Missouri
Shipping along the navigable rivers boosted the state's status as an agricultural
supplier. Barges and steamboats used the waterways to move goods and people. River
towns boomed. Railroads continued to fuel the growth of Missouri as a large transportation
center. Today more than a dozen major railroads carry goods through the state,
and transcontinental airlines keep passengers and cargo on the move.
The Show Me State: This most widely recognized nickname for Missouri was in use
in the late 1890s. It's not know exactly where or how this nickname originated.
The most popular story regarding
this nickname revolves around remarks made by United States Congressman Willard
Duncan Vandiver who served as a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs.
Mr. Vandiver, a scholar, writer and lecturer with a passing resemblance to Mark
Twain, was speaking to Philadelphia's Five O'Clock Club. Questioning the accuracy
of an earlier speaker's remarks he concluded "I come from a state that raises
corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces
nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."
Another story is that the nickname
originated as a derogatory reference to Missouri miners working in Leadville,
Colorado. During the Colorado miner's strike, men from Joplin, Missouri were brought
in to work the mines. It is said that the Missouri workers, unfamiliar with Colorado
mining methods, required frequent instructions from the pit bosses. "That
man is from Missouri. You'll have to show him."
Another legend indicates that the
name originated on passenger trains. Around 1897, hundreds of free train passes
were given to Missouri legislators. The conductors, when told that a free pass
was being used, would say "You've got to show me." |
