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'''Jefferson City''' (official name: '''City of Jefferson''', informally '''Jeff City''') is the capital city of [[Missouri]] and the county seat and largest city of [[Cole County, Missouri|Cole County]] (though a small portion lies in neighboring [[Callaway County, Missouri|Callaway County]]). It had a population of 43,079 at the 2010 census, and is the center of the Jefferson City Metropolitan Statistical Area.
'''Jefferson City''' (official name: '''City of Jefferson''', informally '''Jeff City''') is the capital city of [[Missouri]] and the county seat and largest city of [[Cole County, Missouri|Cole County]] (though a small portion lies in neighboring [[Callaway County, Missouri|Callaway County]]). It had a population of 43,079 at the 2010 census, and is the center of the Jefferson City Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The city is the second-largest community in central Missouri, owing to its being the seat of state government and its status as a transportation crossroads. It is known as well for having a scenic downtown section, with sweeping views of the [[Missouri River]], and an active community life. Jefferson City was chosen as "America's Most Beautiful Small Town" by Rand McNally in 2013.
The city is the second-largest community in central Missouri, owing to its being the seat of state government and its status as a transportation crossroads. It is known as well for having a scenic downtown section, with sweeping views of the [[Missouri River]], and an active community life. Jefferson City was chosen as "America's Most Beautiful Small Town" by Rand McNally in 2013.
==History==
The lower Missouri River Valley, including present-day Jefferson City, was once part of the Mississippian culture, known for the many earthen mounds they left behind, most notably at [[Cahokia]]. After the collapse of that culture, various tribes, including the [[Osage]], moved in and out of the region.
No significant presence by European settlers existed in the area until near the end of the 18th century, when fur traders, mostly French-Canadians, began traveling up and down the Missouri River to make contact with Indian tribes farther upstream. The [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] passed the site in 1804 on their journey upstream, and again in 1806 during the return to [[St. Louis]]. Frontiersman [[Daniel Boone]] carved out a trail to the north that led west to the salt licks at present-day Franklin; the Boone's Lick Trail, as it was known, was heavily in use during the 1810s, leading to a more rapid settlement of the Missouri Valley.
Following their admission to the [[United States of America|Union]] as a state in 1820, Missouri legislators established a commission to determine the site of the new state capital; it had just moved from St. Louis to St. Charles on the lower Missouri, but there was general support for having a capital near the geographic center of the state. The commission, having been instructed to choose a site somewhere along the Missouri, and no more than 40 miles west of the mouth of the [[Osage River]], selected a point at the mouth of Wier's Creek, a few miles west of the Osage, in 1821, confirmed by the legislature before year's end. The ''Missourian'' (St. Charles) announced on January 17, 1822 that the new capital would be called the City of Jefferson, "in honor of the late President Jefferson, whose treaty bound us to the Union."<ref>https://shsmo.org/collections/manuscripts/ramsay/cole</ref>
Jefferson City was incorporated as a city in 1825, and the state legislature moved there the following year, after the construction of a capitol building. Despite this, its status as the capital was not secure for some time, as several other cities in central Missouri, including Columbia to the north, campaigned for the seat of government to be transferred to their own communities. This uncertainty lasted until Governor John Miller, who supported keeping the capital in its present location, suggested the building of a state penitentiary at Jefferson City. Constructed east of the original settlement, the penitentiary was completed in 1836. Despite a fire that destroyed the capitol the following year, the town's position was cemented from that point on. An effort to move the capital west to Sedalia was made as late as 1896, but this was decisively defeated in a referendum.
Settlement increased steadily through the antebellum era; by 1840, Jefferson City had a population of 1,174, and regular visits by steamboats and stagecoaches encouraged commercial activity beyond the business of state government. Railroad service to St. Louis began in 1856 via the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which had its western terminus in the city for some years. Given its importance, the city was troubled early on in the [[Civil War]], as [[Union]] and [[Confederate]] factions--the latter including then-governor Claiborne Fox Jackson--struggled to gain control of the Missouri government. In the summer of 1861, after Governor Jackson attempted to lead the state militia to join the Confederate forces, pro-Union volunteers from St. Louis (many of them recent German immigrants) marched into the city and set up their own regime, and the capital remained in Union hands for the rest of the war. The only serious threat came in 1864, when a Confederate raid under General [[Sterling Price]] passed near to the city; but it continued west rather than attempt a drawn-out battle with the fortified garrison.
Like much of the state, Jefferson City was hit hard socially and economically by the war and its aftermath, but gradually recovered during the late 19th century with the arrival of more manufacturing enterprises, including printing and shoemaking. Shortly after the war's end, the community also gained its first and only permanent institution of higher education, Lincoln University, established in 1866 for ex-slaves. One of the first bridges across the Missouri River was built in 1896, which has since been demolished and reconstructed (most recently in 1991).
The city gradually modernized throughout the 20th century. The first hospital, St. Mary's, was built in 1905, and streetcar service began in 1911. A fire destroyed the second capitol building that same year, prompting the construction of the third and present structure, completed in 1917. A new hospital (Still) was added in 1951, and another (Memorial) in the 1960s. Lower-lying portions of Jefferson City were damaged during the historic Flood of 1993, but soon recovered. In 2004, the Missouri State Penitentiary, which had been in operation since 1836 and housed such inmates as anarchist [[Emma Goldman]] and [[James Earl Ray]], assassin of [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] (though before his commission of that murder), closed down. It now functions as a museum and historic site.
Jefferson City is the home of the [[minor league]] baseball team, the [[River City Otters]], a Triple A team associated with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]].[http://mlb.cardinals.com]
Jefferson City is the home of the [[minor league]] baseball team, the [[River City Otters]], a Triple A team associated with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]].[http://mlb.cardinals.com]
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Missouri Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:Missouri Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:US State Capitals]]
[[Category:US State Capitals]]