Articles > State Symbols

State Bird

MISSOURI’S state bird, the eastern bluebird, has been a state symbol since March 30, 1927. New York is the only other state to have the bluebird as its state bird. Members of the same family as robins, bluebirds are common in all of Missouri except the Bootheel and are noted for their singing.

During warm seasons, they feed on numerous insects including grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles. In winter, they use a variety of wil…... Read more >

Life in the Mansion

GOVERNOR MATT BLUNT, FIRST LADY MELANIE, AND BABY MAKE A HOME IN THE GOVERNOR’S MANSION — TOURISTS, TRAINS, GHOSTS, AND ALL

By Danita Allen Wood

Missouri First Lady Melanie Blunt can relate to the words of former First Lady Carolyn Bond: “Living in the Governor’s Mansion is like living above the shop.”

But the Jefferson City Mansion is no corner grocery. With pink granite columns on the front portico, a nearly twenty-foot-wide gra…... Read more >

State Seal

By John Fisher

Missouri adopted its first symbol, the stateseal, after Gov. Alexander McNair urged the legislature to fulfill its constitutional obligation to design an official seal. The legislature appointed a committee, and the committee’s design, with some modifications from the legislature, was adopted and signed by McNair January 11, 1822.

While no official record names the designer of the seal, Robert William Wells is accepted a…... Read more >

A Capital Capitol

By John Fisher

Perched atop a bluff overlooking the Missouri River, Missouri’s capitol is an impressive structure.

However, the capital has not always been in Jefferson City. In 1821, the new general assembly met in St. Louis and selected St. Charles for its temporary capital. The state government operated out of three adjoining buildings there from 1821 to 1826.

The legislature selected the site of present-day Jefferson City for th…... Read more >