Portrait of William Clark by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1807–1809. [Courtesy of the Independence National Historical Park]

William Clark, the celebrated explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis in leading an overland…

Jeffrey Deroine (second from right) with Ioways. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Robert Wright Photograph Collection, P0011]

Jeffrey Deroine (pronounced Der-oh-NAY…

1. This watercolor portrait of Henry Dodge was painted by George Catlin during the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition of 1834. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, 1962-192-0001]

Henry Dodge served his nation in a long and prosperous life on the nineteenth-century…

Louis William DuBourg. [Georgetown University Archives, Booth Family Center for Special Collections, Washington, DC]

William DuBourg was a formidable force for Catholicism and for education in the early…

1.	This lithograph depicts Sister Rose Philippine Duchesne late in life. No known photographs of Sister Duchesne are known to exist.

Rose Philippine Duchesne, a French pioneer missionary on the American frontier, was born on…

Aerial of Fort Osage

Established in 1808 under the superintendence of

Charles Gratiot. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N12406]

At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, Charles Gratiot’s outspoken support for the incoming…

Plan of Hardeman’s Garden, also called Fruitage Farm, with labyrinth. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Glen O. Hardeman Collection, C3655]

John Hardeman, best remembered for the botanical showplace he created on the banks of the…

Samuel Hawken. [Missouri Historical Society, Prints and Photographs Division, N38641]

Christian Hawken, a respected gunsmith of Hagerstown, Maryland, taught his six sons and…