1. In 1861, Union troops under General Nathaniel Lyon defeated Confederate forces at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, near Springfield. This was one of the first major battles of the Civil War fought west of the Mississippi River.

2. In 1913, the first concrete paving of a street in the United States was completed in Bellefontaine Neighbors, a suburb of St. Louis. The street was covered with several inches of concrete, which was then smoothed and leveled with a wooden float.

3. In 1967, a fire broke out at the Ozark Jubilee music theater in Springfield, killing two people and causing extensive damage. The Jubilee was a popular venue for country music shows and was televised nationwide on ABC.

4. In 2005, a small plane crashed into a residential area in St. Louis, killing all four people aboard and injuring several others on the ground. The plane had taken off from a nearby airport and was heading to Indiana when it encountered engine trouble.

5. In 2011, a record-breaking heat wave swept across Missouri, with temperatures topping 100 degrees for several consecutive days. The extreme heat caused power outages, strained air conditioning systems, and prompted warnings from public health officials about the dangers of heat stroke and dehydration.