2006, 2994 UNITED STATES (Missouri) - Missouri map

2006 Missouri map

Posted on 03.11.2015, 22.03.2017
Located in the Midwestern United States and bounded by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, Missouri is nicknamed the "Show Me State", due to the skepticism of its inhabitants. The two largest rivers are the  Mississippi (which defines the eastern boundary of the state) and the Missouri (which flows from west to east through the state) essentially connecting the two largest metros of Kansas City (the largest city of the state) and St. Louis. The state's capital is Jefferson City.

2994 Missouri: 1. The Gateway Arch and the St. Louis skyline;
2. Country Club Plaza in Kansas City; 3. Ozark Mountains.

Missouri's geography is highly varied. Its northern part lies in dissected till plains and the southern portion lies in the Ozark Mountains, with the Missouri River dividing the regions. The state lies at the intersection of the three greatest rivers of North America, with the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis, and the confluence of the Ohio River with the Mississippi north of the Bootheel. Located in the interior US, it generally has a humid continental climate with cold snowy winters and hot, humid, and wet summers, often experiencing extremes in temperatures.

Indigenous peoples inhabited the area for thousands of years before European settlement. The first European settlers were mostly ethnic French Canadians, who created their first settlement in Missouri at present-day  Ste. Genevieve, at about 1750. St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French from New Orleans. From 1764 to 1803, European control of the area called Louisiana was assumed by the Spanish. River traffic and trade along the Mississippi were integral to the state's economy, and St. Louis expanded greatly after the invention of the steamboat.

Napoleon had gained Louisiana from Spain in 1800. Part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase by the US, Missouri earned the nickname Gateway to the West, and became known as the Missouri Territory. As many of the early settlers in western Missouri migrated from the Upper South, they brought enslaved African Americans as agricultural laborers, and they desired to continue their culture and the institution of slavery. So in 1821 the former Missouri Territory was admitted in the Union as a slave state.

In the early 1830s, Mormon migrants from northern states and Canada began settling areas just north of Independence, and in 1838 the Mormon War erupted. Conflicts over slavery also exacerbated border tensions among the states and territories. Before the American Civil War most Missouri farmers practiced subsistence farming, so in 1860 enslaved African Americans made up less than 10% of the state's population. Even if the majority of the citizen was for the to remain within the Union, after the St. Louis Massacre Missouri adopted the ordinance of secession.

The Progressive Era (1890s to 1920s) saw numerous prominent leaders from Missouri trying to end corruption and modernize politics, government and society. Between the Civil War and the end of WWII, Missouri transitioned from a rural economy to a hybrid industrial-service-agricultural economy as the Midwest rapidly industrialized. During the mid-1950s and 1960s, St. Louis and Kansas City suffered deindustrialization and loss of jobs. These major cities have gone through decades of readjustment to develop different economies and adjust to demographic changes.

About the stamps
On the postcard 2006
Three of the stamps are part of the definitives series American Design (2002-2007), about which I wrote here. The other two are part of the series Celebrity Chefs,about which I wrote here.

On the postcard 2994
About the stamp which pays tribute to the majestic emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), I wrote here.

The second stamp was issued on February 20, 2017 (Presidents Day) to mark The 100th Anniversary of the Birth of John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (1917-1963), commonly known as JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, and certainly one of the most important and loved. He was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. The stamp features a 1960 photograph by Ted Spiegel of Kennedy campaigning for president in Seattle.

The last stamp is part of the series Pickup Trucks, issued on July 15, 2016. The four stamps, designed by Chris Lyons & Antonio Alcala, are First-Class Mail stamps (Forever priced at 47 cents):
• International Harvester D-2, 1938
• Chevrolet, 1953
• Ford F-1, 1948
• Ford F-100, 1965 - It's on the postcard 2994

References
Missouri - Wikipedia

Sender 2006: Denise
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 14.01.2015
Sender 2994: Trudy Smith / stephena (postcrossing) US-4541267
Sent from Saint Louis (Missouri  / United States), on 12.03.2017
Photo: Steve Gibson / Charles Gurche