1. Missouri officially became a state on February 14, 1821. Before then, it was part of the Louisiana Territory and later the Missouri Territory. The state was admitted to the union as the 24th state.

2. On February 14, 1912, the state of Missouri issued a charter to the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia. This was the first school of journalism in the world, and it helped to shape the field of journalism and mass communication.

3. In 1935, the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City experienced one of the worst prison riots in American history on February 14. The riot lasted for three days, and it resulted in the deaths of four inmates and the injury of several others. The prison was heavily damaged, and 60 inmates were later convicted of a variety of charges related to the riot.

4. The historical marker for the Trail of Tears was dedicated on February 14, 1987, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Trail of Tears is the route that Native Americans took when they were forced to relocate from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States to areas west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s.

5. On February 14, 2005, Governor Matt Blunt signed a bill into law that created the Missouri Autism Commission. This commission was created to improve the lives of people with autism and their families in Missouri through research, programs, and services. Today, the commission continues to promote best practices for autism services in Missouri.