150 years ago Hannibal was one of the Top 5 cities in Missouri

Hannibal today is considered one of the small quaint river towns that you should take a day trip to, but 150 years ago it was one of the 5 biggest cities in Missouri, and St. Louis was one of the top 5 biggest in the US.

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I stumbled upon this fascinating article from ozarkfirst.com, and it blew my mind how different Missouri was 150 years ago, the article is called Biggest Cities in Missouri 150 years ago and little Hannibal made the top 5. Hannibal was the 4th biggest city in Missouri back in 1872, it had a population of about 10,100 and that put it as the 179th most populated city in the US, to put that into perspective according to Wikipedia Hannibal currently has a population of about 17,100, and the current 179th populated city in the US is Charleston, SC with a population of over 150,000.

The other thing about this list that is cray is that St. Louis is the most populated city in Missouri back in the 1870s with a population of about 310,800 which was 4th in the country at the time, and according to Wikipedia, St. Louis has a current population of about 301,000 and is 69th most populated city in the country.

The other cities on the list of the most populated in Missouri 150 years ago that make up the top 5 are Kansas City number two with about 32,000, St. Joseph in 3rd with about 19,500, and 5th place was Central, Missouri with about 9,000 people. To see the full list of most populated Missouri cities from 150 years ago just click here!