Missouri History:: Governors
Missouri History
Governors
Photos of Select Governors
Alexander McNair 1820-24
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Herbert Spencer Hadley 1909-13
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Warren Hearnes 1965-73
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Click here to view portraits of Missouri's governors on Flickr.
Historical Listing of Governors
Name and (party)
|
Term
|
County
|
Born
|
Died
|
1. Alexander McNair1
|
1820–24
|
St. Louis
|
5/5/1775
|
3/18/1826
|
2. Frederick Bates1
|
1824-25
|
St. Louis
|
6/23/1777
|
8/4/1825
|
3. Abraham J. Williams (D)1,2
|
1825-1826
|
Boone
|
2/26/1781
|
12/30/1839
|
4. John Miller (D)1,3
|
1826–32
|
Howard
|
11/25/1781
|
3/18/1846
|
5. Daniel Dunklin (D)
|
1832–36
|
Washington
|
1/14/1790
|
7/25/1844
|
6. Lilburn W. Boggs (D)4
|
1836–40
|
Jackson
|
12/14/1792
|
3/14/1860
|
7. Thomas Reynolds (D)
|
1840–44
|
Howard
|
3/12/1796
|
2/9/1844
|
8. Meredith Miles Marmaduke (D)5
|
1844
|
Saline
|
8/28/1791
|
3/26/1864
|
9. John Cummins Edwards (D)
|
1844–48
|
Cole
|
6/24/1806
|
9/13/1888
|
10. Austin Augustus King (D)
|
1848–53
|
Ray
|
9/21/1802
|
4/22/1870
|
11. Sterling Price (D)
|
1853–57
|
Chariton
|
9/14/1809
|
9/29/1867
|
12. Trusten Polk (D)6
|
1857
|
St. Louis
|
5/29/1811
|
4/16/1876
|
13. Hancock Lee Jackson (D)6
|
1857
|
Randolph
|
5/12/1796
|
3/19/1876
|
14. Robert Marcellus Stewart (D)6
|
1857–61
|
Buchanan
|
3/12/1815
|
9/21/1871
|
15. Claiborne Fox Jackson (D)
|
1861
|
Saline
|
4/4/1806
|
12/6/1862
|
16. Hamilton Rowan Gamble (U)7
|
1861–64
|
St. Louis
|
11/29/1798
|
1/31/1864
|
17. Willard Preble Hall (U)8
|
1864–65
|
Buchanan
|
5/9/1820
|
11/3/1882
|
18. Thomas Clement Fletcher (Radical)
|
1865–69
|
St. Louis
|
1/22/1827
|
3/25/1899
|
19. Joseph Washington McClurg (Radical)
|
1869–71
|
Camden
|
2/22/1818
|
12/2/1900
|
20. Benjamin Gratz Brown (Liberal)
|
1871–73
|
St. Louis
|
5/28/1826
|
12/13/1885
|
21. Silas Woodson (D)
|
1873–75
|
Buchanan
|
5/18/1819
|
10/9/1896
|
22. Charles Henry Hardin (D)
|
1875–77
|
Audrain
|
7/15/1820
|
7/29/1892
|
23. John Smith Phelps (D)
|
1877–81
|
Greene
|
12/22/1814
|
11/20/1886
|
24. Thomas Theodore Crittenden (D)
|
1881–85
|
Johnson
|
1/1/1832
|
5/29/09
|
25. John Sappington Marmaduke (D)
|
1885–87
|
St. Louis City
|
3/14/1833
|
12/28/1887
|
26. Albert Pickett Morehouse (D)9
|
1887–89
|
Nodaway
|
7/11/1835
|
9/23/1891
|
27. David Rowland Francis (D)
|
1889–93
|
St. Louis City
|
10/1/1850
|
1/15/1927
|
28. William Joel Stone (D)
|
1893–97
|
Vernon
|
5/7/1848
|
4/14/1918
|
29. Lon Vest Stephens (D)
|
1897–1901
|
Cooper
|
12/21/1858
|
1/10/1923
|
30. Alexander Monroe Dockery (D)
|
1901–05
|
Daviess
|
2/11/1845
|
12/26/1926
|
31. Joseph Wingate Folk (D)
|
1905–09
|
St. Louis City
|
10/28/1869
|
5/28/1923
|
32. Herbert Spencer Hadley (R)
|
1909–13
|
Jackson
|
2/20/1872
|
12/1/1927
|
33. Elliott Woolfolk Major (D)
|
1913–17
|
Pike
|
10/20/1864
|
7/9/1949
|
34. Frederick Dozier Gardner (D)
|
1917–21
|
St. Louis City
|
11/6/1869
|
12/18/1933
|
35. Arthur Mastick Hyde (R)
|
1921–25
|
Grundy
|
7/12/1877
|
10/17/1947
|
36. Sam Aaron Baker (R)
|
1925–29
|
Cole
|
11/7/1874
|
9/16/1933
|
37. Henry Stewart Caulfield (R)
|
1929–33
|
St. Louis
|
12/9/1873
|
5/11/1966
|
38. Guy Brasfield Park (D)
|
1933–37
|
Platte
|
6/10/1872
|
10/1/1946
|
39. Lloyd Crow Stark (D)
|
1937–41
|
Pike
|
11/23/1886
|
9/17/1972
|
40. Forrest C. Donnell (R)
|
1941–45
|
St. Louis
|
8/20/1884
|
3/3/1980
|
41. Phil M. Donnelly (D)
|
1945–49
|
Laclede
|
3/6/1891
|
9/12/1961
|
42. Forrest Smith (D)
|
1949–53
|
Ray
|
2/14/1886
|
3/8/1962
|
43. Phil M. Donnelly (D)
|
1953–57
|
Laclede
|
3/6/1891
|
9/12/1961
|
44. James T. Blair Jr. (D)
|
1957–61
|
Cole
|
3/15/1902
|
7/12/1962
|
45. John M. Dalton (D)
|
1961–65
|
Dunklin
|
11/9/1900
|
7/7/1972
|
46. Warren E. Hearnes (D)
|
1965–73
|
Mississippi
|
7/24/1923
|
8/16/2009
|
47. Christopher S. Bond (R)
|
1973–77
|
Audrain
|
3/6/1939
|
|
48. Joseph Patrick Teasdale (D)
|
1977–81
|
Jackson
|
3/29/1936
|
5/8/2014
|
49. Christopher S. Bond (R)
|
1981–85
|
Audrain
|
3/6/1939
|
|
50. John Ashcroft (R)
|
1985–93
|
Greene
|
5/9/1942
|
|
51. Mel Carnahan (D)
|
1993-2000
|
Phelps
|
2/11/1934
|
10/16/2000
|
52. Roger Wilson (D)10
|
2000-01
|
Boone
|
10/10/1948
|
|
53. Bob Holden (D)
|
2001-05
|
Shannon
|
8/24/1949
|
|
54. Matt Blunt (R)
|
2005-09
|
Greene
|
11/20/1970
|
|
55. Jeremiah Wilson (Jay) Nixon (D)
|
2009-17
|
Jefferson
|
2/13/1956
|
|
56. Eric R. Greitens (R)11
|
2017-18
|
St. Louis
|
4/10/1974
|
|
57. Michael Lynn Parson (R)11
|
2018-
|
Polk
|
8/17/1955
|
|
Links take you to the Governor's website as is appeared while he was in office, courtesy of the Missouri State Archives and ArchiveIt.
1 At the time of the elections of McNair, Bates and Williams, and of the first election of Miller in 1825, there were no organized political parties in Missouri. Individual popularity prevailed. All called themselves Republicans—that is, Jeffersonian Republicans, or what now are called Democrats.
2 Abraham J. Williams was the Senate President Pro Tempore and became acting governor when Bates died in Office in August 1825; Lt. Gov. Benjamin Harrison Reeves had resigned just months earlier, leaving that office vacant.
3 John Miller was elected to governorship in a special August 1825 election, following the death of Governor Frederick Bates; he was elected to his own full term in 1828.
4 Dunklin resigned in September 1836; Lt. Governor Lilburn Boggs succeeded to the office.
5 Reynolds committed suicide on February 9, 1844; Lt. Governor Meredith M. Marmaduke succeeded to the office for nine months, until the 1844 general election.
6 Trusten Polk was elected to the United States Senate on January 13, 1857. Lt. Governor Hancock Lee Jackson succeeded to the governorship until an August 1857 special election, when Robert Stewart was elected.
7 Hamilton Gamble was appointed Provisional Governor by the Missouri State Convention in July 1861. The office had been vacated after Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson joined the Confederacy.
8 Gamble died January 31, 1864; Lt. Governor Willard P. Hall succeeded to the governorship until the election and inauguration of Thomas C. Fletcher.
9 Marmaduke died in office in 1887; Lt. Governor Albert P. Morehouse succeeded to the governorship until the inauguration of David R. Francis.
10 Carnahan died in a plane crash in 2000; Lt. Governor Roger B. Wilson succeeded to the office until the inauguration of Bob Holden.
11 Greitens resigned from office June 1, 2018. Lt. Governor Michael Parson succeeded to the office.