39 facts about Mizzou to mark its founding in 1839

Feb. 11, 2026
Contact: Janese Heavin, heavinj@missouri.edu

Since its founding on Feb. 11, 1839, as the first public university west of the Mississippi River, the University of Missouri has grown into a leading institution for educating future leaders and tackling tough research challenges.

Over our nearly two-century history, we’ve launched legendary careers, hosted top entertainers and scientists, and continue to serve as the home of unique facilities and programs.

This Founders Day, we’re highlighting 39 interesting things you may not know about Ol’ Mizzou.

1. We’re the only university in the country to operate a major-network TV affiliate, KOMU, mid-Missouri’s NBC station.
2. Aviator Amelia Earhart visited campus in the 1930s.
3. The stone lions in the Walter Williams Hall tower and archway were sculpted around 1400, at the beginning of the Ming dynasty, and guarded a Confucian temple in China for centuries before being gifted to Mizzou in 1931. Each figure stands five feet tall and weighs 5,000 pounds.
4. Mizzou students were the first to declare St. Patrick the patron saint of engineering, ultimately leading to celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day at engineering schools across the country.
5. Memorial Stadium turns 100 this year, just in time for the completion of north end zone expansion.
6. Darrin Stephens, the character married to a witch in the 1960s hit “Bewitched,” was an alumnus on the show.
7. Aureomycin — discovered in a soil sample from Plot 23 at Mizzou’s Sanborn Field and used as an antibiotic — is part of a scientific collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
8. Edward “Buzz” Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, came to campus to be “knighted” an Honorary Knight by the College of Engineering during Engineers’ Week in 1971.
9. Before the famous inferno that destroyed Academic Hall in 1892, there was another fire on campus. The original Chancellor’s Residence, constructed in 1843, was destroyed by fire in 1865. The current residence was built two years later — and has since welcomed guests including former President Harry Truman, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Missouri-born author Mark Twain.
10. Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. — namesake of the Trulaske College of Business — was an ROTC officer during his time at Mizzou and received his saber from Harry S. Truman, at that time a U.S. senator.
11. Truman was “knighted” by the College of Engineering in 1934. He’d return to campus in 1950 as U.S. president to deliver the commencement address.
12. Truman the Tiger mascot — named after President Truman — turns 40 this year.
13. The Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building opened five years ago, marking a major investment in bench-to-bedside research at Mizzou.
14. The bronze tiger on Carnahan Quadrangle spent a night in Lawrence, Kansas, en route to Columbia. When it was unveiled on campus in 2002, red and blue feathers were found in its mouth
15. MU Extension oversees Missouri 4-H, which will celebrate its 100^th year of partnership with the university in 2027.
16. The Parker Memorial Hospital Training School for Nurses was founded in 1901, and its first student, Alice Sipple, completed the training course in 1904. A formal nursing program was established in 1920. Today, the Sinclair School of Nursing offers a bachelor’s degree, graduate programs and postdoctoral research training. It’s also the only nursing school to offer a certificate in participatory health research and the first in Missouri to welcome interdisciplinary health professionals into its doctoral programs.
17. Rock legend Bob Dylan — whose accolades include a Nobel Prize in Literature, a special Pulitzer Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and 11 Grammy Awards — performed on campus in 2000.
18. Townsend Hall, home of the College of Education and Human Development, once served as a K-12 laboratory school — and still has the words “High School” and “Elementary School” etched above its entrances. The building at one time included a rooftop amphitheater, used for dances and other gatherings.
19. Mizzou is home to the state’s only College of Veterinary Medicine.
20. Lewis and Clark Halls, now home to the College of Health Sciences, originally opened as dormitories. Residents there enjoyed a concert with Motown recording artists Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1968.
21. The first U.S. vaccine-virus lab opened in what is now the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources in 1885.
22. Kate Capshaw, an actress best known for her role in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and wife of filmmaker Steven Spielberg, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Mizzou.
23. Construction of the Memorial Student Union tower was completed 100 years ago. Construction of the south wing began in 1930, but the project was halted by the Great Depression and wouldn’t be fully completed with both south and north wings until 1963.
24. Primatologist Jane Goodall, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025, spoke at Mizzou in 2014, drawing a crowd of more than 4,000.
25. The Sinclair School of Nursing was the first in Missouri to use a Lifecast Manikin. Vivien is a lifelike manikin modeled after an 82-year-old woman with realistic features that allow students to safely practice nursing procedures on elderly patients.
26. The MU Research Reactor turns 60 this year, highlighting six decades of life-saving research and isotope production at Mizzou. Today, MURR is the only U.S. producer of four medical isotopes used to fight cancer.
27. Pulitzer Prize-, Tony-, Grammy- and Presidential Medal of Freedom-winning poet Maya Angelou visited campus in the early aughts.
28. Mizzou’s School of Law has its own Bow Tie Day, separate from National Bow Tie Day. Every year, Tim Heinsz Bow Tie Day celebrates former law school dean Tim Heinsz, who died in 2004.
29. Debbye Turner Bell, a College of Veterinary Medicine graduate, was crowned Miss America in 1990.
30. George C. Scott, who attended Mizzou before becoming a Hollywood star, famously refused to accept an Oscar for his leading role in Patton.
31. Mizzou’s School of Medicine campus in Springfield, Missouri, is celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, marking a decade of expanding medical education and training in the state.
32. More than 50 graduates of the Missouri School of Journalism have gone on to receive the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.
33. American author Joyce Carol Oates has been published in the Missouri Review and has said the publication — based in the College of Arts and Science — is one of a half-dozen literary magazines she reads regularly. 
34. We’re home to the Mizzou Quantum Innovation Center, the state’s first partnership with IBM’s quantum network.
35. Ellis Library, the largest public research library in the state, started with $1,250 worth of books and six journal subscriptions.
36. Mizzou is home to two of the largest capacity fully equipped performance venues in mid-Missouri, Jesse Auditorium and the Missouri Theatre, which serve as stops for national and international shows touring the Midwest.
37. Pop star Chappell Roan’s mother, Kara Amstutz, is a Mizzou alumna and veterinarian in Springfield, Missouri.
38. Roary, Mizzou’s texting tool for student support, turned a year old in January, reflecting new ways the university supports student success.
39. Before MU Health Care, there was Parker Hospital. Mizzou’s first clinical training facility opened in 1901 and was one of the first teaching hospitals west of the Mississippi River.