Crazy Laws in Missouri and Fun Facts

Crazy Laws in Missouri and Fun Facts

It is illegal to provide elephants with liquor in Natchez, Missouri. And don’t you dare worry any squirrels. Or expose your antenna!

Doesn’t it make you wonder who the strange Missouri legislators were who enacted these crazy laws? And why?

Crazy Laws in the State of Missouri

• Worrying squirrels is not tolerated in the state.

So ... teach your squirrels to look on the bright side.

• Single men between the ages of 21 and 50 must pay an annual tax of one dollar (the law was enacted in 1820).

Commit the offense, you pay the expense. But what’s the point?

• It is unlawful to throw hard objects by hand.

Get a slingshot or a catapult … depending.

Crazy Laws in the Cities of Missouri

• In Buckner – yard waste may be burned any day except Sunday.

Sunday must be the Firemen’s day off.

• In Columbia – though clotheslines are banned, clothes may be draped over a fence.

What a charming, inviting sight!

• You cannot have an antenna exposed outside of your house but you can have a 25-foot satellite dish.

Quick – dress the antenna and expose the satellite dish.

• One may not drink in a bar between 2:00 and 6:00 a.m.

Good idea since bars are closed during that time.

• In Kansas City – installation of bathtubs with four legs resembling animal paws is prohibited.

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• Minors are not allowed to purchase cap pistols; however they may buy shotguns freely.

So … cap pistols are dangerous? And shotguns are not?

• In Marceline – minors can buy rolling paper and tobacco but not lighters.

That’s one way to cut down on tobacco use.

• In Marquette – it is illegal for more than four unrelated persons to occupy the same dwelling (the Brothel Law).

Hide the boarder – I think I heard a police siren.

• In Mole – yes, there really is a town named Mole. Frightening a baby is in violation of the law.

Be careful. You could get in big trouble playing, ‘Boo!’

• In Natchez – it shall be unlawful to provide beer or other intoxicants to elephants.

Don’t you just hate it when you come across a drunken elephant?

• In Perryville – it is unlawful for any person to injure or destroy any kind of bird within the city or to throw stones, shoot at or use any implements with the intention of killing or injuring any bird within the city.

You heard the word. Do not hurt a bird.

• In Purdy – dancing is strictly prohibited.

I would really like to know who provoked this law … and can I get a video of the perpetrators?

• In St. Louis – it is illegal to sit on the curb of any city street and drink beer from a bucket.

If you do not want to go to jail, then do not drink your beer from a pail.

• A milk man may not run while on duty.

Are there still real, live, genuine milkmen on duty in St. Louis? Just wonderin’.

• In University City – it is illegal to request for someone to ’watch over’ your parked car.

It’s hard to earn an extra buck in this city.

• One may not honk another’s horn. No person shall, without the permission of the owner or person in charge thereof, climb upon or into, or swing upon any motor vehicle or trailer, whether the same is in motion or at rest, or sound the horn or other sound-producing device ...

Happy that the law was explained so thoroughly. Obviously, some legislator was mightily disturbed by this potential transgression.

• No person may have a ‘yard sale’ in their front yard.

Simple – move the sale to your back yard.

• Houses may not have lights on them that shine into the window of a neighbor’s house.

You will be an inconsiderate louse, if your lights shine into your neighbor’s house.

Fun Facts and Illustrious Information about Missouri

• The first European settlers were mostly French Canadians who created their first settlement in Missouri in 1735 at present-day Ste. Genevieve, about an hour south of St. Louis.

• The state is named for the Missouri River which is named after the indigenous Missouri Indians. They were called the ‘ouemessourita’ meaning ‘those who have dugout (large) canoes.’

• Native Missourians today pronounce the state’s name as ‘Missour-ee’ or ‘Missour-uh.’

• Saint Louis University was founded in 1818 making it the oldest university west of the Mississippi River. A European campus is located in Madrid, Spain.