1779-1843. The author of our National Anthem was a lawyer, patriot, community leader and poet. His home and law office stood approximately 100 yards west of here. Francis Scott Key lived there from 1803 to about 1833 with his wife, the former Mary Taylor Lloyd of Annapolis, Maryland, and their six sons and five daughters. The house was demolished in 1947 after years of neglect by various owners.

During the war of 1812, British troops had invaded and captured Washington in August of 1814. They set fire to the Capitol, the White House and most Federal buildings. as they withdrew to their ships they took Dr. William Beanes prisoner because he had arrested some stragglers among the British troops for looting.

The popular and respected 35-year-old George Town lawyer, Francis Scott Key, came to the aid of friends seeking Dr. Beanes' release. Under a flag of truce approved by President James Madison, key set out with Colonel John Stuart Skinner, an American agent for prisoner exchange. They located the British fleet and boarded Admiral Cochrane's Royal Navy Flagship. Key successfully arranged for Dr. Beanes' release.

However, lest they reveal the British plans to attack Fort McHenry and Baltimore, they were detained under guard aboard their ship. Throughout the night of September 13-14, 1814, Key stood on deck watching the bombardment of Ft. McHenry. At dawn Key's anxiety was relieved. Our flag was still there! Key began to compose a poem on the back of a letter.guard aboard their ship. Throughout the night of September 13-14, 1814, Key stood on deck.

After the release following the British defeat, Key continued to work on his poem. On the next day, he showed it to a relative, Judge Joseph Hopper Nicholson, a Fort McHenry's defender. Nicholson was so moved he immediately had broadsides of the poem printed and circulated. That poem became The Star Spangled Banner.

Francis Scott Key's law practice continued to flourish. He was three times appointed to the post of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. He was active in anti-slavery causes, advocated the establishment of public schools, negotiated a treaty in 1833 between the Creek Indians and settlers in Alabama, and was a vestryman of St. John's Church as well as a founder of Christ Church in George Town. On a trip to Baltimore in 1843, Francis Scott Key died of pneumonia on January 11 at the home of his eldest daughter, Mrs. Charles Howard. He is buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery near his birthplace in Frederick, Maryland.

The high standards which guided Francis Scott Key's life continue to be an example to all Americans.

Mission San Luis, established by Spanish members of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans), served the Apalachee Indians located in present day Leon and Jefferson Counties. Its name may have been a tribute to Luis Horruytiner, the governor who began the mission effort. San Luis was established shortly after 1633 at Xinayca near the present State Capitol and the Hernando de Soto winter campsite of 1539-40. The mission was moved in 1656 to Talimali, an important Apalachee town. For three generations, Mission San Luis was the religious and military administrative center for the Apalachee region. In addition to 1500 Apalachees, the Mission was home to the Deputy Governor, soldiers, friars and Spanish settlers. On July 31,1704, two days before Colonel James Moore and a column of Carolina militiamen and Creek warriors reached Talimali, the mission, town and fort were evacuated and burned to keep the enemy from using them. Colonel Moore destroyed many mission villages and enslaved thousands, forever ending Apalachee's Franciscan Missions. Aoalachee decendants now live in Louisiana and remain Roman Catholic. The State of Florida purchased the Mission San Luis site in 1983 to protect it for future generations.

In Missouri the Boone's sons, Nathan, Jesse, and Daniel Morgan Boone, and grandson James Callaway played significant roles. Some are listed here:

~By 1805 Nathan and Daniel Morgan Boone re-blazed an old Missouri Indian Trail from their Spanish Land Grants in St. Charles County to the salt lick the found outside old Franklin, (in present Howard County). This was about two thirds the treck across the state of Missouri. This trail, combined with the Plank Road out of San Carlos (today's St. Charles), became the bases for the Boone's Lick Road, used by stage coaches and pioneers to travel to the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail for westward movement. This trail was also a major transportation for soldiers during the War of 1812.

~Nathan led General William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) across the state in 1808 to the site for building Fort Osage. Clark then sent Nathan to the villages of the Osages to bring them to the Fort for treaty talks. This was not an easy task.

~Nathan and Daniel Morgan, and James Callaway all were named as Captains of the first Companies of U. S. Rangers west of the Mississippi River in 1812. Nathan rose to the rank of Major, Daniel Morgan Boone to Lt. Colonel and James Callaway was killed near Loutre Creek by Indians in 1815.

~Nathan was named as one of the two representatives of St. Charles County to Missouri's Constitutional Convention in 1820.

~Jesse was elected to the first Missouri legislator.

~Jesse Boone nominated Thomas Hart Benton as one of Missouri's first two U.S. Senators.

~Daniel Morgan Boone was appointed to a five-man commission to locate a permanent capitol for the state. The encyclopedia Britannica states he platted the town.

~Daniel Morgan Boone was appointed to locate and build the courthouse and establish a County Seat for Gasconade County.

~Daniel Morgan Boone was appointed as the Kaw (Kansa or Kansas) Indian farm instructor and his family was one of the first several families to live in Kew Indian Territory (present day Kansas City area).

~Daniel Morgan Boone was appointed to a five-man committee by the governor to locate by survey the northern border of the state of Missouri.

~Nathan Boone became an officer in the U.S. military spending many years on the frontier to the west of Missouri. He retired as a Lt. Colonel, returning to Missouri. He surveyed Indian boundaries for the U. S. Government, and played a major role in keeping peace between various Indian tribes.

~The County of Boone Iowa is named for Nathan Boone.

~The County of Boone, Missouri, was named for Daniel Boone, to honor the many contributions of his sons. This honor and the naming of the town of Boonville, was done during his lifetime.

~The County of Callaway was named for Captain James Callaway.

~All of the earliest American to travel across the country had to do so on a trail blazed by one of the Boone Boys. Essentially no one went west across the state without moving on a Boone made trail.

Union or Confederate?
During the Civil War, Gov. Clairborne Jackson had planned for Missouri to join the Confederacy but was forced to flee in 1861 when the city was occupied by Union forces led by Gen. Nathaniel Lyon. The city continued under federal control despite an 1864 attempt to capture it by Sterling Price, a former Missouri Governor and Confederate General.

Missouri's Capitol Buildings
In just 11 years, the government had outgrown its statehouse and the General Assembly approved construction of a new Capitol. This came just in time, as the existing Capitol was soon destroyed by fire, and the new building was occupied in 1840. Business boomed in the 1850s. The Pacific Railroad brought goods from the east, which continued west by steamboat.

As the 19th century ended, there were calls to move the capital from Jefferson City. When that failed, several pushes were made for a new building. Gov. Herbert S. Hadley warned that the old Capitol was a fire hazard, but cost remained an obstacle.

On Feb. 5, 1911, a bolt of lightning struck the Capitol dome, igniting it. The loss of the building prompted another attempt to move the state government out of Jefferson City. Citizens blocked the efforts by once again voting for Jefferson City to remain Missouri's capital.

In response, the General Assembly recommended the issuance of state bonds for a new and much larger Capitol. A design reminiscent of the Capitol at Washington, D.C. was selected, and although it was not yet complete, the building was occupied in 1918.

The tax, which funded construction of the Capitol, produced a million-dollar surplus, which was used to hire notable artists from America and Europe. As a result, the Capitol contains a resplendent collection of stained glass, murals, carvings and statuary.

[Top Photo: The second Capitol, occupied in 1840, was built with stone quarried from nearby Missouri River bluffs. Remodeling, completed in 1889, gave the state's second Capitol a new dome.
Photo used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia;
Middle pair Photos: When fire destroyed the second Capitol in 1911, hundreds of people rushed to save the records.
Photo [upper] by Thomas G. Cooper and used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia. [lower] photo used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia.;
Bottom Photo: Missouri's third and present Capitol, built 1913-1917, contains many works of art that portray Missouri's people, legends, rivers, countryside, history, cities, and cultural achievements.
Photo used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia.

Cedar City's Prosperity
The town Hibernia exists in post office records from 1825. A wilder and wider Missouri River was a half mile closer then, and many people arrived by steamboat. While laying out a new town in 1872, David Kenney renamed it Cedar City for the nearby Cedar Creek and the Missouri River Island called Cedar Island. He probably anticipated the arrival of the Chicago and Alton Railroad (C&A) that came from the north and ended at Cedar City -- 21 years before the arrival of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railraod (Katy). Three time a week, stagecoaches delivering mail, passengers and supplies to Columbia, Claysville and Ashland. There was a four-room school and a school for African-American children. In the 1890s, a bridge was completed, tying the community to Jefferson City by electric trolley. When the Katy Railroad arrived, a spur and large freight depot were built for the loading and unloading of livestock and grain. Cedar City was a prosperous town. However, floods took their toll. Following a flood in 1973, new buildings were required to meet the 100-year flood standards. This made new construction impractical, but it was excellent foresight. The next 25 years saw more floods. The largest of all came in 1993 when over 20 homes were destroyed. now part of Jefferson City, only four homes remain in the area.

Missouri's State Capital
State lawmakers meeting in St. Charles mandated that the new state's capital be located on the Missouri River near the center of the state. The land for the new state Capitol was still wilderness when the seat of government moved to the city in 1826. This began a period of rapid growth with the lower end of Jefferson Street becoming a lively commercial and transportation hub, known as "the landing."

[Photos and credits: Top Photo: Steamboat travel on the Missouri River was one of the best ways to transport goods into the interior of Missouri during the first half of the 1860s.
Jefferson City, MO., 1869, view from the north by Albert A. Ruger. Original map in the Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

2nd Photo: Missouri's capital city was named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson whose vision led to the addition of the Missouri Territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Karl Bitter's large bronze sculpture depicting the signing of the Louisiana Purchase is located on the Capitol grounds.
Department of Natural Resources file photo

3rd Photo: The first statehouse in Jefferson City (60X40 feet), the only significant building in the capital at the time, housed both legislative and executive branches of state government.
DNR file photo

4th photo: The double doors of the lower level of the Lohman building faced the riverfront, providing easy handling of steamboat freight.
Illustration by Charles A. Dana, "The United States Illustrated" [New York] Hermann J. Meyer, {1853)

Portrait photo: Charles Lohman in partnership with Charles Maus operated a general store in the Lohman Building. They also managed the Lohman Opera House and other Jefferson City businesses.
Photo courtesy of L.M. Lohman.]

Served as first duly appointed Postmaster during the time that St. Charles was the State Capitol and performed his postal duties from here. Jeremiah and his brother Seth were joint owners in a botanical garden west of the city. They manufactured and distributed the first commercially produced castor oil, supplying the Lewis and Clark expedition with this medication.

Jeremiah and Seth discovered coal near Harvester. Prior to this, all heating was done with wood. The brothers promised free coal to heat the Capitol building, and this was an important factor in bringing the capitol to St. Charles.