Which U.S. state capital was named after Thomas Jefferson and founded in 1821?

Jefferson City is the Missouri capital, named after U.S. President Thomas Jefferson and founded in 1821.

Missouri’s constitutional convention selected the site for a new capital in 1821, the same year Missouri entered the Union. The city was named for Thomas Jefferson, who had authorized the Louisiana Purchase as president in 1803.

Jefferson City was planned on the Missouri River between St. Louis and the western frontier. Its location was intended to place the government nearer the state’s geographic center and major transportation routes.

St. Louis is Missouri’s best-known major city, while Kansas City is also larger and nationally prominent, but neither is the state capital. Jefferson City remains the seat of Missouri’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches.