JEFFERSON CITY

capital of Missouri, U.S., and seat of Cole County, on the Missouri River, near the geographical centre of the state. The site for the state capital was selected in 1821. The land had been donated under an act of the U.S. Congress that specified it be within 40 miles (64 km) of the mouth of the Osage River. Named for President Thomas Jefferson, it was laid out by Daniel M. Boone, son of the Kentucky frontiersman. Loyalties were divided during the American Civil War, but the city remained in the Union. Jefferson City is the trading centre for surrounding farmlands and has diversified manufacturing (electric appliances and transformers, printing, cosmetics). The Capitol (191118), constructed of Carthage marble, contains celebrated murals by Thomas Hart Benton. The state prison (1833) prevented the city from becoming the site of the state university. Lincoln University, founded there in 1866 by black Union Army veterans, is now racially integrated. Inc. town, 1825; city, 1839. Pop. (1990) 35,481; (1994 est.) 36,930.