold his ice cream in these waffle cones and a classic American dessert was born.

4Global Gloss. Kansas City has more miles of boulevards than Paris and more fountains than any city except Rome! Très European! (As long as you’re NOT a peein’ in any of the many cascading aquatic attractions.)

5Rumble Seat. The most powerful earthquake in the U.S. took place in 1811 and was centered in New Madrid. The quake shook more than one million square miles and people felt it as far as 1,000 miles away.