MoHistory

When a tornado tore through the bohemian neighborhood of Greenwich Corners in St. Louis in February 1959, it spelled the end for this up-and-coming St. Louis hotspot near Olive Street and Boyle Avenue in the Central West End. Over the previous six years, a few clubs and restaurants had moved in and turned this strip …

Continue reading "Lighting Up Gaslight Square"

On November 20, 1945, some of the most important trials of the 20th century began in Nuremberg, Germany. Known as the Nuremberg Trials, the cases brought against 24 of the most prominent surviving Nazis captured the attention of the world as legal experts from several countries exposed the depths of Nazi criminality before an international …

Continue reading "The Last Lawyer from the Nuremberg Trials"

Listen to an episode about stained-glass windows on our Here’s History podcast with KDHX. From towering mansions down to the smallest shotgun houses, stained-glass windows are everywhere in St. Louis. They’re points of pride for homeowners and selling points for realtors, but the larger story behind these colorful windows isn’t so obvious today. It’s a story that …

Continue reading "Why Does St. Louis Have So Many Stained-Glass Windows?"

Listen to an episode about St. Louis’s mayors in 1875 on our Here’s History podcast with KDHX. The election process is often full of ups and downs, but nothing compares to the results from one strange year in St. Louis history. If you were alive in 1875, it would have been tough remembering who the mayor was. …

Continue reading "The Year St. Louis (Almost) Had Four Mayors"

Listen to an episode about William Taussig on our Here’s History podcast with KDHX. Some of the biggest stories in St. Louis history—the 1849 cholera epidemic, the Eads Bridge and tunnel, the Civil War, the building of Union Station, and more—involve a man named Dr. William Taussig. Though his name may be unfamiliar to most, Taussig is …

Continue reading "The Man at the Edge of St. Louis History"

Mention “Erich Weiss,” to a random St. Louisan, and you’re likely to get a shrug. But use Erich Weiss’s more famous adopted name—Harry Houdini—and you’ll get a different reaction. The most famous magician in history, Harry Houdini’s image remains instantly recognizable today. His name is used to describe any object that has disappeared (“My car …

Continue reading "Harry Houdini in St. Louis"

This Halloween season is the perfect time to look at some of the lesser-known creepy tunes and spine-tingling ballads recorded by St. Louisans during the early 20th century. Each of the songs on this list were recorded for Okeh Records as part of their race records series—a collection of 78rpm records featuring, promoting, and marketed …

Continue reading "5 Chilling Songs to Get You Ready for Halloween"

Written by TMH Apprentices Gavin O’Neal, Ne’Vaeh Dudley, and Danielle Haynes If you live in St. Louis, you’ve probably heard of the city’s Fourth of July celebration, Fair St. Louis. Some of you may have attended it to see the parade or catch the fireworks display. But did you know that Fair St. Louis once went …

Continue reading "Behind the Veil: The Secret Society of St. Louis Elites"

EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to bring a plurality of voices to our storytelling, the Missouri Historical Society frequently asks guest writers to contribute to History Happens Here. The views and opinions expressed by guest contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missouri Historical Society, its affiliates, or …

Continue reading "Winning Baseball’s Suds Series"

The exciting news of a new railroad was the last thing on anyone’s mind in St. Louis in the summer of 1849. Residents were probably more worried that the end of the world was near. In May the city’s riverfront was completely destroyed by fire, with more than 400 buildings lost. As the city tried …

Continue reading "Thomas Hart Benton Speaks for the Railroad"

EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to bring a plurality of voices to our storytelling, the Missouri Historical Society frequently asks guest writers to contribute to History Happens Here. The views and opinions expressed by guest contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missouri Historical Society, its affiliates, or …

Continue reading "The Time the Blues Almost Moved to Saskatoon"

Listen to an episode about Ruth Kamphoefner on our Here’s History podcast with KDHX. It’s hard to imagine it now, but there was a time in St. Louis when the idea of saving old buildings was a foreign concept. Progress usually meant tearing down anything old or in need of repair. Old homes and businesses were generally …

Continue reading "Saving Lafayette Square"

EDITOR’S NOTE: In order to bring a plurality of voices to our storytelling, the Missouri Historical Society frequently asks guest writers to contribute to History Happens Here. The views and opinions expressed by guest contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missouri Historical Society, its affiliates, or …

Continue reading "Benjamin Oglesby and the 56th Infantry"

Listen to an episode about the Niedringhaus brothers on our Here’s History podcast with KDHX. Today’s nonstick frying pans and heatproof plastic utensils make cooking drastically easier than it was for St. Louisans of the past. The 19th century’s tin and iron kitchenware was notoriously difficult to keep clean and rust free, but in the 1870s, two …

Continue reading "The Birth of Granite City"

Written by TMH Apprentices Ezra Birman, Alexia Nastasia, and James Harris III Walking into a drugstore in the 1930s, you may have sat down at the soda fountain counter and ordered a Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda. In 1929, St. Louis soda maker Charles Leiper Grigg introduced this lemon-lime flavored drink that contained a mood-enhancing drug …

Continue reading "Cracking Open a 7 Up with Charles Leiper Grigg"

Listen to an episode about the money in early St. Louis on our Here’s History podcast with KDHX. When was the last time you paid for something with paper money? I still do now and then, but it’s getting rarer by the day. Credit cards and electronic payments have almost completely replaced the slips of green paper …

Continue reading "What the Bank of St. Louis Left Behind"

When public education first reached St. Louis, it only catered to those who were white. Missouri followed the same philosophy as other slave states, with lawmakers fearing that if enslaved people had any kind of education, they might revolt. In 1847 the General Assembly of Missouri passed a law stating that “No person shall keep …

Continue reading "Segregated Education: Mapping St. Louis’s Colored Schools"

St. Louis has certainly been blessed with architectural beauty, but not every building to rise in our city has been greeted with open arms. When completed in 1888, Olive Street’s 10-story Fagin Building was so shocking one national critic branded it “the most discreditable piece of architecture in the United States.” St. Louis architect Charles …

Continue reading "St. Louis’s Architectural “Atrocity”"

On summer break, what’s a museum educator to do? Like many traditional teachers, professional development is a fantastic way to expand my knowledge as an instructor. In July 2022, I attended the National Humanities Center’s Summer Institute along with 25 other educators. Titled “Contested Territory: America’s Involvement in Vietnam,” this program explored Vietnam’s culture and …

Continue reading "Five Takeaways on America’s Involvement in the Vietnam War"

Many people have had the familiar nightmare of appearing on stage and forgetting their lines. For most, it’s nothing but a stress-induced dream. Unfortunately for Spanish tenor Florencio Constantino, appearing at the Odeon on February 16, 1917, the nightmare became his reality. Constantino, born in Bilbao, Spain, on April 9, 1869, was one of the …

Continue reading "Disaster at the Odeon"