Missouri Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===20th century=== [[File:PASSENGERS JAM THE INTERIOR OF THE ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, UNION STATION IN A COPYRIGHTED PICTURE TAKEN BY B.A. ATWATER... - NARA - 556056.jpg|thumb|left|[[Union Station (St. Louis)|Union Station]] in St. Louis was the world's largest and busiest train station when it opened in 1894.]] [[File:Child workers in Kirksville, MO.jpg|thumb|Child shoe workers in [[Kirksville, Missouri]], 1910]] The [[Progressive Era]] (1890s to 1920s) saw numerous prominent leaders from Missouri trying to end corruption and modernize politics, government, and society. [[Joseph Folk|Joseph "Holy Joe" Folk]] was a key leader who made a strong appeal to the middle class and rural evangelical Protestants. Folk was elected governor as a progressive reformer and [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] in the [[Missouri gubernatorial election, 1904|1904 election]]. He promoted what he called "the Missouri Idea", the concept of Missouri as a leader in public morality through popular control of law and strict enforcement. He successfully conducted antitrust prosecutions, ended free railroad passes for state officials, extended bribery statutes, improved election laws, required formal registration for lobbyists, made racetrack gambling illegal and enforced the Sunday-closing law. He helped enact Progressive legislation, including an initiative and referendum provision, regulation of elections, education, employment and child labor, railroads, food, business, and public utilities. Several efficiency-oriented examiner boards and commissions were established during Folk's administration, including many agricultural boards and the Missouri library commission.<ref>Steven L. Piott, ''Holy Joe: Joseph Folk and the Missouri Idea'' (1997)</ref> [[File:General John Joseph Pershing head on shoulders.jpg|thumb|left|upright|General John J. Pershing, commander of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] in World War I, was raised in [[Laclede, Missouri]].]] Between the Civil War and the end of World War II, Missouri transitioned from a rural economy to a hybrid industrial-service-agricultural economy as the Midwest rapidly industrialized. The expansion of railroads to the West transformed Kansas City into a major transportation hub within the nation. The growth of the Texas cattle industry along with this increased rail infrastructure and the invention of the [[refrigerated boxcar]] also made Kansas City a major [[meatpacking]] center, as large [[cattle drives]] from Texas brought herds of cattle to [[Dodge City]] and other Kansas towns. There, the cattle were loaded onto trains destined for Kansas City, where they were butchered and distributed to the eastern markets. The first half of the 20th century was the height of Kansas City's prominence, and its downtown became a showcase for stylish [[Art Deco]] [[skyscrapers]] as construction boomed. [[File:Boy resting on bed in attic of sharecropper shack, New Madrid County, Missouri.jpg|thumb|African American boy in a [[sharecropping#United States|sharecropper]] shack, [[New Madrid County]], 1938.]] In 1930, there was a [[diphtheria]] epidemic in the area around Springfield, which killed approximately 100 people. Serum was rushed to the area, and medical personnel stopped the epidemic. During the mid-1950s and 1960s, St. Louis and Kansas City suffered deindustrialization and loss of jobs in railroads and manufacturing, as did other [[Midwestern]] industrial cities. In 1956 [[St. Charles, Missouri|St. Charles]] claims to be the site of the first [[Interstate Highway System|interstate]] highway project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/rw96h.cfm |title=First interstate project |publisher=Fhwa.dot.gov |access-date=May 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607064752/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/rw96h.cfm |archive-date=June 7, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Such highway construction made it easy for middle-class residents to leave the city for newer housing developed in the suburbs, often former farmland where land was available at lower prices. These major cities have gone through decades of readjustment to develop different economies and adjust to demographic changes. Suburban areas have developed separate job markets, both in knowledge industries and services, such as major retail malls. 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