Today we are going to visit the capital of Missouri - Jefferson City.

The photos are: 1) an aerial view of Jefferson City; 2) the Missouri State Capitol Building; 3) the Korean and Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza; 4) Binder Park Rock; 5) the Guvnuh's Mansion: 6) a fountain on the grounds of the State Capitol; 7) McKay Lake; and 8) the Jefferson City Opera House.

Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County. It is the principal city of the Jefferson City metropolitan area, which encompasses both Callaway and Cole counties. As of 2006, the population is 39,274. Jefferson City was named after Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States of America.
Jefferson City is on the northern edge of the Ozark Plateau on the southern side of the Missouri River near the geographic center of the state, in a region known as Mid-Missouri. It is at the western edge of the Missouri Rhineland, a wine-producing region. The city is dominated by the domed Capitol, rising from a bluff overlooking the Missouri River to the north. Lewis and Clark passed beneath that bluff on their historic expedition upriver before Europeans established any settlement there.

In Pre-Columbian times, this region was home of an ancient people known only as the Mound Builders. By the time European settlers began arriving, the Mound Builders had vanished into history. The contemporary indigenous peoples were called the Osage Indians. When the Missouri Territory was organized in 1812, St. Louis was the seat of government. St. Charles next served as the capital.

During the American Civil War, Jefferson City was occupied by Union troops. Many of the people in the state supported the Union, although Missouri's Little Missouri section along the river in western counties was strongly Confederate.
German immigrants created vineyards in small towns on either side of the Missouri River, especially on the north, from here east to Marthasville outside St. Louis. Known as the Missouri Rhineland for its vineyards, first established by German immigrants in the mid-19th century, this area has become a part of the agricultural and tourist economy.

When the Missouri Territory was organized in 1812, St. Louis was the seat of government. St. Charles served as the capital until Jefferson City was chosen as the new capital in 1821. In many ways, the manner in which Jefferson City was chosen as a site for Missouri´s capital is reminiscent of the political wrangling which resulted in the formation of the District of Columbia, home of our nation´s capital. The site for Missouri´s capital was chosen as a compromise between two major population centers. In the case of the District of Columbia it was North and South. In Jefferson City´s case it was East and West. It was first known as Lohman's Landing and was little more than a trading post located in the wilderness about midway between St. Louis and Kansas City. In 1826 the Missouri legislature first met here. In 1839 the site was incorporated as a city. In a serendipitous way, those early founders insured that Jefferson City would become one of the most beautiful state capitals in the nation. The great domed Capitol, resembling the one in Washington, D.C., stands majestically at the center of the city, unlike many state capitols, which are frequently dwarfed by nearby skyscrapers. In Jefferson City the Capitol Complex dominates the skyline in an imposing way and visitors arriving from any direction know they have arrived at a seat of government. The present building, which was completed in 1917, is particularly noteworthy for its murals by Missouri-born painter Thomas Hart Benton. It houses both legislative branches of government. The Governor´s Mansion, completed in 1871, lies adjacent to the Capitol separated only by a picturesque garden. Nearby are the Jefferson Building (1952), the State Office Building (1938), the Supreme Court Building (1906), and the Truman Building (1983).

Missouri is the birthplace of T.S. Eliot, Samuel Clemens (better known as "Mark Twain"), Robert Heinlein, and is the boyhood home of Walt Disney. The state has produced famous characters such as Calamity Jane, Josephine Baker, Chuck Berry, and the unforgettable Harry S. Truman. Missouri was also home to some infamous citizens such as Frank and Jesse James. Missouri has supplied outstanding military leaders in both World War I and World War II. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in 1917-18, was born near Laclede, Missouri. Omar N. Bradley, Army group commander (1944-45) and the nation´s first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1949-53), was born in Clark. George Washington Carver, an African American born near Diamond, became famous for his scientific research in peanuts and agriculture.

The state´s "nickname" is the Show Me State. The expression is usually traced to a speech given in 1899 in Philadelphia by Willard D. Vandiver, a Missouri congressman: "I come from a country that raises corn, cotton, cockleburs, and Democrats. I´m from Missouri, and you´ve got to show me."

Today's Jumble (12/8/08):

DYNAS = SANDY; TWAHR = WRATH; HELBIT = BLITHE; YERTAW = WATERY

CIRCLED LETTERS = SAWTTHWAT

What dad had to know when he changed the light bulb.

"WHAT'S WATT"

Today is National Brownie Day. Go and eat one! It is also Stick It In The Ear Day. Finally, today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Other things on this day in history:

1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room, the second public library of Europe.
1659 - Mexican border town Ciudad Juárez is founded by Fray García de San Francisco.
1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin.
1864 - The Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon is officially opened.
1869 - Timothy Eaton founds T. Eaton Co. Limited in Toronto, Canada.
1886 - The American Federation of Labor is founded in Columbus, Ohio.
1889 - The KNVB is founded in the The Netherlands
1904 - Konservativ Ungdom (Young Conservatives) in Denmark is founded by Carl F. Herman von Rosen. Still existing today, it is the oldest political youth organization in Denmark and believed to be one of the oldest in the world.
1907 - King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.
1912 - First Balkan War: The Greek army captures Korçë that had been under Ottoman rule.
1914 - World War I: Battle of the Falkland Islands - The Kaiserliche Marine under the command of Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee is engaged by the Royal Navy.
1935 - The Japanese military police launches a violent suppression of the religious sect Oomoto, beginning with a crackdown on the sect's operational bases of Ayabe and Kameoka in Kyoto Prefecture and the arrest of its leader Onisaburo Deguchi.
1941 - World War II: The Japanese invade the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. They also invade the portions of Shanghai administered by European powers and bomb American bases in the Philippines. Because of the time difference, these events - which took place west of the International Date Line - happened while it was still December 7 to the east of this line.
1941 - World War II: Pacific War - After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S. Congress passes a declaration of war against Japan.
1941 - World War II: Pacific War - the Republic of China officially declares war against Japan.
1941 - World War II: First Japanese attack on Wake Island.
1941 - Holocaust: Gas vans are first used as a means of execution, at the Chelmno extermination camp near Łódź in Poland.
1942 - Holocaust: in Ternopil, Ukraine, the German SS organizes the deportation of the last 1,400 Ternopil Jews to the death camp in Belzec. The chief of the Gestapo, SS-Sturmbannführer Heinrich Müller, bore overall responsibility for the mass murder of the Jews of Ternopil and Berezhany county.
1949 - Chinese Civil War: The capital of the Republic of China is moved from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan.
1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the Atoms for Peace speech.
1963 - Pan Am Flight 214 crashes outside Elkton, Maryland with a loss of 81 people.
1966 - The Greek SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.
1969 - An Olympic Airways Douglas DC-6 crashes in Keratea during a storm, killing 93 people.
1972 - United Airlines Flight 553 crashes near Chicago Midway Airport, killing 45 people.
1974 - A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.
1980 - Mark David Chapman shoots and kills John Lennon in front of The Dakota apartment building.
1982 - Activist Norman Mayer threatens to blow up the Washington Monument, before being killed by United States Park Police.
1982 - In Suriname several opponents of the military government are killed.
1987 - The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed.
1987 - The Queen Street Massacre: Frank Vitkovic shoots and kills 8 people at the offices of Australia Post in Melbourne, Australia before being killed himself.
1987 - The Alianza Lima air disaster.
1991 - The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1991 - The Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.
1993 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton.
1998 - Tadjena massacre: 81 people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
2002 - The Caribbean Community Heads of Government meet with the Government of Cuba and declare the date to be "CARICOM-Cuba Day" - To celebrate diplomatic ties between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba.
2004 - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
2005 - Ante Gotovina, Croatian army general accused of war crimes, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife by the Spanish police.