BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — Missouri wasn’t a state when the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, of course, but it does have ties to July Fourth.

It was on that day in 1803 that President Thomas Jefferson announced the Louisiana Purchase. The deal with France almost doubled the size of America, and included the land that became the Show Me State.

The man who founded Bowling Green Missouri raised the American flag at one of two signing ceremonies for the Louisiana Purchase.

John Walter Basye (pronounced BAY-zee) and a friend did the honors at St. Louis in March 1804. Nine months later, Basye and his wife had a baby that they named Louisiana.

Basye is credited as the first settler in Bowling Green, which is celebrating its bicentennial through July 1st.

More information about the event can be found at www.bgmo200.com.

(Drawing of John Walter Basye by John Stoeckley of Louisiana, Mo.)