At 2:15 a.m. on December 16, 1811, residents of the frontier town of New Madrid, in what is now Missouri, were jolted from their beds by a violent earthquake. The ground heaved and pitched, hurling ...

The first earthquake struck while the town was still asleep. Around 2:00 am on Dec. 16, 1811, New Madrid—a small frontier settlement of 400 people on land now located in Missouri—was jolted awake.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Residents of Missouri and eight other states in a major seismic zone will commemorate the 201st anniversary of the powerful New Madrid (MAD'-rihd) earthquakes with an ...