Best Web Design in Jefferson City, MO (2026)

Web Design for Jefferson City, Missouri

Jefferson City is Missouri's capital, a mid-size river town sited on a bluff above the Missouri River near the geographic center of the state and named for Thomas Jefferson. Purpose-built from wilderness to house the state government, it is dominated by a domed Capitol filled with Thomas Hart Benton murals and shadowed by the notorious former Missouri State Penitentiary. Government, health care, and manufacturing anchor an economy in a town platted by the son of frontiersman Daniel Boone.

AppWT works with Jefferson City, MO businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Jefferson City

Also known as. Jeff City. JC.

History. A state commission chose the site in 1821 as a compromise capital located centrally on the Missouri River, roughly midway between St. Louis and Kansas City. The location began as a trading post known as Lohman's Landing; lawmakers floated the name "Missouriopolis" before settling on Jefferson, for President Thomas Jefferson. Daniel Morgan Boone, son of the frontiersman Daniel Boone, laid out and platted the new capital. The town was incorporated in 1825, and the state general assembly relocated there in 1826; St. Charles had served as the temporary capital beforehand. The present Missouri State Capitol was completed in 1917 after an earlier capitol burned, and Lincoln University was founded here in 1866.

Local economy. Government is the dominant employer, with the State of Missouri employing more than 14,000 people in the area. Health care is a major sector, anchored by Capital Region Medical Center and SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital. Major private and institutional employers include Scholastic Corporation (roughly 1,500 jobs) and Jefferson City Public Schools. Manufacturing output includes automotive seats, specialty printing supplies, and cosmetics; tourism, retail, and education round out the economy.

Culture and community. As the seat of state government, civic life revolves around the Capitol Complex, the legislature, and heavy state-tourism traffic. Lincoln University, a historically Black university, was founded in 1866 by African American veterans of the 62nd and 65th Colored Infantry regiments after the Civil War. The Missouri State Capitol interior is a cultural attraction in its own right for its murals by Missouri-born painter Thomas Hart Benton. Heritage and paranormal tourism thrive around the former penitentiary, including daytime history tours and nighttime ghost/paranormal tours.

What makes Jefferson City distinct. Time magazine branded the Missouri State Penitentiary the "bloodiest 47 acres in America" in 1967 after a wave of assaults; it was the oldest continuously operating prison west of the Mississippi when it closed in 2004. Jefferson City is one of only four U.S. state capitals with no direct Interstate highway access. On May 22, 2019, an EF3 tornado tore through the southwest side, injuring about 20 people but causing no deaths. The Katy Trail spur connects the city to the longest developed rail-trail in the country.

Jefferson City Landmarks and Local Life

• Missouri State Capitol - the domed 1917 building on a Missouri River bluff, resembling the U.S. Capitol
• Missouri State Penitentiary - opened in 1836 and closed in 2004, now open for history and ghost tours
• Missouri Governor's Mansion - completed in 1871, adjacent to the Capitol
• Lincoln University (founded 1866) and the Jefferson Landing State Historic Site.
• The Katy Trail and its roughly 0.8-mile spur that crosses the Missouri River to link Jefferson City to the 237-mile rail-trail.