MoHistory

It was a dark and stormy night in April 1931 when highly respected St. Louis ENT Dr. Isaac Kelley’s evening at his Central West End home was interrupted by a call requesting his assistance. The caller insisted their child was suffering from an ear infection and needed his help immediately. Kelley copied the address, although …

Continue reading "The Socialite Kidnapper"

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 Story of Local Activist Jeu Hon Yee"

St. Louis’s incredible architecture is what first made me love our city’s history, and my favorite St. Louis building seems to change every day. But one my thoughts always return to is the 24-story art deco skyscraper that towers tall over the Grand Center skyline. Built for the Continental Life Insurance Company in 1930, the …

Continue reading "An Art Deco Icon: The Continental Building"

At Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Robert Fishbone found two things that changed his life. Initially intent on studying biochemistry, he discovered photography, which helped him recognize his passion was for art and not science. The change in majors required enrollment in an art class that led to his second discovery, Sarah Linquist, his …

Continue reading "50 Years of Building Art On The Wall"

While the Fruin-Colnon Construction Corporation may not be a household name for some St. Louisans, the company influenced the St. Louis landscape for over 100 years. Born in Ireland in 1831, Jeremiah Fruin and his family immigrated to Brooklyn, New York in 1833. After finishing his formal education at 16 years old, Jeremiah joined his …

Continue reading "Fru-Con’s Foundations"

When most St. Louisans think of 1904, the first thing that comes to mind is the World’s Fair. But the World’s Fair was hardly the only thing happening in St. Louis in that year. Significantly, 1904 was the year that St. Louisans sent noted mobster Thomas “Snake” Kinney to the statehouse in Jefferson City. Thomas …

Continue reading "The Snake in the Senate: Mobster Thomas Kinney"

Check out Part 1 of Helen Stephens’s story! Not Just a “Real Girl” While we don’t know all the details of Stephens’s biology or sexuality and she never publicly addressed this topic, we do know that Helen Stephens was a woman who loved women. She left behind letters indicating she was involved in romantic relationships …

Continue reading "Helen Stephens, the Indomitable Fulton Flash"

They say St. Louis is a sports town. So it makes sense that one of the oldest and most storied stadiums in the US can be found here—Francis Field. Built in 1902 and named for David R. Francis, the president of the 1904 World’s Fair, Francis Field has been home to many historic sporting events, …

Continue reading "Francis Field’s Olympic History"

The Fulton Flash Helen Stephens was 18 years old when she won two gold medals at the Berlin Olympics and met Adolf Hitler. [Hitler] strode forward and gave me a sloppy Nazi salute and I didn’t return it and I gave him my ‘ole “Missouri” handshake I always say . . . He said, “I …

Continue reading "Meet Helen Stephens, the Dazzling Fulton Flash"

Do you ever find yourself thinking about how cities work? What happens to your trash after the truck picks it up? How do the sewers really work? How on earth did the city function before sewers? I get stuck on these weird questions all the time, and my father-in-law offered up one recently that I …

Continue reading "How St. Louis Got Its Alleys"

Whether St. Louisan Mary Sprague is depicting a large, incredibly detailed chicken or painting a commentary on the devastation of losing loved ones, her artwork never disappoints. Sprague’s oeuvre has the ability to emote quirkiness and humor or purvey psychological drama and shock value. One of her paintings in the Missouri Historical Society Collections, The …

Continue reading "Memories and Ghosts: The Nursery by Mary Sprague"

One novel. One film adaptation. Two ways to interpret Meet Me in St. Louis at the Missouri History Museum. Current exhibits Coloring STL and The 1904 World’s Fair each illuminate facets of Meet Me in St. Louis. Both center on the attention that St. Louis received with the popularity of Sally Benson’s book and its film adaptation. …

Continue reading "Meet Me in St. Louis (Twice!)"

In the summer of 1956, Gertrude Hoffsten was on vacation in Michigan when a woman approached her. Her son insisted that he knew Hoffsten’s voice, so his mother asked if Hoffsten had anything to do with the radio. Hoffsten replied that she did—she recorded a science program at the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) radio …

Continue reading "On the Air: KSLH Public School Radio Station"

A T-Rex is currently visiting the Saint Louis Science Center! A cast—or replica—of SUE, the most complete and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex, is traveling around the country as part of an exhibit from the Field Museum in Chicago. Accompanying them is a cast of the T-Rex’s rival, the triceratops. But this isn’t the first time that …

Continue reading "Dinosaurs on Display"

In March 1945, Walter Winchell, popular US gossip journalist, warned the public about the potential danger of German prisoners of war being held in a camp near the Weldon Springs Ordnance Works, a facility that manufactured TNT for the US military. “Some Nazi Prisoners of War are tepeeing [sic] at a Prisoner of War ‘vacation resort’ …

Continue reading "Nazi Farmhands in Chesterfield Valley"

“Cemeteries are places where every stone has a story, but not every story has a stone.” —Dan Fuller, Event and Volunteer Coordinator, Bellefontaine Cemetery Among the memorial markers in Section M of Greenwood Cemetery lies the grave of Cornelia Swanson. Although her death was in 1951, she’s buried among those who passed away in 1964. …

Continue reading "Finding Cornelia Swanson"

St. Louis is made up of thousands of blocks, each one containing its own personality and character. Their histories make the homes and land contained within them unique from the rest of the city. While many people research their homes, they typically exclude the land and surrounding history that was there before the house or building. …

Continue reading "The Surveyor Who Turned Chouteau Land into an Orchard"

This treasure is set to join the likes of the Queen’s ever-so-cherished crown jewels themselves. —Lady Whistledown In part 1 of this series, we featured art in the Missouri Historical Society Collections that showed how the Regency era impacted St. Louisans in the early 1800s. In this post, we’ll examine a few of the items …

Continue reading "Bridgerton Connections in the MHS Collections, Part 2"

The man who earned national recognition for Operation Motivation in the Banneker School District had a four-decade tenure in education in St. Louis. Dr. Samuel Shepard Jr. began his career as a coach and teacher in his hometown, Kansas City. Then he came to St. Louis as the assistant superintendent of physical education for the Banneker …

Continue reading "Dr. Samuel Shepard Jr. and Operation Motivation"

I have always thought that an appreciation of the arts is what lifts us beyond mere animals. It stirs the passions and moves the spirit, and, this author hopes, inspires more newsworthy pursuits. —Lady Whistledown Viewers love the gorgeous fashions, splendid drawing rooms, and lavish furnishings on display in Netflix’s Bridgerton series. However, many might …

Continue reading "Bridgerton Connections in the MHS Collections, Part 1"