News 11 Remembers: St. Louis History

In recent years St. Louis has had the dubious distinction of being one of the top cities is America for sexually transmitted diseases. But this is not just a recent phenomenon and the city once thought it had a solution."In St. Louis there were all kinds of experiments with city bathhouses, city parks and city hospitals of all kinds. This was an experiment with prostitution." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.In 1870 the city of St. Louis passed a so called social evils ordinance which allowed prostitution so long as it was conducted in a brothel as opposed to the streets. The ordinance also created something else, the social evil hospital."It was a place where prostitutes could seek treatment and prevention of various kinds of venereal diseases." said Dr. Robert ArchibaldConsidering its purpose, the social evil hospital was a rather lavish building. It was at the corner of Arsenal and Sublette, now a city park."It's an interesting experiment, the idea that citizens in this city would say, well, the disease is worse than the affliction of prostitution so the answer here is to try to control the worst side effects of this by preventing disease and death due to sexually transmitted illness." said Dr. Robert ArchibaldAs the fourth largest city in America at the time St. Louis was frequently experimenting with new ways to deal with old problems particularly related to health and safety. But the idea of a social evils hospital fell out of fashion almost as quickly as it was created. A year after it opened it was turned into a hospital simply for women.

William McChesney Martin was a real St. Louis whiz kid. He was born in St. Louis in 1906. The son of the first agent in charge of the federal reserve bank of St. Louis. When William McChesney Martin Jr. did something he never did it half way.He started his career as a stockbroker for A.G Edwards and bought a seat on the new york stock exchange at the age of 28."There's a reorganization of the New York Stock Exchange and William McChesney Martin at age 31 ends up being the president of the New York Stock exchange." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.In World War II he was drafted by the army entering as a private and leaving as a colonel. While in service he also married Cynthia Davis. The daughter of tennis great Dwight Davis for whom the Davis Cup is named.After the war Martin served as the head of the import export bank and assistant secretary of the treasury until 1951. President Harry Truman then named Martin chairman of the federal reserve a post he continued holding under presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon.Though he would be known for many things as the chairman of the federal reserve. He was known as a staunch guardian against inflation. Calling himself "the host who removes the punchbowl just as the party starts."See moreWilliam McChesney Martin's writings, speeches, appointment calendars and other interesting pieces of history.

In the turn of the 20th century William Keeney Bixby was the richest man in St. Louis. He was the President of the American Car and Foundry Company. He was also railroad man. His 45 room Victorian mansion was his. But, he is not the man who built it."Originally built by a Mr Kauffman who built it in the mid 1880's. he was a flour mill owner and became quite wealthy and built this mansion. At the time it covered eight acres. The grounds of Mr. Kaufmann's mansion ran from Kingshighway to Euclid and from Lindell to Maryland so it is quite a large parcel of land." Robert Archibald - Missouri History MuseumIt was not just his home that made William Bixby Grand. After retiring at age 48 he went on to serve as president of Laclede Gas, The Art Museum, Washington University and The Missouri Historical Society. Which along with the University own some of his many private collections. Among them are rare books, artwork and an autograph collection which includes the signatures of British authors Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling.

There are skirmishes you have to dig to find in the history books because they were sideshows to a much bigger battle.The War of 1812, ostensibly between Britain and the United States, ended up also being fought between Americans and Native Americans. This included those in the Missouri and Illinois territories."The war really had to do with people who lived in the St. Louis area and St. Charles county attempting to protect themselves from the Shawnee who had been British allies in the war of 1812." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.What the Shawnee and other tribes did was raid American settlements using arms supplied by the British."The settlements in the west were protected by their close ties with the Osage who remained friendly to the settlers in Missouri. But Tucumsah and the Shawnee and others allied with them conducted raids in Missouri along the communities on the Missouri and Mississippi River. It really came down in Missouri to simple raids on farms and settlements by Indians who had alliances with the British." said Dr. Robert Archibald.While those battles were small and brief. They did leave their mark on local history. In St. Charles county one man was so concerned about the possibility of attack he added two wings to his home and surrounded it with a stockade fence.His name was Jacob Zumwalt. His modified home became known as Fort Zumwalt. It seemed like such a good idea that one of Zumwalt's neighbors also built a fort. His name was Francis Howell.

The Civil War was fought largely with guns and cannons. But a damaged sword carried in a famous St. Louis battle tells the story of a defeat felt deeply by the man who carried it."Well you have probably seen John Knapp's sword. It is not in one piece anymore and neither were many of the swords of his comrades dating to that day of may 10th in 1861" said Dr. Robert Archibald.It was known as the battle of Camp Jackson though it was more of a riot than a battle. Newspaper publisher John Knapp was there. Not as a journalist. But as a member of the Confederate-leaning state militia. Which had set up camp in what is now midtown St. Louis.When Union troops began to worry the Confederate leaning militia might try to take over the St. Louis armory. The government troops surrounded them and moved in to arrest them."No one knows who fired the first shot. Most of the people who were killed were actually civilians who had come to watch the capture of these state militia troops but when it was all said and done three dozen or so people were dead. Mr. Knapp was absolutely dismayed he was one of the Confederate sympathizers who was a part of the state militia. He was dismayed when the shooting broke out and was revolted by it. He saw it as close to murder. He took his sword and smashed it and broke it in two and a number of his fellow officers did the same." Said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.The battle of Camp Jackson is considered the first Civil War battle in Missouri. But because we were a border state the battle lines were muddled With Missourians fighting for both armies. That included John Knapp. Who despite his anger with the federal troops on that day. Ended up serving with the Union army.

When we turn on the tap and cool clean water comes out. Not much news there. But a little more than a century ago st. Louis water was the color of the river it came from. Until something came to town that changed everything."The water that came out of that system was turgid. People complained that there were little eels and things in it. Someone else said it doesn't matter because the water is so brown you can`t see them anyway. They are probably good for you so just drink it." said Dr. Robert Archibald.But it wasn't good for you and the city knew it. In the late 1800's it began updating its system. Including construction of the Chain Of Rocks Water plant. It was built like a palace with little castles in the river used as intakes."The city wanted it to look beautiful and healthy and natural. The problem was in 1894 when the plant was completed the water that came out of the faucets was still brown and muddy." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Its quality might have stayed poor. If it wasn't for the fair."That went on until 1901 when it became fairly obvious that St. Louis was going to be the site for the worlds fair. And that in Forest Park there were going to be a lot of what we would call in the 21st century water features. Those water features would have miniature boats and gondolas and fountains over white alabaster creations of rocks and cascades. It wasn't going to look good brown and muddy." said Dr. Robert ArchibaldTHE city hired three of the country's top experts to devise a new way to treat the city's water. Using iron and lime they managed to make it clear just two weeks before the opening of the fair.Today St. Louis' water is still considered some of the best in the country. Amazing after all, since it comes from one of the muddiest rivers in the world.

Doctors make medical breakthroughs all the time. But some are bigger than others and one was bigger than most. It was the vaccine that ended the terror of polio. Frequently contracted at this time of year. But what was it like in St. Louis before the virus was vanquished?It was terrifying. Before the polio vaccine the virus would leave a healthy person weak or paralyzed and in excruciating pain in a matter of hours."Summertime was full of terror for parents. In 1952 for instance, 57,000 mainly children came down with polio and generally during the summer months July, August a little bit of June, September and you still see people suffering the effects of having had the disease. It was terrifying." Robert Archibald - Missouri History MuseumThe iron lung was a metal tube which air pressure to inflate and deflate the lungs of paralyzed patients. And it was a miserable existence."Being confined in this long metal tube for days at a time not really being able to have any human contact. Not being able to move much, it seemed like the most awful thing that could conceivably happen." Robert ArchibaldBut then the most wonderful thing anyone could conceive of happened. In 1952 Jonas Salk developed an effective vaccine and by 1954 children were lined up everywhere to get it."It was an extraordinary vaccine followed a few years later by an oral polio vaccine but it immediately alleviated that terror that parents had about their children during the summertime and those awful images that we all saw of children in iron lungs, children who are on crutches, children with withered limbs which are vivid memories for anyone who grew up before the first polio vaccines were available."Though the disease has been for the most part eradicated one vestige still remains, the March of Dimes. Started by President Franklin Roosevelt who was himself a victim of polio.

The year was 1818 and the people of the Missouri territory were petitioning the federal government for statehood. But at the time the 22 existing states were evenly divided between free states and slave states. With more than 2000 slaves already in the Missouri territory there was pressure to make it a free state to stem the spread of slavery."The eventual solution of course was to admit Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state and to add a proviso onto the legislation that stated Missouri's southern boundary extended all the way to the west coast would be the northern most limit of slavery going forward in the future." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.But what would have happened if there had been no Missouri compromise?"I think they feared at the moment that the Union was going to come unglued. Then and I think had they not found the Missouri Compromise there might have been succession and civil war about 40 years earlier than it actually occurred."said Dr. Robert Archibald.At the time of the Missouri compromise Thomas Jefferson was still alive and called the debate about the it "A fire bell in the night." Even though it would be four decades until that fire began the Missouri compromise did not hold.It was repealed in 1854 by the Kansas-Nebraska Act and declared unconstitutional in 1857 as part of the Dred Scott decision. the courts ruled congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories.

It began as a beer garden in 1896 but did so poorly it was hastily reborn as an amusement park called the Forest Park Highlands."An amusement park in those days was not to be confused with Disneyland or Six Flags. The amusement park had everything from slightly risque vaudeville acts to movie houses to dance halls to places where people really engaged in behaviors that in other parts of the community would be a little less than acceptable." said Dr. Robert Archibald.At a time when men wore coats and ties to watch a baseball game the Forest Park Highlands was a place where you could dress down and loosen up.But like a its roller coaster the Highland's popularity went up and down as well."Forest Park Highlands changed a lot in the 1920's because by then people had access to things like movie theaters and automobiles. Automobiles allowed people to go to all kinds of different places instead of taking the trolley over to Forest Park Highlands on a Saturday afternoon." said Dr. Robert Archibald.At the end of World War II its popularity peaked and then steadily declined. A devastating fire finally finished her off.The Highlands was located where Forest Park community college sits today. Just west of there where the arena used to sit is a new development called, the Highlands At Forest Park. It features an office building with a wavy roof line. It is an homage to the roller coaster and the park that gave so many so many thrills.

When General Ulysses S. Grant became president he and the first lady brought their four children with them to the White House. Their daughter Nellie quickly became the toast of Washington high society."She goes off on this grand tour of Europe, which was not unusual for people in means in those days. On the way home on the ship she meets a guy by the name of Algernon Sartorious." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.He was an Englishman by birth and as it turned out not much of a catch."Unbeknownst to poor Nellie he was kind of a neardowell. He asked Nellie to marry him and had the nerve to go to President Grant, who didn't think much of him, to ask for Nellie's hand. This is a sign of some bravery on poor Algernon's part. General Grant acquiesced and the marriage took place in the white house in the east room in May of 1874."The Grant family tried to keep the wedding a private affair. There was a three day wedding news blackout. No photos were allowed."One of Grant's real concerns was that Algernon was an Englishman and he was loathe to have his only daughter disappear to England which she did immediately after the marriage." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Years later when Grant was dying of cancer Nellie came home to be at his side. But her husband stayed in England and refused to let their children to make the trip. No wonder Nellie later asked for him for a divorce ---- but he refused. Though she was unlucky in love she caught a lucky break. Her husband died young and left her a lot of money.

Thomas Jefferson bought the state of Missouri in a deal known as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Gateway Arch is on the grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. While he never saw it for himself a significant part of Jefferson's life lives on in St. Louis.At least 900 of his letters are kept in St. Louis. It is one of the largest collections of Jefferson's papers outside of Monticello. Most were written during his presidency. All are part of the collection at the Missouri History Museum.In fact, the History Museum's main building in Forest Park was built as the very first memorial to Thomas Jefferson. Even before the one in Washington D.C. It sits where the main entrance was to the 1904 World's Fair which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase.

Many memorials in the 19th century were made of the deceased hair."You knew that you were never going to see them again... and contemplating their hair or at least having something that represented a part of that person was a way of simulating a kind of closeness and a kind of intimacy." said Dr. Robert Archibald.It may seem strange to us today but in the 1800's death was much more a part of life. This meant those kinds of memorials were as well. But, hair work was practiced not just by the grief stricken."It probably was not all that unusual a request and so they would not have been embarrassed by the request at all because it probably was a fairly common request received by people of stature from all over the country." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Though it may seem a bit macabre some see these artifacts as art.Of all the locks of hair in the Missouri history museum's collection perhaps the most famous was only recently discovered. Which probably would have left the person it came from feeling a little slighted. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte.

Lewis and Clark set off on their exploration of the West from Missouri. A St. Louis man is also noted as one of the most famous explorers of the American West.He made a name for himself in many ways, as a military officer, as an explorer of the West and even a presidential candidate. But, it was during his time in St. Louis that John C. Fremont went from being famous to being infamous."In 1861 he was appointed commander of the Western department which included St. Louis and everything Wes. It was a major military command in a real hot spot during the early years of the Civil War." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.Fremont lost points with the public when he moved into this mansion on Chouteau avenue at a time of despair for so many. What got Fremont into the most trouble was his decision to impose martial law in Missouri. He threatened to free the slaves of anyone with Confederate sympathies."He jumped the gun a little bit because Lincoln was very concerned about holding the border states as loyal to the union. The idea that in a border state Fremont would threaten to emancipate the slaves of anybody he suspected of being disloyal to the union threatened to unhinge Lincoln's program of trying to keep the border states loyal in the union." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Fremont's decision would turn out to be a career changer. Lincoln suggested to Fremont that maybe he had gone a bit too far and Fremont refused to back down. At that point Lincoln gave him a written order which of course he had to follow and then a short time later removed him from command.From St. Louis, Fremont went on to become governor of Arizona. Only to end up moving back East to New York where he lost almost everything he had gambling on mining.It seems only appropriate that the road running through the middle of the oldest part of the Las Vegas strip is named in his honor. Although the locals pronounce it "Free-Mont" street.

Adolphus Busch was a teenager when he moved from Germany to St. Louis in 1857. Busch had little experience making beer even though his family sold brewery supplies. But he had other talents."He was a marketing genius and a salesman of epic proportions and he was determined to create a national beer brand." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.His first jobs in St. Louis had nothing to do with brewing. Then he met and married Lilly Anheuser. Her father Eberhard Anheuser owned a small local brewery."Busch's father died and left him some money. Adolphus was able to buy into Eberhart Anheuser's brewery and so they became partners and with Eberhart's death a few later it became Anheuser-Busch." said Dr. Robert Archibald.What Adolphus Busch did was grow the company fast. He introduced pasteurization and refrigerated rail cars. This allowed A-B to produce and distribute beer on a massive scale."Obviously Adolphus Busch didn't invent beer. He was just the first to realize that if he processed the beer a little differently and marketed it nationally he could sell a lot more . He did it and he was extremely successful." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Adolphus came from a family of 22 children. A tradition he and Lilly continued by having 13 children of their own.He died in 1913 while vacationing in Germany. His body was returned to St. Louis for burial at Bellfontaine cemetery.

He began like the Wright Brothers as a bicycle maker. But unlike the Wright brothers, Glenn Curtiss' dreams were about flying down the road on a motorcycle powered by his version of a V-8 engine."So when people were looking around for engines that would propel a dirigible which is a gas-filled balloon somebody mentioned Cutiss's engines. They had tremendous power but were relatively lightweight so he first got into the business of supplying engines for dirigibles," said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History MuseumThat led Glenn Curtiss into the aviation which in 1909 led to an invitation to bring come to St. Louis."The Wright brothers had always been relatively secretive about their flights They didn't invite huge audiences to come and watch. Curtiss had no such scruples, so people came in droves to see Curtiss fly his airplane," said Dr. Robert Archibald.Eventually, Curtiss partnered with the Wright brothers to form plane manufacturing company headquartered at Lambert field. At first much of what they built was military including the first pontoon plane. Later they introduced the Curtiss Robin which turned flying into an affordable hobby for the general public."He's the popularizer, the inventor he's the promoter and the very visible symbol of the dawning of the age of airplanes and aircraft. When human beings took to the sky for the first time and he had deep deep roots here because of his appearances here and his business interests as well." said Dr. Robert Archibald.The Curtiss Wright Company left St. Louis long ago. The company is now an aerospace defense contractor. As far as Glenn Curtiss himself. He eventually moved to Florida where he went on to create what was known as a motorized bungalo which became the forerunner of the RV.

Everyone in St. Louis knows this is the famous Eads bridge. But a decade before it was built James Eads was famous for building something else in St. Louis."One of the things he figured out was that you could build an iron clad river vessel that would be really impervious to attack. It could shell almost with impunity batteries along the shore as well as other boats on the river." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.The original model Eads submitted to the patent office is part of the collection at the Missouri History Museum.The iron boats were menacing and very effective. Using them allowed Ulysses S. grant to lay siege to the city of Vicksburg."At the siege of Vicksburg, those iron clad vessels that were built by Eads in the shipyard at Carondelet became one of the major weapons that literally made people living in Vicksburg live almost underground in tunnels and basements because they were under constant bombardment for several months by these vessels Eads built against which they had almost no defense." said Dr. Robert Archibald.The battle of Vicksburg which ended on the fourth of July in 1863 was a critical win for the Union because it gave the North control of the Mississippi river. This win effectively split the Confederacy in half.IT was also a personal victory for Grant. The win so impressed president Lincoln that he was promoted from major general to general in chief of the Union armies.

If you've ever been to the arch chances are you've seen the movie about how it was the gateway to the West was created.But the man who created the film itself cast a long shadow as well, as a pioneer not of the west but of the documentary.His name was Charles Guggenheim and even though he was a native of Cincinnati his contributions to St. Louis go beyond just the film about the arch. In the early 1950's he was one the first general manager of channel nine.His documentaries won four academy awards. Exploring topics as varied as civil rights and the Johnston flood. He also produced campaign commercials for democratic candidates, films for presidential libraries.The great St. Louis bank robbery was a Guggenheim feature film starring a young Steve McQueen. Now, his daughter Grace is making her own contribution to St. Louis history."She has actually donated not the final copies of his films but sort of what you folks call b-roll and the material used to produce the final films and it will all be coming here. It actually is here in St. Louis now." Said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.Dozens of crates of Guggenheim's raw materials will be cataloged and archived at the Missouri History Museum. They are available for viewing by those interested in both his topics and his techniques.Charles Guggenheim also created political ads for democratic candidates in the 60's and 70's. But when political advertising began to turn vicious he moved on. Proclaiming, "If you play the piano in a house of ill repute, it doesn`t make a difference how well you play the piano."Although Guggenheim died in 2002, his name and traditions live on through his son davis, born in St. Louis, who won an academy award of his own for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Murder has been considered a crime ever since the ten commandments were handed down at Mount Sinai. There was a time in St. Louis when it was, under certain circumstances, acceptable.Bloody Island was really was an island and it really was bloody. "Often times disagreements arguments, insults were settled with a form of private justice as opposed to and kind of public justice. Dueling was a form of private justice." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.Men with grudges would head for Bloody Island to exact justice under rules decided in advance.Despite often ending in homicide dueling wasn't outlawed until the 1850's. Some of the participants were high ranking officials like a famous Missouri senator."Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Lucas fought a duel in 1817 because Lucas had insinuated at the polls that Benton wasn't eligible to vote because he hadn't paid his property tax. A seemingly minor issue that shouldn't have led to bloodshed." said Dr. Robert Archibald.The point of dueling was really not about killing the other man. Just getting the better of him by inflicting a wound. But, the reality was that before the advances in wound care made during the Civil War being hit by gunfire was almost always a death sentence.

You've probably heard the name Audubon as in the Audubon Society. But, Audubon is also the name of a famous man whose exploits have ties to St. Louis."St. Louis of course was the jumping off point for the west and anybody headed west came through here but in the 1830's and 40's there literally was a parade of different artists who came through St. Louis and headed up the Missouri river usually for the Rocky Mountains and did just gorgeous artwork in an age when there wasn't any photography." said Dr. Robert Archibald.The best of them all was John James Audubon. he was a French-American whose career included a stint in Missouri's favorite French town."Saint Genevieve was basically kind of a general store business, dry goods and he kind of gave that up realizing his forte was art." said Dr. Robert Archibald.His most critical success was his book Birds of North America. But he also created a book four footed creatures as well."He wasn't simply an illustrator. He was also doing his own research on birds and his depictions of birds were accurate enough that scientists could literally classify the animal based on Audubon's rendering of it." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Audubon had no connection to the wildlife organization that bears his name. It is a name that still bears a cache. Last year, one of the few privately owned copies of Birds of North America sold at auction for 11.5 million dollars. That's the most ever paid at an auction for a single book.

If you think the story of Annie Malone is just about an orphanage then you don't know much about her. She was born and raised in Metropolis, Illinois. She came to St. Louis to seek her fortune. She produced a line of hair care products for African American women that would enrich her life."The Wonderful Great Hair Grower was the name of her beauty product and it replaced all kinds of other fairly macabre treatments for hair. Eventually though she really figured out how to make a really successful business." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.Eventually she would create an entire line of beauty products called Poro. She also started Poro college in North St. Louis to train her sales people and produce her products."By the 1930's she had representatives in every state of the union, she had representatives in Canada, the Philippines and a number of other foreign counties and became extraordinarily wealthy." said Dr. Robert Archibald.She used that wealth for good contributing to many African American causes and institutions including the St. Louis colored orphans home. They later renamed it the Annie Malone home."She was a model and an exception to her times, both as a female and as an African American she faced all sorts of hurdles to success. She overcame them all and became one of the wealthiest women in the United States and she remained particularly interested in women's issues and childrens issues." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Despite her success, the person best known for helping pioneer the business of African American beauty products is Madame CJ Walker. What's not widely known is Madame Walker received her training from Annie Malone.

In its salad days Fairground park was a wonder. It started out as a private park owned by the Agriculture and Mechanics organization."And they purchased the park in 1856 and began what was called the agricultural and mechanical fair and that was the big St. Louis fair for 50 years. It was sort of the great community activity each year and it went on for a week, kings came, King Edward of England came to the fair at one time, other luminaries came..." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.When it wasn't hosting the fair the park also hosted all kinds of races. It was home to the first St. Louis zoo.In the late 1940's it was the swimming pool that was the center of attention. When Mayor Joseph Darst tried to integrate it."He had to back off because of the outcry and because there also was a really terrible incident up in fairground park where a group of white youth attacked a group of black youth who used the pool at Fairground Park so it was the sight of a fairly tragic racial incident." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Today the park, which sits at Grand and Natural Bridge, is still in use. You can still see parts of what had been the walls of the bear pits.But clearly its best days were its first days. Once the worlds fair came to town the Agricultural and Mechanical fair was never held again.

It rose up on land that had once been the city's common fields and it began as a much smaller structure in 1826.But, the city was growing so rapidly that by the late 1830's a new building was built and that's the one we call the old courthouse."I find the old courthouse really interesting because in the midst of the conversations that go on about the merger of city and county, when you look at the old courthouse the other thing it symbolizes is when the city and county were merged because the old courthouse also held the offices of St. Louis County." said Dr. Robert ArchibaldIt was also the site of slave auctions. It was also the site of the famous slavery trial known as the Dred Scott case.The local jewel it hasn't always shined soot discolored it for many years. It was even abandoned for a time starting in 1930. That was before the national parks service made it the headquarters for the Jefferson National Expansion memorial better known as the Arch.Architect William Rumbold designed the dome at the old state hospital on Arsenal and the old courthouse. He based his design on St. Peters basilica in Vatican City.

Wagner Electric was a company based on the premise that the future lay with alternating current."The problem of course with direct current is it will kill you really quickly and alternating current is a much better option." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Their first location was a store front near 18th and Olive. It quickly grew and so did the size of its products. Which later included transformers."Wagner Electric survived the depression and went on into the 1950's and 60's. They eventually were purchased by Studebaker Corporation believe it or not and they still exist as a subsidiary of another larger company but their product line expanded from electric motors and related materials to automotive parts." said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.By the late 1930's Wagner employed 5,000 people. St. Louis based Emerson Electric also began with small electric motors. Wagner and Emerson had numerous plants and did business world wide.Unlike Emerson, which has a long history of buying other companies, Wagner was on the other end of that proposition. But, its new owners decided to keep Wagner's familiar name.

Some of Lewis and Clark's relatives were just famous and interesting."George Rogers Clark in any textbook on American history in the 19th century would have come across as one of the great heroes of the revolutionary war." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Today, we still remember the famed explorer William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame. But long forgotten is his older brother whose accomplishments are arguably just as significant.George Rogers Clark was the highest ranking American military officer in the Northwestern frontier during the revolutionary war. With the help of both frontiersmen and Native Americans Clark captured the British outposts of Vincennes, now in Indiana, and Kaskaskia, in Southern Illinois."Imagine if Clark and his little ragtag army had not managed to capture Vincennes and Kaskaskia. The United States would have had little claim to all that territory that now constitutes the bulk of the American Midwest." said Dr. Robert Archibald.The Missouri History museum now houses the largest collection of George Rogers Clark papers in America. This includes fascinating items like this letter from Patrick Henry, a list of prisoners captured at Vincennes and even this list of provisions Clark ordered for Kaskasia. This includes seven barrels of wine and brandy.Unfortunately George Rogers Clark was forced to resign from the military before the age of 30. He resigned after accusations he was drunk on duty.Eventually he went broke and had to rely on help from his famous brother to get by. He spent the last years of his life living alone in a log cabin along the Ohio river.

The rest of the world knew very little about the Chinese in 1904. What they did know they didn't like.Many in the West considered China feudal and backward. In the United States racism against Chinese immigrants had existed since they first came to America after the Civil War. Many Chinese immigrants originally came to help build the transcontinental railroad.In 1904 the Chinese tried to change those perceptions. They built the largest and most extravagant pavilion at the fair."They reconstructed the Prince's summer palace. The Prince actually came to the 1904 World's Fair and spent some time in residence in this artificially created, scaled down version of his summer house in China." said Dr. Robert Archibald.The Prince himself became quite a curiosity. Newspapers carried stories detailing what time he got up and even what he ate.The Busch family gave him a carriage for gadding about town.Along with the Prince and his palace China also sent 1,400 tons of other materials which were displayed in exhibit halls all across the fairgrounds. They hoped to enlighten people that the Chinese people themselves were enlightened.

Arthur Kennedy, Jr. had a need for speed. He was one of the first African Americans to become a professional powerboat racer. By the end of his career, Kennedy had set 14 records and was ranked one of the top ten drivers in the world."Arthur Kennedy was a graduate of Sumner High School here in St. Louis. His father had a sheet metal business that gradually moved into a heating and cooling business. But young Arthur Kennedy was from his earliest ages interested in boats. And boat racing," said Dr. Robert Archibald.There were very few places for Kennedy to hone his racing skills in St. Louis. But he managed, running his speedboats in flooded quarries and even the Mississippi river. Despite his fame, he also managed to keep the family business afloat."The company prospered under his leadership despite the fact he spent a lot of his time racing boats," explained Archibald.Arthur Kennedy, Jr. retired from powerboat racing in 1989. Sadly he died young from a heart atttack at age 48. A short life, but one lived at full throttle.

It had a hodge podge aesthetic and a menu that could clog the cleanest artery. And it was fantastic."It was the brainchild of a guy named William McGinley who wasn't even from St. Louis. He had a very simple invention that a carhop with tray could place food that will hook to a car window." said Dr. Robert Archibald.McGinley came to St. Louis in 1929. He was hoping to sell his invention to several existing restaurants but no one was interested.He opened a restaurant of his own and called it the Parkmoor. The Restaurant offered curb service for a culture just starting to fall in love with its cars. As time went on its popularity became its own worst enemy."Teenagers came, they sat and took up space. They sat in their cars and paid a nickel for a Coke. That was about it and they took up space for a really long time. The place became teenage hangouts as you would expect." said Dr. Robert Archibald.So McGinley began concentrating on indoor service and expanding Parkmoor's empire to eight st. louis locations.The last survivor, the original at Clayton and Big Bend was barely breaking even. Though the plan to tear it down broke hearts everywhere."People need that. They need places around them that remind them that what they think happened when they were young happened because there's the place, that's where it happened. It's proof, right so you take the Parkmoor away and poof, people no longer have that kind of confirmation of the good times that they remember." said Dr. Robert Archibald.The Parkmoor closed in 1999 and was demolished in 2003. It was a true original you'll never find anywhere else. It was replaced by something you can find everywhere else, a Walgreens.

When it came to the question of slavery Missouri always seemed to be at the center of the debate. So when it came to ending slavery it seems only fitting that a Missourian would play a crucial role. His name was John Henderson. He was appointed by Missouri's governor to fill a vacant senate seat in 1862."His name has virtually disappeared from history. But the words for the 13th amendment are the words of John Henderson. He was a Missourian and a Unionist."said Dr. Robert Archibald.While passage of the 13th Amendment officially ended slavery everywhere. Some states took the same step even earlier including Missouri."All of the former slave holding states and all states in order to become fully part of the united states at the end of the civil war had to abolish in their own constitutions...slavery. And so Missouri actually abolished slavery in 1864 as a condition of returning in full standing to the union."The 13th amendment was approved by congress on January 31, 1865. It was signed the next day by President Lincoln. He was killed before it was ratified.An interesting footnote: Just hours before his assassination President Lincoln's last official act was signing a pardon for a Missourian convicted of spying.The official who requested it was with Lincoln as he signed it. It was Missouri Senator John Henderson.

William Marion Reedy published the most influential magazine in America from his hometown of St. Louis, MO. It was called Reedy's Mirror."It was the go-to magazine. If you wanted to be somebody in the literary world you needed to get William Marion Reedy to publish you in Reedy's mirror."said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.A good deal of what appeared in the Mirror was written by Reedy himself. It was mostly wry commentary on the politics of the day. Despite its popularity the magazine frequently claimed to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Especially in the year of 1920 when the magazine lost the man in the mirror."It wasn't very long... within about six months after this death that Reedy's mirror ceased publication, but it wasn't because on the edge of financial disaster when he died, it was largely because he died." said Dr. Robert ArchibaldWilliam Marion Reedy was certainly one of a kind. But, there were three misses Reedy's. Two of whom had something in common. They both ran bordellos.

They called it 'The Pike'. It was a stretch of Lindell a mile long and as wide as imagination. It was a very popular attraction in the St. Louis Worlds Fair of 1904.There were circus elephants and cliff dwellers. Places to visit to China, Cairo and attend a Bedouin wedding. You could even witness creation and get a taste of the hereafter and wash it down with a cold beer. When it came time for the final farewell St. Louis faced a dilemma."The fair planners had a contractual obligation to demolish the fair grounds and return Forest Park to sort of a predetermined lands. They were legally obligated to do that. The problem on the Pike was they were all concessionaires and everything they had set up was all theirs. They couldn't sell it for anything. The costs of demolition were greater than the value of what there was to salvage," said Dr. Robert Archibald.That's when some starting suggesting the pike be made a permanent. Among those who rejected the idea was Washington University. The pike practically began at its front entrance. So that was the end of the discussion.Of the sixty attractions on The Pike perhaps the most popular was a horse named "Beautiful Jim Key." For 15 cents you could watch him use blocks to spell his name and even do math. His wonders were later celebrated in a song which included the verse:I can count and I can add. Know my alphabet and that's not bad. I can even give you change. For a horse that seems strange.

The ability for riverboats to shrink distances helped St. Louis grow."I've seen photographs where I could count up to 200 vessels lined up taking on cargo unloading cargo loading passengers unloading passengers and that area just below the arch where that street is was piled up with goods of all kinds," said Dr. Robert Archibald.Despite our romanticized version of river travel most steamboats were just cargo ships. They were dirty and dangerous. They could get you or your cargo from New Orleans to St. Louis is three days instead of two weeks. Because St. Louis was right in the middle of the country it was one of the busiest ports in the nation. Like the steamboats hubris can also be dangerous."St. Louisans even after the civil war thought look we are located here next to the junction of the continent's largest rivers and there is no technology that is going to take away our natural advantage here really in the center of the continent at the nexus of the greatest rivers. They underestimated the railroad." said Dr. Robert Archibald.In the end the railroads won which is why St. Louis' lost national prominence. The train tracks went North to Chicago and the steamboats went away.

It's not the easiest way to build a house, nor the cheapest, but beginning in the middle of the 19th century St. Louisans decided to stick with brick. Part of the reason was under their feet."There were huge clay deposits in there and so that really made it possible to create brick on site. Then the other impetus for this is the Great Fire of 1849 which burned down really the entire St. Louis downtown and led to the passage of ordinances that really required that more construction be brick," said Dr. Robert Archibald.At the industry's peak between 40 and 50 companies were making brick in St. Louis. Because the clay was such high quality it could also be used to pave streets and make decorative terracotta bricks. This was a particular specialty of St. Louis' large Italian community.Another advantage St. Louis had was the clay used for making bricks sat below a layer of coal that could be used to fire the kilns. Eventually the supply of both ran out. But today thanks to demand for high quality "salvage" brick St. Louis is still in the business. St. Louis is now exporting bricks from demolished homes.

The flight cage, built for the World's Fair, pre-dates the rest of the St. Louis Zoo. And it was never supposed to stay here."People drive through the park and they look at this building or that building and they say this must date from the world's fair and that must date from the world's fair, Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum says. "The fact is there is not much that dates from the world's fair."But one of the few structures that is left from the fair is the flight cage at the St. Louis zoo. It was built for the fair by the Smithsonian Institution, which intended to move it to the national zoo the following year."They spent $17,500 to build that birdcage and the deal was at the end of the fair it was supposed to go back to the Smithsonian Institution, but the one loophole was if St. Louis or St. Louisans decided they wanted it, they could buy it for the appraised value at the end of the fair which lo and behold was 35-hundred dollars," Archibald says.Even before the creation of the free zoo we enjoy today, St. Louis had a "for-profit" zoo at Fairground Park.You can still see the remains of the bear pits near the entrance at Grand and Natural Bridge.And while some thought it might be a good idea to build a new zoo in that same spot. Eventually it was decided the best place would be Forest Park, with the most logical spot for the zoo to take wing, next to the flight cage.

Long before the American Legion and the VFW veterans had formed an organization that provided them with both camaraderie and power.Those who survived the Civil War made friends for life and created organizations to give them a way to remain friends. The grandest of the all was a group of Union soldiers called the Grand Army of the Republic. Although it took years for its membership to reach a grand scale.By 1890 the Grand Army of the Republic had 400,000 members across the United States. This gave it tremendous political power to fight for veterans' causes. in 1887 the group held its national encampment St. Louis. a spectacular, but temporary arch, was built at 12th and olive to welcome them.In recent years there have been attempts to keep the organization alive by holding encampments for the descendants of the original members.Largely, the Grand Army of the Republic remains a grand relic of the past."The last meeting was in 1949. There were 16 members left and the last official member died in 1956 when he was 109 years old." said Chris Gordon of the Missouri History MuseumThe GAR with its system of local posts and commanders became the model for groups like the VFW and the American Legion. IN 1868 it was the GAR that first set aside the last day in may as a day of remembrance, or as we call it now, Memorial Day.

The idea of a national bank had been tried off and on since the days of George Washington. But after the bank panic of 1907 it was clear something better was needed to stabilize the country's banks system. In 1913 congress created the federal reserve system which watches over local banks. It lends them money, clears their checks and makes sure they are well run.Why was St. Louis chosen to house one of the Fed's 12 branches?"There was more economic activity in St. Louis at that time than any of the surrounding cities. Because it was bigger, headquarters for a lot of businesses and a lot of those business did business in all those other area. If you wanted to make it convenient and locate it in a center of in economic activity it made sense to put it in St. Louis." said Dr. Robert archibald.The Fed has several locations in its early years. But settled on its current home at Broadway and Locust in 1925.The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis covers most of Missouri, all of Arkansas and parts of Mississippi, Tennesee, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. It also has district branches in Little Rock, Louisville and Memphis

Painter Amy Schweig was trained at Washington University. She left St. Louis for life in an artists colony in the East.In the 1930's she returned to Missouri and started an artist colony in Ste. Genevieve. Other residents included Joe jones and Thomas Hart Benton. Their work was extraordinary."They are all of local subjects and so these artists are painting things that they saw around them in St. Louis and in rural Missouri and places like Ste. Genevieve so its really top quality art. It really depicts things that reflect our history as residents of the St. Louis region and of Missouri." said Dr. Robert Archibald.Eventually the Ste. Genevieve colony faded. But the artists including Aimee Schweig continued to delight the world with their view of the world.Aimee Schweig continued to paint commissioned portraits and give private lessons. But she also spent 20 years teaching art at Mary Institute. She died in 1987 at the age of 90.

One woman's young mother and baby brother made it off the ship alive. In 1912 then 16-year-old Thelma Thomas was traveling to America on the Titanic with her husbands brother and 10 other relatives."When in hit the iceberg, my uncle Charles said to her Thelma, I'm going to go out and see what that was. she said When he came back her expression was he looked as white as a ghost. He said, Thelma there is no time, and he put a life jacket on her, and grabbed up the baby and wrapped him in a comforter." said Marjorie Thomas.Charles knew that women and children were being loaded aboard the lifeboats first, and what that meant for him."He knew he was going down with the ship but he didn't tell her. So they went out on the deck, and he was holding the baby, Uncle Charles was pacing back and forth yelling "will someone please take the baby, I don't want to be saved" said Marjorie Thomas.A fellow passenger, a woman named Edwina Trout, became a life saver for her 5-month-old son Assad."Edwina was in another lifeboat and yelled I'll take him, and he passed my brother down to Edwina." said Marjorie Thomas.Over the years Thelma Thomas told her daughter Marjorie the story of how her brother's life was saved, and about how lucky he was to be alive.In 1979 Marjorie did finally find 94-year-old Edwina in California, and in 1984 she traveled there to personally thank her."All I can do is say I'm glad I'm here to tell what my mother went through went the sinking of the Titanic happened." said Marjorie Thomas.

For more than 90 summers the Muny Opera has been where St. Louisans gather to enjoy the stars under the stars. But at the very beginning the intended audience was not St. Louisans. “1917 was the year that the St. Louis advertising club was going to host the national, or worldwide as they called it, advertising club. The annual convention was here in St. Louis and there were going to be a lot of attendees. There was a desire to make some sort of mark and leave people with an impression that St. Louis was a wonderful place that did special things.” said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.Since the city had successfully staged a large pageant in Forest Park a few years earlier they decided to take a natural hillside and build a stage at the bottom. It was framed by two oak trees. The plan worked so well that in 1919 the Municipal Opera Association Of St. Louis was born or Muny for short.A place to see old favorites performing old favorites.“The Muny is in a sense populist. Their productions are meant to play to people`s sense of nostalgia. It happens in the evening on summer nights and you can kind of feel the St. Louis air around you and to know exactly where you are and you are in Forest Park at the Muny and you are listening to something that brings back all kinds of memories and thrills and makes you feel a part of this place and very comfortable at the Muny.” said Dr. Robert Archibald of the Missouri History Museum.In terms of seating, the Muny is the largest in the nation. With 11,000 regular seats and 1,500 free seats making it possible for anyone, regardless of their means, to enjoy the richness of a night at the theater.

There are two famous Missourians who have the same identical name, one is a very prominent famous politician, Thomas Hart Benton, and the other is a very famous artist Thomas Hart Benton.And it`s not a coincidence the famous painter was the great nephew of the famous politician, who made politics a kind of art.'Benton was elected one of its first two senators and he served in the U.S. Senate from 1821 till 1851. We are talking 30 years in the senate which in that day and age was a really long time. He was one of the most powerful politicians of his time; he was respected all over the United States.'He was known for having strong positions on several controversial issues of his time. But perhaps the one he is most noted for was his love of the west.Benton was very much in favor or encouraging people to move west. He supported efforts on the part of the united state to annex territory in the west, especially in the wake of the Mexican war. He was very much pro what ultimately became homestead acts which gave people free land in return for their willingness to settle and work.He deserves to be commemorated, he was the most articulate spokesman for the west and settlement of the west and making sure that governmental policy favored the west. He was the most outspoken advocate for those things in the history of the United States.Thomas Hart Benton was originally from North Carolina, born into a family that long held slaves. And yet, when the issue of expanding slavery to the west came before the senate, Benton opposed it, a position that eventually caused him to lose his seat, though he turned around and ran for the U.S. House and won.

"The 1917 race riots which occurred in East St. Louis are one of those absolutely tragic, horrible, awful events that continue to compound our history," said Dr. Robert Archibald, president of the Missouri History Museum.And to this day, they are still considered the worst race riots the nation had ever seen."They started with a strike at a company called the Aluminum Ore Company, and it was by primarily white workers striking over the usual issues of pay and conditions, but the company began to hire African Americans as replacement workers.Tensions between whites and blacks in East St. Louis has been growing even before the strike, as more and more African Americans migrated north looking for work.But on the evening of July 2, 1917, the anger boiled over.Mobs began setting fire to African American homes, and there were random shootings and beatings.Even women participated in the attacks."Hundreds of people died depending on whose accounts you look at, but several hundred at least, mostly African American," Archibald said.The end of the riots brought the beginning of several investigations, with perhaps the most shocking revelation, that some of the militiamen brought in to restore peace actually participated in the attacks.Outrage spread across the country.Three weeks after the end of the riots, 10,000 African Americans marched down New York City's Fifth Avenue in silent protest."I think it is a set of events that are remembered well by African American residents of the region because the tradition has been passed down. It's something that most white people would rather forget, and have," Archibald said.At the peak of the riots, thousands of black families fled East St. Louis by crossing the Eads Bridge into St. Louis.But eventually, most went back.Decades later, it would be the whites who decided to flee, but they never returned.

In St. Louis, we are used to big time musicians coming to town to give a concert. But in the 1850s, it was unheard of, until someone everyone had heard of decided to make the city one of her stops on her American tour.Her name was Jenny Lind, an international singing star known as the Swedish Nightingale. And when she came to town to perform in 1851, it was a sensation.'She had linked up with of all people P.T. Barnum, who of course was one of the great promoters, hucksters, circus developers, museum developers of the early 19th century, but he was also a promoter of the first class,' said Dr. Robert Archibald, president of the Missouri History Museum.Lind arrived in St. Louis on the steamboat Lexington, and made the Planters hotel her home. During her stay, local choral groups would show up at the hotel to serenade her.The concerts were held across the street at Wyman's hall.'Wyman`s was a relatively small theater, it seated 350 people and Barnum said he liked it that way because he`d rather have a crowded small house than an empty big house and so they charged what was a really substantial price for that time, 1851, they charged $5 to get in and hear Jenny Lind sing and $4 for standing room so it was very expensive,' Archibald said.Jenny Lind played St. Louis for six glorious nights, never to return again, though in 1933, the Muny performed a popular musical based on Lind`s life.It was called, 'Nightingale.''People didn`t get around much. So the idea that this world renowned celebrity would come to St. Louis was really astounding,' Archibald said.As a way to whip up even more of a frenzy, Barnum held back a number of tickets to be auctioned each day before the performance.And in typical Barnum style, he charged ten cents admission just for the chance to bid.But apparently along with smarts, Barnum also had a heart, giving the money raised by that door charge to local charities.

He was born in Germany, but grew up with a fascination about the American west. So when Carl Wimar moved to St. Louis to paint, you can imagine the subject matter he chose.He was born in Germany, but loved America and captured in spectacular detail the wildest part of a young and growing country.But some of his painting are nothing but a product of his vivid imagination.But when Wimar returned, he got permission to travel up the Missouri river on government ships taking provisions to the Indians, giving him a firsthand view of the world he had known only in his dreams.Except among art collectors, Wiman is largely forgotten today. But you can still see some of his best work in the dome of the old courthouse where he was commissioned to paint oval shaped scenes of St. Louis history, including a depiction of the transcontinental railway going west from St. Louis.Of course he had to use his imagination once again for that one, because it never happened.

When she had been a very young woman had saved up whatever coupons she was collecting and she bought herself a very inexpensive camera.And when she grew up, she became female photographer hired by a U.S. newspaper. And while Jessie Tarbox Beals had a long a varied career in St. Louis, she is best remembered for her classic photographs of the 1904 Olympics and World's Fair.She had a very difficult time getting a press pass for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition because she was a woman and because fair officials dismissed her as a regional photographer and they were interested in national publicity. But she was if anything persistent and finally she got a pass to go in an photograph the exposition while it was still under construction.Beals would never become one of the fair's official "photographers" but her images she recorded at the fair remain some of the most abiding.Jessie was particularly interested in the human exhibits at the fair and so she took stunning images of people, tribes from the Philippines and tribes from the United States and other native peoples from around the world who were actually put on exhibit in the fair. And she took many sensitive and poignant portraits of many of those people and the villages they erected at the fair site.We all here have a St. Louis centric view of the world so I think from our perspective her work at the 1904 World’s Fair was the pinnacle of her achievement. I don`t know what Jessie would have said. She might have agreed but she led a long and productive life aside from the world`s fair.After the fair, Jessie Tarbox Beals moved to New York City, divorced her husband, who had done all of photo developing and opened her own studio. Where she made portraits of some very famous people including Mark Twain and Teddy Roosevelt’ whom she had first photographed during his visit to the 1904 World's Fair.

Trolleys were a part of everyone`s life, it`s how people got around until after the first quarter of the 20th century, most people didn`t have automobiles so trolley cars were how you got places.And by the beginning of the 20th century, you could take the trolley almost anywhere in St. Louis, with 350 miles of streetcar tracks criss crossing the city.Trolley cars did all kinds of other things. They delivered mail, there were mail trolley cars that distributed mail around the city, there were hearse trolley cars that carried the deceased to the cemeteries. There were party trolley cars that you could rent for a party or a picnic, there were trolley cars that delivered vegetables, so trolley cars served every function that trolley cars now serve.And now at the beginning of the 21st century, St. Louis is going back to the future with the planned Delmar Loop trolley.As the president of the loop trolley company, Dr. Archibald hopes the new streetcar line will demonstrate the convenience and environmental advantages additional streetcar lines could bring to St. Louis, just as they already have in other cities.For a lot of cities, I think trolleys are going to be a part of the transit mix going into the future.So why did they streetcars go away in the first place?Well, it`s a long story but the short answer is it was the result of a conspiracy by some of the big car and truck and oil companies; which together formed their own streetcar company, that went around buying up other street car companies and then closing them to eliminate the competition with the automotive industry.As Dr. Archibald puts it, streetcars did not have a natural death, they were assassinated.

The U.S. Mexican War and the Spanish-American War, they were fought more than 50 years apart, but all these years later are still easily confused.And the Missouri History Museum has rare documentation of both conflicts including a limited edition book of paintings of the Mexican War, a battle resulting from a dispute over how much of Texas would become part of the United States.As for the Spanish American War, St. Louisan Frederick Leismann fought in both its theaters. First in Cuba and the second in the Philippines and years later told his firsthand accounts to his son in law who wrote them all down.Only 500 copies were ever made of the book of Mexican War paintings. And of course only one copy exists of Frederick Leismann's personal account of the Spanish American. Leisman went on to become something of a chronicler himself serving as the Missouri General Assembly's Chief Stenographer.

I think most of us have driven through the park, driven by the park, picnicked in the park, enjoyed festivals in the park and it really is one of the real jewels in the metropolitan region.Tower Grove Park takes its name from Tower Grove House, the country home of Henry Shaw, located on land that would eventually become the Missouri Botanical Garden.But Shaw had also had ideas beyond his garden gate.It really was a part of Shaw’s dream to create an English garden like Country Park and the 280 some acre Tower Grove Park was his answer.Shaw filled the park with more than 8000 trees and shrubs from around the world and included a system of winding roads to give visitors beautiful vistas at every turn.One thing I think a lot of people don`t realize is that Shaw also owned property surrounding the park and in the earliest days he thought that he could develop small homes around the park and that those homes would become a source of revenue to support the park. That dream never materialized but certainly his dream of a park did materialize and it is testimony to good management and citizen interest that the park probably looks better today than it has since its heyday.In 1868, when Shaw donated the park to the City of St. Louis, the land sat outside what was then the city's western edge. So it has always been governed by a state board, appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court.

Most of these people were middle class folks who lost jobs. They had come from a better life and expected to be going back to that life after the depression was over.They were called Hoovervilles, shantytowns named for the president, many of the jobless blamed for the great depression.And St. Louis' Hooverville was among the greatest of them all; with as many as five thousand residents living by their wits, in squalor on the riverfront just south of the MaCarthur Bridge.They created a real community, they created an integrated community, it was a community in which the men took two wheel carts and went out around the city during the day seeing what they could rustle in terms of food or maybe an odd job here and there washing a window for a downtown retail store, picking up coal along the railroad tracks for heat for cooking or heat for keeping their homes warm.Their homes were tiny, sometimes made out of orange crates or crushed cars or made out of wood that was sort of scavenged from anywhere you could scavenge it.Often entire families lived in the Hooverville and the children even attended school. Pevely Dairy sent them milk. Soulard Market sent unsold vegetables.The Terminal Railroad which owned much of the land simply let them be.It was somehow livable, but not much of a life.It is on the one hand a tale of extraordinary poverty in a very very wealthy county but it is also a story of persistence and endurance on the part of people who face adverse circumstances.By the mid 1930's St. Louis' Hooverville began to shrink because people began finding work and because the city decided to clear the land for a park that eventually become the Archgrounds. Still, a few squatters continued living in their riverfront shacks until the late 1950's, when the last were finally bulldozed to make way for Interstate 55.

St. Louis itself has been the home of a number of national political conventions dating from the 19th and into the 20th century. Five in fact, starting with the democrats in 1876.Samuel Tilden was nominated by the democratic party, you know of course because; you have never heard his name in connection with the presidency that he didn`t win and instead the presidency went to Rutherford b. Hayes.Undaunted by the loss, the democrats returned to St. Louis in 1888 nominating Grover Cleveland, who won.Then in 1896; the GOP came to town, nominating William McKinley, who also won.There was a lot of hoopla surrounding these conventions, there were parades and there were horns and there were demonstrators of all kinds who had causes for which they were advocating.The democrats returned again in 1904, but got little notice thanks to the World’s Fair in forest park.But they came back again anyway in 1916. Sending Woodrow Wilson back to the White House with a cause to champion thanks in part to his experience in St. Louis.There were women who demonstrating for female suffrage who were lining the street and the point was made clearly, as the men walked from the Jefferson hotel to the Coliseum that were was a very powerful and strong group of people; who were very much in favor of suffrage for women and of course female suffrage came not too long after that.In 1896, it wasn’t just the republicans who came to St Louis, in July of that year, the city also hosted conventions for the Bi-Metallic party. Which wanted to put the united states on a gold and silver standard and the Populist Party; who ended up nominating the same man as the democrats, William Jennings Bryan. Who despite having the backing of two political parties, still lost the election.

You won't recognize his face and his name will probably mean nothing to you either.But John Gunlack's contributions to life in St. Louis still surround us in many ways.He was a real do gooder, a real involved citizen, progressive, became very immersed in what was called the progressive movement which was in favor of government reform and in favor of parks in favor or advocating for better conditions for people living in tenements without adequate plumbing or water supply. Gundlach used his skills and resources to make the city a better place.John Gundlack was born in blackjack in 1861 and with only a high school education, became a highly successful real estate developer, who used his money and power to make St. Louis a better place.He is especially noted for taking a onetime local event and turning it into a tradition that survives today.One of the outgrowths of the great pageant and masque back in 1914 was the creation of an amphitheater for Shakespearean productions, it was the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare and that amphitheater became the Muny.So why is such a great man barely remembered?Everybody gets forgotten, unless you are Abraham Lincoln or George Washington, you get forgotten. Maybe they shouldn't be because it does seem to me that the kind of engaged citizenship of a John Gunloch is a sorely needed model. The idea that wealth and success impose an obligation to somehow giveback is an idea that should never be lost.While you'd be hard pressed to find John Gunlack's name on any building in St. Louis; you can find out a lot more about him in one particular building, the Missouri History Museum library which houses a collection of his papers. At one time, John Gunlack was vice chairman of the Missouri Historical Society.

If there are two classes most students are sure to remember from their younger years, it's probably PE and sex education.And one St. Louisan significantly changed the way both are taught.Helen Manley was way ahead of her time and I am sure in the 1930`s a bit controversial in university city and in St. Louis as well.And "her" time began when she was born in St. Louis in 1894. Helen Manley left home to attend Wellsley and returned home a teacher with an interest in physical education, which at the time had been mostly about calisthenics.Her view was that physical training and physical exercise ought to be something that was fun and enjoyable so she had her students playing in a whole variety of games and other activities with the idea; that if they did those things they would engage in them for a lifetime and who is going to do pushups for a lifetime when they don`t have to anymore.If that change had been her only contribution to teaching it would have been significant; but Helen Manley also thought schools should offer sexual education as well, a risky position to take in the 1930's.She was really highly thought of not only among her peers and colleague; but much beloved in the University City school system as well. So she must have brought a lot of common sense and sensitivity to it that allowed her to do it in ways that didn`t threaten anybody.Helen Manley retired from the U-City school system in the 1960's, but she went on to serve the profession for many years through leadership positions in national scholastic organizations.And all those years of physical activity appear to have served her well.She died in 1987, three days after her 93rd birthday.

St. Louis is also known for a very famous balloon race held in 1907. The balloon ascension grounds as they called them were located in Forest Park and these balloons were filled with propane natural gas generated by Laclede.But this was not just any balloon race. In the fall of 1907 St. Louis hosted the second annual Gordon Bennett balloon race.It was a huge deal that made headlines worldwide in part because Gordon Bennett was a newspaper tycoon and because his balloon race was not about speed but about distance.They are a little worried about the wind. They are fearful it is going to take them to the great lakes so they`ve loaded the balloons with the survival gear they need if they got dumped into Lake Superior. They are also carrying saws and other forestry equipment in case they come down in the woods somewhere.In all, about a dozen balloons representing four different countries lifted off from Forest Park on October 27, 1907. The race ended a few days later in a small seaside town in New Jersey, where the German balloon called the Pommern won the silver cup after traveling about 800 miles in 40 hours.Yeah there are airplanes but it is nowhere near as exciting as these balloonists who simply fill these things with gas, go up and wander wherever the winds take them.Even St. Louisans who had no interest in the race were forced to take notice of its date and time because while the balloons were being filled, they lost their natural gas service.But despite that inconvenience the Gordon Bennett race was held in St. Louis again in 1910 and 1929 and it is still held today in cities around the world.