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Columbia / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b i ə / is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Boone County. Founded in 1818, it is home to the University of Missouri and is the principal city of the Columbia Metropolitan Area. It is Missouri's fourth most-populous city, with an estimated population of 119,108 in 2015. As a midwestern college town, the city has a reputation for progressive politics, public art, and powerful journalism. The tripartite establishment of Stephens College (1833), the University of Missouri (1839), and Columbia College (1851) has ever since made the city a center of education, culture, and athletic competition; these three schools surround the city's central business district to the east, south, and north. At the center of Downtown is 8th Street, also known as the Avenue of the Columns, which connects Francis Quadrangle and Jesse Hall to the Boone County Courthouse and the City Hall. Originally an agricultural town, the cultivation of the mind is Columbia's chief economic concern today. Never a major center of manufacturing, the city also depends on healthcare, insurance, and technology businesses. Several companies, such as Shelter Insurance, Carfax, and Slackers CDs and Games, were founded in the city. Cultural institutions include the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Museum of Art and Archaeology, and the annual True/False Film Festival. The Missouri Tigers, the state's only major college athletic program, play football at Faurot Field and basketball at Mizzou Arena as members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).The city is built upon the forested hills and rolling prairies of Mid-Missouri, near the Missouri River valley, where the Ozark Mountains begin to transform into plains and savanna. Limestone forms bluffs and glades while rain carves caves and springs which water the Hinkson, Roche Perche, and Petite Bonne Femme creeks. Surrounding the city, Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, Mark Twain National Forest, and Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge all form a greenbelt preserving sensitive and rare environments. The first humans were nomadic hunters who entered the area at least twelve thousand years ago. Later, woodland tribes lived in villages along waterways and built mounds in high places. The Osage and Missouria nations were expelled by the exploration of French traders and the rapid settlement of American pioneers. The latter arrived by the Boone's Lick Trail and hailed from the slave-owning culture of the Upland South, especially Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, giving Boonslick the name " "Little Dixie " during the American Civil War. German, Irish, and other European immigrants soon joined. The modern populace is unusually diverse, over eight percent foreign-born. While White and Black remain the largest ethnicities, Asians are now the third-largest group. Today's Columbians are remarkably highly educated and culturally midwestern, though traces of their Southern past remain. The city has been called the "Athens of Missouri" for its classic beauty and educational emphasis, but is more commonly called "CoMo".

Jefferson City is the capital of the State of Missouri and the fifteenth most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the principal city of the Jefferson City Metropolitan Statistical Area. Jefferson City is named for Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. Jefferson City currently holds the title of America's "Most Beautiful Small Town", given by Rand McNally. Jefferson City is on the northern edge of the Ozark Plateau on the southern side of the Missouri River in a region known as Mid-Missouri. It is also at the western edge of one of the major wine-producing regions of the Midwest, the Missouri Rhineland. The city is dominated by the domed Capitol, which rises from a bluff overlooking the Missouri River to the north; Lewis and Clark passed the bluff on their historic expedition upriver before Europeans established any settlement there.Often referred to as "Jeff", many of Jefferson City's primary employers fall within the service and manufacturing industries, similar to other Midwestern capital cities. Jefferson City is also home to Lincoln University, a public historically black land-grant university founded in 1866 by the 62nd Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops with additional support from the 65th Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops.

Cape Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is located approximately 115 miles (185 km) southeast of St. Louis and 175 miles (282 km) north of Memphis. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city's population was 37,941, making it the 16th-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Southeast Missouri. An emerging college town, it is the home of Southeast Missouri State University.