Tuesday, Aug. 10, was a hot summer day. Despite this, hundreds gathered outside the Missouri State Capitol to celebrate Missouri’s bicentennial statehood anniversary.
Two hundred years …
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Tuesday, Aug. 10, was a hot summer day. Despite this, hundreds gathered outside the Missouri State Capitol to celebrate Missouri’s bicentennial statehood anniversary.
Two hundred years ago, Missouri first became a state. After a beautiful ceremony on the capitol lawn, we went inside to the Capitol Rotunda to witness a naturalization ceremony for 33 new citizens. Watching these new Americans take their oath of citizenship was an amazing experience.
Later that afternoon, we returned to the Capitol lawn to dedicate two bicentennial trees. The University of Missouri Botanic Garden generously donated these two native Missouri oak trees to commemorate Missouri’s 200th birthday.
I’m honored to facilitate the planting and dedication of these two trees, and I’m grateful to Governor Mike Parson, Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe, and many others who helped make the ceremony so special. With any luck, these trees will still be a part of the Capitol grounds 200 years from today.
According to poet and philosopher Aldo Leopold, “Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a tree, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel.”
Missouri’s Bicentennial celebration was a fantastic way to showcase the success and prosperity of our great state. With hard work, wisdom, courage, and shovels, I hope that we can make Missouri’s next 200 years of statehood an even greater success than the first.