Crazy Laws in Missouri and Fun Facts

Author:
drbj and sherry
Updated date:
Nov 2, 2015

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-missouri-and-fun-facts — Pixabay.com

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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Why? Have some animals objected?

• 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?

Do not sit on a curb with this bucket.
Flickr.com

• 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.

Most intriguing Yard Sale sign I ever saw!
Flickr.com

• 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.

Missouri warrior at left - painting by Karl Bodner

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.

• The SLU Billikens football team threw the first legal forward pass in college football history in 1906. How did the team get their name? The Billiken was a national fad at the time; the coach, John Bender, was said to resemble one.

• Hermann is a storybook German village with a rich wine-making history. Founded in 1837 as the ‘New Fatherland’ for German settlers, the town has achieved national recognition because of its quality wines and distinctive heritage.

• Hermann also calls itself the sausage-making capital of Missouri and during the summers offers a ‘Sausage Making 101’ class.

• With a large German immigrant population and the development of a brewing industry, Missouri has always had among the most permissive alcohol laws in the U.S. It never enacted statewide prohibition.

• In 1860, an express mail service began between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California. You know it as the Pony Express. The entire route was 1,900 miles long.

• Pony Express riders were required to sign this oath: "I, . . ., do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, (founders) I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God."

• How much were they paid? The riders received $100 a month as pay. A comparable wage for unskilled labor at the time was about 43 cents to $1 per day.

• Jesse James was born in Kearney, the son of a Baptist minister. After the Civil War, Jesse and his brother, Frank, turned to a life of crime. Their first bank robbery netted $60,000 from a bank in Liberty. For 15 years, Frank and Jesse robbed trains, banks and stagecoaches throughout the U.S.

• In 1876, Jesse and Frank were involved in a robbery with the Younger Brothers and other gang members. Pinkerton detectives killed or wounded all of them except Frank and Jesse.

Jesse, his wife, and children went into hiding, but the $10,000 price on Jesse's head led Bob Ford, a member of his gang, to shoot him at his St. Joseph home in 1882 to collect the reward.

• The oldest church in St. Louis is the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi River. Planning for the cathedral began in the 1870s.

• In 1912, installation of mosaics in the interior began. The mosaics contain over 41 million glass pieces in more than 7,000 colors. Covering 83,000 square feet, it is the largest mosaic collection in the world.

• Missouri is known as the ‘Show Me State’ which some say began in 1899 when Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver stated, ‘I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me.’

• The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot monument in St. Louis. Constructed in stainless steel, it is the world's tallest arch and the tallest monument in the Western Hemisphere.

The Arch marks downtown St. Louis and a historic center that includes the Federal courthouse where the Dred Scott case was first argued.

Modern 7 Up logo

• In 1889, Aunt Jemima pancake flour, invented at St. Joseph, was the first self-rising flour for pancakes, and the first ready-mix food ever to be introduced commercially.

• The carbonated soft drink, Dr Pepper (no period after ‘Dr’), created in 1885 was introduced at the 1904 World's Fair Exposition in St. Louis as a new kind of soda pop made with 23 flavors.

• 7 Up is a brand of lemon-lime flavored, non-caffeinated soda created in St. Louis in 1929 by Charles Leiper Grigg.

• Its original name was ‘Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda’ and it contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug, until 1950.

How did the drink get its name?

From the seven main ingredients in the drink?

Or from a coded reference to the lithium in the original recipe which has an atomic mass of approximately 7? What do you think?

• Agnes Marshall, the ‘queen of ices’ in England can be credited with the invention of the ice cream edible cone, mentioned in her 1888 cookery book, the recipe being ‘cornets with cream.’

• The ice cream cone was re-invented at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 when, according to legend, an ice cream vendor ran out of cardboard cups for the scoops of ice cream he sold. He asked the waffle maker in the booth next to him to help by rolling up waffles to hold ice cream. Voila! The U.S. ice cream cone.

• Kansas City is known for its barbecue cuisine beginning in 1908 when Henry Perry, the ‘Father of Kansas City BBQ’ started selling his barbecue meats from an alley stand in the downtown Garment District.

As his tasty food gained popularity, he soon was running his full time operation out of an old trolley barn near the famous corner of 18th & Vine.

• The Zagat Survey named Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue in Kansas City the ‘#1 Barbecue House in the Country.’

• Today there are many competitions to see who makes the best barbecue. Kansas City is known as the ‘Barbecue Capital of the World.’

• The Flushometer was invented in 1906 by American businessman and inventor, William Elvis Sloan, of Liberty. Are you wondering what a Flushometer is?

A Flushometer is a mechanism which uses an inline handle to flush toilets or urinals which is installed in millions of commercial, institutional and industrial restrooms worldwide.

• Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, was born in Florida, Missouri and grew up in nearby Hannibal.

His experience as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River provided the background for two of his most popular novels: ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ and the sequel, ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’

His pen name, ‘Mark Twain,’ came from the call made aloud when the steamboat was traveling in a safe river depth – two fathoms or 12 feet.

• Kansas City is sometimes referred to as the ‘Heart of America,’ as it is near both the population center of the U.S. and the geographic center of the 48 contiguous states.

Super Bowl Clydesdale 2013

Super Bowl Clydesdale 2014

Super Bowl Clydesdale 2015

• Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, founded in 1852 by German immigrant Adolphus Busch, is the largest beer producing plant in the nation.

The company operates 12 breweries all located in the U.S., as well as 10 theme parks as part of its family entertainment division.

• The company keeps a rotation of its famous Budweiser Clydesdales at its headquarters. These historic draft horses were originally used to pull wagons carrying beer in the 19th-century.

Some of the herd is kept at the company farm in St. Louis County which is known as Grant's Farm – it had been owned by former President Ulysses S. Grant at one time.

The other half of the Budweiser Clydesdales are kept at the Warm Springs Ranch near Booneville. The handsome Clydesdales have been featured in several Anheuser-Busch TV Superbowl commercials.

Are those Clydesdale TV commercials great entertainment ... or what?

Speaking of entertainment:

• Branson is well known for its entertainment theaters, most of which bear the name of a star performer or musical group. The town calls itself ‘the live music show capital of the world.’

Some of the attractions include the Hollywood Wax Museum ... Silver Dollar City ... White Water ... Waltzing Waters ... Mount Pleasant Winery ... Stone Hill Winery ... Ride the Ducks ... Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede ... Zip Lines ... National Tiger Sanctuary ... Butterfly Palace ... Rainforest Adventure.

• Harry S. Truman was born in Lamar and raised in Independence. He served in France during World War I and after the war, opened a men’s clothing store in Kansas City. An active Democrat, he became a Senator in 1934.

Truman had been vice president for 82 days when President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945.

As the 33rd President of the United States, Truman ordered the use of atomic weapons against Japan at the end of World War II.

• The Ozark Mountains cover much of the southern half of Missouri. It’s a cherished bit of Ozarks folklore that persimmon seeds are dependable weather forecasters.

Are you asking how?

Split a persimmon seed into two thin halves. The shape of the tiny seedling inside a persimmon seed can predict conditions in the upcoming winter: a spoon shape on the seed indicates above average snowfall; a knife shape signals colder than normal temperatures; and a fork shape means warmer than average temperatures.

Fun Fact I bet you didn’t know

At Lindbergh's request, the large fuel tanks were placed in the forward section of the fuselage, in front of the pilot, with the oil tank as a firewall.

This improved the center of gravity and reduced the risk of the pilot being crushed to death between the tank and the engine in the event of a crash.

This decision meant there could be no front windshield, and forward visibility would be limited to the side windows. Lindbergh wasn't concerned - he was used to flying in the rear cockpit of mail planes with mail bags in the front.

When he wanted to see forward, he would slightly yaw the plane and look out the side.

• Charles Lindbergh’s flight from Long Island to Paris May 20-21, 1927, took 33½ hours to complete.

It was the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight in history.

Lindy's plane was named ‘The Spirit of St. Louis’ in recognition of the St. Louis businessmen who funded its construction,

The single-engine plane had a 46-foot wingspan and weighed 2,150 pounds when empty.

• The first successful parachute jump to be made from a moving airplane was made by Captain Albert Berry in 1912 who landed at Jefferson Barracks, MO.

• Leroy Robert ‘Satchel’ Paige, the Major League baseball pitcher, received his nickname as a young boy when he worked as a redcap toting bags at the train station.

Since he only made a dime a bag, he built a contraption that allowed him to carry four bags at a time. A friend said he ‘looked like a walking satchel tree.’

Satchel was noted for his famous baseball ‘hesitation pitch.’

• Sedalia has been called the cradle of classical ragtime. ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ by Scott Joplin became one of the first pieces of American sheet music to sell over one million copies.

• At 2,000 feet tall, weighing in at one million pounds, Rohn Tower of KMOS-TV in Syracuse is one of the tallest structures in the world.

To put it in perspective, the tallest building in the world is Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 2,722 feet, while the Empire State Building stretches to only 1,454 feet.

• The world’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade is held in Maryville, home of Northwest Missouri State University. The annual parade sponsored by The Palms Bar and Grill has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the shortest Saint Patrick's Day parade.

How short is it? It runs approximately half a block.

• Missouri has 5,500 recorded caves. At least 13 cave names are associated with ‘beaver,’ 36 with ‘bear,’ 13 with ‘panther,’ and 17 with ‘wildcat.’ More than 30 have ‘buzzard’ in their names.

• It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a flying saucer!

No, it just looks like a flying saucer. It is the James S. McDonnell Planetarium built in 1963 as part of the St. Louis Science Center. It hosts almost 1.5 million visitors each year.

• Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills near St. Louis is filled with unusual works of art including a giant sculpture of the human eye.

One of the park’s best known works is ‘The Way’ which weighs 55 tons.

It has been described as a modernist work, ‘meant to represent the awe-inspiring impact of classical Greek temples and mammoth Gothic-style cathedrals.’

I’m just quoting here, folks.

• Mama’s on the Hill (formerly Oldani’s) is a restaurant in St. Louis credited with the invention of toasted ravioli, an entrée pronounced as ‘the best I ever ate’ on the Food Network television show.

• In St. Louis, Ted Drewes Frozen Custard produces ‘Home of the Concrete,’ which is similar to a Blizzard at Dairy Queen but so thick that employees turn it upside down when handing it to customers! Ted Drewes gets so crowded on weekends that police officers are often called to direct traffic.

Other delicious desserts are the ‘Terramizzou’ and the ‘Crater Copernicus.’

• Ripley's Odditorium is housed in a building that looks as if it has been cracked wide open by an earthquake.

• Speaking of earthquakes, Missouri is located in Tornado Alley and receives extreme weather in the form of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. The most recent tornado to cause damage and casualties was the 2011 Joplin tornado which destroyed about one-third of Joplin.

The tornado caused an estimated $1 to $3 billion in damages, killed 159 and injured over 1,000 people.

Famous Missourians

Yogi Berra … Stan Musial … Bill Bradley (sports) … George Washington Carver (scientist) … Vincent Price … Dick Van Dyke … Dennis Weaver … Betty Grable … Robert Cummings … Joan Crawford … Jean Harlow … Ginger Rogers (actors)… Ulysses S. Grant … Harry S. Truman (Presidents)… Mark Twain, Laura Ingalls Wilder, T.S. Eliot, Dale Carnegie, Tennessee Williams, Maya Angelou (writers)… Scott Joplin … Sheryl Crow …Tina Turner … Chuck Berry …Charlie Parker … Burt Bacharach (musicians) … Debbye Turner (Miss America 1990) … Shandi Finnessey (Miss USA 2004)

State Symbols

State Animal – Missouri Mule (a cross between a horse and a donkey)

State Horse – Missouri Fox Trotter

State Bird – Bluebird

State flower – White Hawthorn Blossom

State tree – Flowering dogwood

State song – ‘The Missouri Waltz’

State nicknames – Show Me state; Gateway to the West; Home of the Blues; Cave State

State motto – ‘Salus populi suprema lex esto’ – the welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.

State insect – Honeybee

State musical instrument – fiddle

State folk dance – Square dance

State rock – Mozarkite – the name is formed from Mo (Missouri), zark (Ozarks), and ite (rock)

Favorite Joke I heard in Missouri

An old Missouri farmer hardly ever leaves home. He is one of those people who doesn't trust the world to keep on turning if he doesn't keep an eye on it. But this one time he must go to the city for a few days. His first evening in his hotel, he calls home, and his hired man answers. And our farmer says, "So, everything all right at home?"

"Jus' fine, Boss, 'cept you know your dog? Ol' Shep got holt a some dead horse meat, and it kilt 'im."

The farmer is upset, of course, that dog was a good old friend. But then it occurs to him to wonder, "Where did Shep get holt of dead horse meat?"

"Well, Boss, the horses died when the barn burned, and ol' Shep got holt a some dead horse meat, and it kilt 'im."

"The barn burned? How'd the barn burn?"

"Well, the barn caught fire from the house, and when the barn burned, ol' Shep got holt a some dead horse meat, and it kilt 'im."

"Good Lord! You mean to tell me the house burned?"

"That's right, Boss. The house burned, then the horses died when the barn burned, and ol' Shep got holt a some dead horse meat, and it kilt 'im."

"How in creation did the house burn?"

"We're not altogether certain, Boss, but we're guessin' it was the candles on the coffin set the house on fire, and of course the barn caught fire off the house, the horses died when the barn burned, and ol' Shep got holt a some dead horse meat, and it kilt 'im."

"The coffin? What coffin?!!"

"Well, Boss, about your wife . . ."

Comments for Crazy Laws in Missouri and Fun Facts

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on December 08, 2015:

Hi, Dianna. Not to worry if you don't light any matches on Sunday. :) I recommend that Kansas City barbecue - it is among the tastiest I have ever eaten and I see myself as an accomplished ribs gourmet.

Thanks for the visit.

Dianna Mendez on December 06, 2015:

Another fascinating read on fun facts. I guess you have to be very careful not to have a fire on Sundays. I would love to try some of their barbeque.

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on December 03, 2015:

Delighted to give you a joke you enjoyed, Martie. And thank you for finding this 'marvelous entertainment.' What more could I wish?

Martie Coetser from South Africa on December 03, 2015:

Crazy laws in Missouri, indeed! But also many interesting facts and the best joke I've heard in weeks! Thank you, drbj, for marvelous entertainment :)

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on November 28, 2015:

Hi, Theresa. I love your imaginative suppositions regarding some of Missouri's craziest laws. Have you ever considered running for the state legislature there? You would be a shoo-in.

Then again, you are too creative and grounded for that strange aggregation. Trust me.

Thank you for finding and enjoying this.

Faith Reaper from southern USA on November 26, 2015:

Hahaha ...Missouri just may have the craziest laws yet! Maybe people were using a pal to drink beer out of before they came up with a keg? Oh, I get it ...when they drank the beer out of a pal and left it by the curb, the risk of a wayward elephant finishing off the pal of beer caused much mayhem, hence the law about getting an elephant drunk. You put a or of work into gathering all the interesting facts about Missouri. Enjoyed this one very much!

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on November 19, 2015:

I guess it may be possible, Genna, that Missouri squirrels worry more than those in other states. I'll have to check that one out. Love your idea of dispensing Prozac to them but now I can't get the visual picture out of my mind of slap-happy squirrels attempting to climb trees without success.

You are most welcome for the giggles and the facts. My pleasure.

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on November 19, 2015:

Hi, Anne. Thanks for finding this hub fascinating. Now you only have to read about 25 or 26 more to catch up with the series. ;) And thanks for loving the photos, too. Happy that perceptive you noticed them.

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on November 19, 2015:

Well, Audrey, as long as you promise not to worry any squirrels, you will be more than welcome in Missouri. Thanks for stopping by and loving this.

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on November 19, 2015:

Delighted to see you, Savvy, and happy you found Missouri as interesting as I did. Who knew? I guess a squirrel might be worried if you try to steal its nuts. (I'll let you decipher that one for yourself.) Thanks for finding this entertaining.

Genna East from Massachusetts, USA on November 13, 2015:

• Worrying squirrels is not tolerated in the state. Lol. Oh my goodness; do they have psychologists to treat them and perhaps dispense Prozac for Squirrels? Thank you for the giggles, and the interesting fun-filled facts about Missouri.

Anne Harrison from Australia on November 11, 2015:

A fascinating hub - thank you - I look forward to visiting this crazy place some day! (And I love the photos)

Audrey Howitt from California on November 10, 2015:

I promise not to worry any squirrels!!! Loved this!

savvydating on November 10, 2015:

Who'd a thought Missouri could be so interesting? What a great hub. I had no idea what to expect. I wonder, how does one worry a squirrel? Ha! I thought they were the one's who worried us. Very entertaining stuff here. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on November 06, 2015:

Delighted you learned more about Missouri, Eric. Thanks for the 'Fantastic.' Your comment about the difficulty in riding a drunk elephant almost appears to be taken from real life. Hmmmmmmm? ;)

Eric Dierker from Spring Valley, CA. U.S.A. on November 06, 2015:

Fantastic. My paternal side hails from there and I was fascinated to learn more. You laugh but just try riding a drunk elephant.

drbj and sherry (author) from south Florida on November 05, 2015:

Thanks, Alicia, for your steady attendance at my Crazy Laws series - I do appreciate your continuous presence and very kind comments. You are most welcome, m'dear.

Linda Crampton from British Columbia, Canada on November 04, 2015:

The crazy laws were very funny, as always, but I found the facts especially interesting. Thanks for creating this great series, drbj.