Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Mississippi River forms the entire eastern boundary, while the Missouri River flows from west to east through the center. These waterways connect the major cities of Kansas City and St. Louis.
More than 7,300 recorded caves exist within these borders, second only to Tennessee. Perry County holds the single longest cave in the nation.
St. Louis was founded on the 14th of February 1764, by French fur traders Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent, Pierre Laclède, and Auguste Chouteau.
Missouri is the birthplace of the musical genres ragtime, Kansas City jazz, and St. Louis blues. Many well-known musicians were born or have lived in Missouri including Scott Joplin, Charlie Parker, and Chuck Berry.
Prior to 2008, Missouri had been widely regarded as a bellwether in American politics because it voted for the winning candidate in every election from 1904 to 2004 with a single exception: 1956 when Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson lost despite carrying Missouri.