1. In 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike led a group of soldiers and scientists out of Fort Bellefontaine in Missouri to explore the western reaches of the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition eventually led Pike to the summit of what would become known as Pikes Peak in Colorado.

2. On June 2, 1838, the U.S. government began the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States, including parts of Missouri. Thousands of Cherokees died on the journey west, which became known as the Trail of Tears.

3. In 1861, Missouri was the site of the first major battle of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River. The Battle of Boonville saw Union forces under General Nathaniel Lyon defeat a group of secessionist Missouri State Guard troops.

4. On June 2, 1924, Missouri-born musician and bandleader Benny Moten recorded his first records with his jazz orchestra. Over the next several years, Moten and his band became one of the most popular in the Kansas City area and helped develop the distinctive style of jazz that came to be known as "swing."

5. In 1943, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld a state law that required all Missouri public school teachers to declare their loyalty to the United States and to the state of Missouri. The law was intended to root out suspected communists and other subversives among the teaching profession during the early years of the Cold War.