Another nickname for Missouri is “Mother of the West,” the historic starting point for westward expansion along the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, and other routes. More than half of the state’s 6.1 million residents now live in its two biggest metropolitan areas around Kansas City and St. Louis. Below are a few glimpses of the landscape of Missouri and some of the wildlife and people calling it home.
This photo story is part of Fifty, a collection of images from each of the United States.
A man walks by an oak tree displaying fall colors on the grounds of the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 29, 2018. #
Fireworks light up the night sky over the Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse as part of an Independence Day celebration in St. Louis on July 4, 2019. #
The moon rises behind the Mamba roller coaster at Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 17, 2019. #
The ruins of a turn-of-the-century stone mansion stand in Ha Ha Tonka State Park on Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks. #
Snow geese fly in Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Missouri. #
Rows of jack-o-lanterns are lit up at night for the Pony Express Pumpkinfest in St. Joseph, Missouri, on October 11, 2019. #
A bronze statue of Dred and Harriet Scott, photographed in front of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis. The statue, by artist Harry Weber, was erected near the place where Dred and Harriet Scott began their legal fight for freedom—a struggle that led to an eventual loss in the Supreme Court in 1857, when the court issued its divisive "Dred Scott decision." #
An interior view of Onondaga Cave in Onondaga Cave State Park near Leasburg, Missouri. #
The Dillard Mill building stands beside Huzzah Creek in the Dillard Mill State Historic Site in Missouri's Ozarks. #
A panoramic view of Kansas City, the largest city in the state of Missouri, on August 10, 2015. #
Chiefs fans celebrate at the Power and Light District as the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on February 2, 2020, in Kansas City. #
A couple watches fireworks set off by private citizens to celebrate Independence Day, from a vantage point at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City on July 4, 2018. #
A grove of walnut trees stands covered in vines. #
A restored Studebaker truck sits parked outside Ole Planters Restaurant in Hannibal, Missouri, on September 4, 2015. #
Gently falling snow fills the empty tops of dead Queen Anne's lace plants at the James A. Reed wildlife area in Lee's Summit, near Kansas City. #
A view of Busch Stadium and the skyline of St. Louis from the upper level during a game between the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals on April 9, 2014. #
A muskrat eats in a pond at the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri. #
Cindy Faulkner maneuvers a cotton picker through a field belonging to her and her husband, Rick Faulkner, as the sun sets in New Madrid, Missouri, on November 11, 2009. #
Shoal Creek flooding at Grand Falls in Joplin, Missouri, on May 23, 2019. #
The Temple, world headquarters of the Community of Christ, photographed in Independence, Missouri, on March 26, 2019. #
A woman photographs a crabapple tree decorated with more than 20,000 lights in Lee's Summit, Missouri, on December 21, 2018. #
An aerial view of downtown Branson, Missouri #
A view of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts building in Kansas City, Missouri. The structure, designed by architect Moshe Safdie, was completed in 2011. #
A view toward Dewy Short Dam and Table Rock Lake #
Crowds flock to historic Walnut Street during the annual Arts Fest in Springfield, Missouri. #
A man lays a card below a statue of the singer and musician Chuck Berry in University City, Missouri, on March 19, 2017. The rock and roll pioneer had passed away the day before at the age of 90, at his home in a suburb of St. Louis. #
A cornfield stands in rural Missouri on a summer evening. #
Downtown Jefferson City, Missouri, viewed from across the Missouri River #
A scene at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, near Republic, Missouri #
Joe Sohm looks out an observation window at the top of the Gateway Arch over St. Louis, on May 16, 2019. #
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected].
A collection of winning and honored images from this year’s nature-photo competition
A collection of amazing recent images made with the Hubble Space Telescope
Mourners of Pope Francis gathered at the Vatican, scenes from the the second weekend of Coachella 2025, a humanoid-robot half-marathon in China, and much more
Images of the people, animals, and landscapes of the Earth’s arctic and subarctic regions, photographed by Olivier Morin
