Hannibal

Hannibal, city, Ralls and Marion counties, northeastern Missouri, U.S., on the Mississippi River, 100 miles (160 km) north of St. Louis. Noted as the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Hannibal was the setting for some of his books, including his classics about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Settled (1819) by Moses Bates on land given (1818) to Abraham Bird as compensation for property damaged in the New Madrid earthquake (1811), it received its Carthaginian name from Hannibal Creek (later Bear Creek).

An agricultural trade centre, the city’s economy also relies on tourism. Memorials to Mark Twain include his boyhood home and museum (1937), the John M. Clemens Justice of the Peace Office, the “Becky Thatcher” House, and the Pilaster House. Mark Twain Cave, also a reputed hideout for the outlaw Jesse James and a station on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves, is 1 mile (1.6 km) south. Jackson’s Island, adventure territory for Tom and Huck, is near the Illinois shore of the Mississippi. Twain’s two-room cabin birthplace at Florida in Monroe county is preserved in Mark Twain State Park, 25 miles southwest (40 km). Tom Sawyer Days, an annual festival that includes a national fence-painting contest, is held in July.

Molly Brown, heroine of the Titanic sinking and the subject of the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown, was born in Hannibal; her birthplace is preserved. Portraitist Carroll Beckwith was also a native of the city. Hannibal–La Grange College was founded in 1929. Inc. town, 1839; city, 1845. Pop. (2000) 17,757; (2010) 17,916.