Home › Cities › State Capitals
Jefferson City
Capital of Missouri, on a bluff above the Missouri River
Jefferson City was built to be a capital and little else. In 1821 Missouri set aside a site on the south bank of the Missouri River, near the state's center, for a new seat of government, and named it for Thomas Jefferson. The capitol rises on a limestone bluff directly above the river, a commanding spot in the rolling country where the Ozark foothills begin.
The Missouri River curves below the bluff, once the highway for fur traders and steamboats heading west. The surrounding land is wooded, hilly country at the northern edge of the Ozarks. A small city dominated by state government, "Jeff City" sits roughly midway between St. Louis and Kansas City, the two metros it governs from the middle.