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The elephant rocks at Elephant Rocks State Park were formed from 1.5-billion-year-old granite. These giant boulders stand end-to-end like a train of circus elephants. The rocks have created formations that intrigue geologists, are popular with history buffs interested in the past quarrying, and fascinate children who love to climb on and between the boulders. An …
Elephant Rocks State Park
1.5 billion years ago
Collected from downtown Kansas City, this 300 million-year-old crinoid fossil is a reminder of Missouri’s prehistoric past. Crinoids (Delocrinus missouriensis) were marine animals native to Missouri during the Pennsylvanian Period when the state was submerged below a warm shallow sea. The fossil’s plant-like appearance earned them the nickname “sea lily,” as they had a stem …
Crinoid Fossil
300 million years ago
Early Paleo-Indian cultures left behind many clues to their daily life through the tools that they used. These early people produced projectile tips that would later be called Clovis points, named for Clovis, New Mexico, where they were first identified. This spear or dart tip would have been formed by percussion flaking the general shape …
Clovis Point
12 thousand - 11.7 thousand years ago
This 200-year old dugout canoe is an example of the type used by Indigenous people and early European colonists for transportation and trade. By the 17th century, the Osage settled in central and western portions of the state along the Missouri and Osage Rivers. Upon French arrival to the area, the Osage established an extensive …
Dugout Canoe
1750-1820
In 1764, French fur trader Pierre de Laclède de Liguest and Auguste Chouteau founded St. Louis. Their family’s success in the fur trade and business helped grow the small French settlement into a well-connected city. Jean Pierre Chouteau’s armoire, crafted in the 1790s, represents the Chouteau family’s role in the founding and transformation of St. …
French Colonial Armoire
1770s
In the late 1730s, French Canadian colonists settled the river bottom on the west side of the Mississippi River. The village was one of many French communities that formed the Illinois Country. This territory was held by France until the country ceded the territory west of the Mississippi to Spain in 1763. The settlement survived …
Amoureux House
1792
Southeast Missouri contained one of the largest repositories of lead in the world. More than 1,000 miles of mine tunnels stretch across the region known as the Old Lead Belt. The first European mineralogical expeditions into the area were in 1700. Early explorers reported that a “shiny gray mineral… that was everywhere, often lying on the …
Missouri Mines
1800s - Present
President Thomas Jefferson sent diplomatic envoys, James Monroe and Robert Livingston, to France to negotiate with Napoleon Bonaparte for the purchase of the port of New Orleans (and possibly Florida) in a bid to control access to the Gulf of Mexico. They were authorized to pay up to $10 million. Napoleon needed money as a …
Louisiana Purchase Treaty
1803
William Clark used this hand-stitched elk-skin journal as a field diary in the fall of 1805. In this journal, Clark noted daily occurrences and sketched maps as the Corps of Discovery traversed the Bitterroot Mountains on their way to the Pacific Ocean. The maps detailed the natural landscape and Indigenous settlements along their route. These …
William Clark’s Elk Skin Journal
1805
Starting in December 1811, a series of massive earthquakes struck southeastern Missouri along the New Madrid fault line. Named after the town of New Madrid, the line runs through southeastern Missouri and adjacent states. The initial quake on December 16 likely registered between 7.2 to 8.2 on the Richter Scale and was of such force …
New Madrid Earthquake
1811-1812
This drinking cup made from an animal horn was used by General David Thomson at the October 1813 Battle of the Thames, an American victory against the British and Tecumseh’s Confederacy in the War of 1812. The American troops serving under William Henry Harrison won the battle in which Tecumseh was killed. The victory led …
General David Thomson’s Horn Drinking Cup
1813
This 1817 petition pressed the US Congress to consider Missouri Territory for statehood status. This petition, which was circulated around Washington County, was one of many signed by Missouri residents in the fall of that year. This was a part of a first round of petitions that made their way to Congress in early 1818. …
Missouri Statehood Petition
1817
Dating back to 1825-1850, this Missouri War axe represents those used by Indigenous tribes in the Missouri River region, such as the Sioux, Shoshones, Mandan, and Osage. Axes like this often possessed inscriptions left by the blacksmith who forged them or designs like the bleeding heart shown on this blade. A common folkloric symbol, the …
Missouri River Fur Trade War Axe
1825-1850
Jefferson Barracks was established in 1826, and it remains America’s oldest military installation west of the Mississippi River. Located 11 miles from St. Louis, it was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, whose Louisiana Purchase included the site. As a frontier post, troops from Jefferson Barracks played an important role in America’s westward expansion. Many …
Jefferson Barracks
1826–1946
Gottfried Duden was one of the first German visitors to the newly established state of Missouri. After a four-year residency in Montgomery County during the 1820s, he published a glowing Bericht or Report about the region to persuade settlers to make the state their new home. He titled the document, Bericht über eine Reise nach den …
Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America
1827
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that church members believe to be authored by the prophet Mormon and later translated by Joseph Smith. The book recounts the prophet’s story of ancient America while also offering context to the Mormon experience and religious philosophy. This …
Book of Mormon
1830
Missouri’s thriving beer industry can trace its roots to Adam Lemp, a German immigrant who introduced the lager style to St. Louis in the late 1830s. After a stint in Cincinnati, Lemp moved to St. Louis, where he opened a grocery store to sell his homebrewed beer alongside other goods. Realizing a greater demand for …
Corking Machine
1830 - 1840
In the early nineteenth century, white Americans began illegally encroaching on autonomous Indigenous peoples’ lands in the Southern United States as state governments began stripping their rights. After winning the presidency promising to open up the West for white settlement, President Andrew Jackson encouraged Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act. The act was signed …
Trail of Tears
1830s
Founded in 1837, Weston served as a major Missouri River port town in the decades before the Civil War. Settlers from the Upper South moved to Platte County to take advantage of the area’s fertile soil and easy access to the Missouri River. Platte County farmers quickly emerged as major commercial producers of tobacco and …
Tobacco Barn
1831 - present
After Missouri became a state in 1821, the U.S. Army began searching for a road to connect St. Louis and Fort Smith, Arkansas. The route they established followed a path used by Osage Indians and was commonly known to Missourians as the “Military Road,” or the “Fayetteville Road.” From 1858 to 1861, the Butterfield Overland Mail Company …
Wire Road
1836 - 1922
These photos depict the Missouri State Penitentiary, a notorious prison that left an indelible mark on the state’s history. Constructed in 1834, the penitentiary became the first prison west of the Mississippi and welcomed its first prisoner, Wilson Eidson of Green County, two years later. For much of the 19th century, free inmate labor contributed …
Missouri State Penitentiary
1836 - 2004
James Cook, Sr., and his wife Susan Angel Cook, migrated west from Kentucky and settled along Swan Creek in the lower reaches of what was then Greene County (now Taney County). As was the case with many early settlers, they came to Missouri as part of a larger group migration that included multiple families from …
Cook Cabin
1836
This is the only surviving piece of abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy’s last printing press. Throughout the nineteenth century, Missouri found itself at the center of the pro-slavery and abolitionist debate as a slave state surrounded by free states. Elijah Lovejoy joined the discussion when he founded the St. Louis Observer, an abolitionist newspaper. Harassment at the …
Elijah Lovejoy’s Printing Press
1837
The George Caleb Bingham Home was built in 1837 in Arrow Rock, Missouri. Its architect and first owner, George Caleb Bingham (1811 – 1879), was a Whig politician and artist. Bingham painted portraits of prominent contemporary Missourians but achieved national fame as a genre painter for his paintings of American frontier life along the Missouri …
George Caleb Bingham Home
1837 - present
This reliquary dates back to 1838, and belonged to Clementine Papin Carriere, a descendant of the Chouteau family. The religious object is a circular brass container, no larger than a pocket watch, lined with red linen cloth that contains ten relics. A clear lid allows for the relics that are placed in a circular motion …
Reliquary of Clementine Papin Carriere
1838
This map shows the land that had been surveyed in the state of Missouri by November 29, 1838. Most notable is the newly surveyed land in red located in the Platte Purchase region of northwest Missouri. This region, comprising the present-day counties of Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Holt, Nodaway, and Platte, was not within Missouri’s state boundaries …
Diagram of the State of Missouri
1838
Delaware (Lenape) women created an entirely new style of beadwork in the decade following the Removal Act of 1830 that forced them west from the woodlands of southwest Missouri to the prairies of Kansas and Oklahoma. Known as the “Prairie Style,” it combined northern and southern Woodland designs and would influence the beadwork of many …
Delaware Bandolier Bag
1840 - 1860
This working Washington Printing Press from the 1840s currently sits in the Strehly House in Hermann. The Strehly House was built in the 1840s and owned by the same family for more than 100 years. It acted as the publication site of the first German newspaper west of the Mississippi River in 1843. The newspaper …
Washington Printing Press
1840s
The Santa Fe Trail was a route pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell to transport commercial goods from Franklin, Missouri across “Indian Country” to the northern Mexican city of Santa Fe. It took 8 to 10 weeks to haul goods by packhorse or Conestoga wagon from Western Missouri to Santa Fe. One of the thousands …
Saddle Bags
1842
Once belonging to the final King of France, Louis Philippe, these pistols were gifted to Ioway Chief, Francis White Cloud, around 1845. Chief White Cloud and a small entourage of Ioways joined American artist George Catlin on a European tour. Catlin embarked on this tour to promote his exhibit of 500 paintings of Native Americans …
Dueling Pistols
1845
Thomas Easterly, a well-known daguerreotypist, captured this photograph depicting the damage of the St. Louis Fire of May 17, 1849. This disaster incinerated fifteen blocks of the business district. Losses were estimated at six million dollars, which included: four hundred and thirty buildings, twenty-three steamboats and other boats, and a large amount of freight and …
Ruins of the Great St. Louis Fire
1849
John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut in 1800 but raised in Ohio. Although Brown had always opposed slavery, he was not committed to the cause until he attended an abolitionist meeting in Cleveland in 1837. Upon the conclusion of the meeting, Brown swore that he would dedicate his life to the abolition of slavery. …
John Brown’s Telescope
1850s
A child and woman’s boot from the Nathan Boone Homestead State Historic Site. Nathan and Olive Boone settled in the Ozarks in 1837 with the assistance of four of their fourteen children. They remained in Ash Grove, Missouri, until their deaths in the late 1850s. Nathan Boone was the youngest son of the famous trapper …
Boone Family Boots
1850s
This hand-pieced cotton quilt was made by Sophia Root Moore around 1850. Sophia Moore was the matriarch of a prominent Linn County farming family that produced over 40 quilts between 1855 and 1940. Some of these quilts are believed to have been started by Sophia Moore in the 1850’s and finished by the family’s descendants …
Cotton Quilt
1850
Prominent St. Louis slave trader Bernard M. Lynch used this oak cash box to secure the earnings from the various activities conducted out of his business, Lynch’s Slave Pen. Located on the northeast corner of Fifth and Myrtle Streets in the city’s commercial and government district, the brick building served as a slave market and …
Bernard M. Lynch’s Cash Box
1850 - 1861
Conestoga wagons, such as the one pictured here, were used to transport people and freight westward on the California, Oregon, Mormon, and Santa Fe trails in the decades before the construction of transcontinental railroad lines. This type of wagon was first built in the 18th century in Pennsylvania and became a popular choice for westward …
Conestoga Wagon
1850 - 1860
The monument on the left commemorates the Honey War, and the marker on the right signals the start of the Sullivan Line. Together, these structures represent Missouri’s Honey War. The war was a bloodless territorial dispute between Iowa and Missouri over a 9.5-mile strip running the length of their border. This conflict erupted in 1839 …
Honey War Monument
1850
Brookings Hall was one of the first buildings on the Danforth Campus. The cornerstone for Brookings (then University) Hall was laid on November 3, 1900, and construction was completed in 1902. The architects were the Philadelphia firm Cope & Stewardson, represented by James P. Jamieson. The general contractor was Bright Construction Company. These companies worked …
Washington University in St. Louis
1853 - Present
On November 4, 1854, two Greene County enslavers used this handbill to advertise for the return of two freedom seekers, who had set out together from their farms 12 miles west of Springfield, Missouri. Archa, 21, and John, 28, were most likely on their way west to the newly-opened Kansas Territory. The handbill is detailed, …
Runaway Broadside
1854
Featuring a man with a devilish cloth mask–complete with black and white striped horns–this photograph depicts an infamous vigilante group that operated in the Ozarks following the Civil War: the Bald Knobbers. The group first organized in 1885 in Taney County, Missouri, gathering atop the grassy, treeless “bald knobs” of the Ozark Mountains. As a …
Bald Knobber Mask
1855 - 1889
The Locomotive O’Sullivan was built in 1855 and held great importance to Missouri’s early railroad history. This locomotive was built to run on the Pacific Railroad, one of the first railroad lines to cross the state of Missouri and with the ultimate goal to be the first line to span the American continent. The O’Sullivan …
O’Sullivan Locomotive
1855
This five-hundred-pound anchor is from The Steamship Arabia. The size of the anchor surprises many. The Arabia’s size, including the weight of its cargo and passengers, and the strong currents of the “Mighty Missouri River ” mandated the anchor’s bulk. The anchor is shown resting on a piece of the original wooden deck. Next to …
Steamboat Arabia’s Anchor
1856
USS Essex was an ironclad river gunboat that was converted in stages from the steam ferry New Era. Originally constructed at New Albany, Indiana, in 1856, the ship was purchased by the United States Army in September 1861 for its Western Gunboat Flotilla. Modified into a 355-ton “timberclad” gunboat, USS Essex was heavily damaged by enemy gunfire …
USS Essex Ironclad Gunboat
1856
This portrait of Dred Scott was painted by German-born St. Louis artist Louis Schultze (c. 1820 – 6 February 1901). The painting was commissioned by the Missouri Historical Society in 1888 as part of a series of portraits of prominent St. Louis residents and was paid for by African American citizens of the city. Schultze …
Portrait of Dred Scott
1857
The Pony Express operated for just 18 months, from April 1860 to October 1861. Stretching from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, riders would carry mail across more than 1,800 miles in 10 days. While efficient, the Pony Express raced against the transcontinental telegraph line. On October 26, 1861 the line was complete, connecting California …
Pony Express
1860-1861
Located on the northside of St. Louis, Benton Barracks was one of the most important Union Army training camps in Missouri during the Civil War. The 150-acre complex was established in 1861 and contained barracks, warehouses, and numerous other buildings. Several Missouri Union regiments were organized there, including some of the state’s African-American units. Soon …
Benton Barracks
1861 - 1865
Military victories at Wilson’s Creek and Lexington in 1861 provided Missouri’s pro-secession Governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, a great shift in political power. Having vacated Jefferson City, Jackson called the General Assembly back into session, asking them to meet at the Newton County Courthouse in Neosho on October 21, and charged the legislators with the duty …
Journal of the Missouri Senate
1861
This pocket manual is a translation of selections from Hardee’s Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, the standard drill manual written in 1855 for the U.S. Army. It was published in German in St. Louis for the many Union soldiers of German descent recruited in Missouri in 1861. German-born military officers, such as Franz Sigel, who …
Tactik
1861
Nathaniel Lyon was born on July 14, 1818, in Ashford, Connecticut; he graduated from West Point in 1841. His military service included fighting the Seminoles in Florida and several battles in the Mexican-American War. Promoted to captain in 1851, Lyon’s immediate pre-Civil War career consisted mostly of garrison duty in California and Kansas. During the …
General Nathaniel Lyon’s Sword
1861
In May 1861, Missouri’s pro-secession Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson ordered the Volunteer Militia to train for six days in Lindell Grove on the outskirts of St. Louis. St. Louis was the home of the largest arsenal west of the Mississippi River, housing approximately 36,000 muskets. Captain Nathaniel Lyon had recently been given command of the …
Camp Jackson Musket
1861
The blue silk regimental flag represents the battle honors of the First Kansas Colored Infantry, the first African American regiment recruited from a northern state in the Civil War. Kansas Senator James Lane authorized the recruitment of the regiment in August 1862, and the men were mustered into service at Fort Scott, Kansas. The regiment …
First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment Flag
1862 - 1865
This drum and drumsticks of the 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry were carried by James Hestler at the Battle of Springfield, January 8, 1863. The 18th Iowa Infantry was assigned to the defense of Springfield, Missouri, from November 1862 through the winter of 1863. On January 8, 1863, a rebel force under Marmaduke launched an attack …
18th Iowa Drum
1863
Archaeologists recovered these mid-19th century artifacts from a dig in Bates County, Missouri. Items include gun parts, plates, melted glass, and the remains of a burned foundation. In 1863, Union General Thomas Ewing Jr. was put in charge of the newly-created District of the Border as part of the effort to end the guerrilla violence …
Order No. 11 Artifacts
1863
Union General Thomas Ewing, who was appointed commander of the newly-created District of the Border, commissioned this 1863 hand-drawn map to show the locations of pro-Confederate guerrilla households that supported bushwhacker activity in eastern Jackson County. The accompanying lists name the residents of these “disloyal” households. There were few military-age Missouri men who remained in …
Thomas Ewing’s Guerrilla Household Map
1863
Samuel Curtis was a graduate of West Point, a civil engineer, veteran of the Mexican-American War, and a three term U.S. congressman. He was formal in his demeanor and closely followed all military uniformregulations. The frock coat was tailor-made, probably in the fall of 1862 when Curtis assumed command of the Department of the Missouri. …
Samuel R. Curtis’ Frock Coat
1864
This metal snuff box contains a .58 caliber Minie ball removed from the shoulder of Confederate Colonel Jeremiah Vardeman Cockrell. Born in May 1832 near Warrensburg, Missouri, Jeremiah Cockrell joined the Missouri State Guard when the Civil War began and served as an officer in the 8th Division at the battles of Carthage, Wilson’s Creek, …
Jeremiah Vard Cockrell Bullet & Snuff Box
1864
This photograph from 1864 displays the corpse of William T. “Bloody Bill” Anderson, one of the most infamous guerrilla leaders of the Missouri-Kansas border conflict. Early in the war, Anderson joined the ranks of the pro-Confederate Bushwhackers to preserve slavery in the state, among other objectives. After his sister died in the collapse of a …
William T. “Bloody Bill” Anderson
1864
In a gaslight-lit pavilion at Twelfth Street between Olive and St. Charles Street in St. Louis, visitors of the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair enjoyed a daily raffle and other attractions such as stereopticon, fund-raising auctions, and votes for their favorite general. The raffle prizes, ranging from a Singer sewing machine to the Smizer Farm (a …
Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair Raffle Ticket
1864
This Jefferson County cabin, which housed enslaved people, is typical of the double pen cabins with an enclosed dogtrot that were common in the Missouri countryside during the early days of settlement. At least two enslaved families likely inhabited the cabin. Many white settlers initially lived in modest log cabins such as this one but …
Enslaved People’s Cabin
1865
Although Missouri technically remained in the Union during the Civil War, Missouri was politically divided with men fighting for both the Union and Confederate armies as well as serving in both Missouri-based Union militia and pro-Confederate guerrilla units. The Union army maintained fragile control of the state through military occupation and efforts to control disloyal …
Loyalty Oath of James H. Barnes
1865
After the Civil War, Missouri passed a mandate that required each town to educate Black children and provide a separate school if the community reached a threshold of 20 African American students. The Neosho School was converted from a residence to a one-room schoolhouse for that reason. The building was used from 1872 until the …
Neosho Colored School
1872 - 1891
This photograph of the first kindergarten class to attend Des Peres School in 1873 represents the Kindergarten Movement in St. Louis. This school, and the class pictured, are significant because the school was the site of the first public kindergarten in the United States. The movement can be traced back to Blankenburg, Germany, where Friedrich …
First Kindergarten Class, Des Peres School
1873
In the late 19th century, prostitution became an increasingly prevalent issue in St. Louis. Unable to control it, city leaders agreed the best option was to regulate the industry to contain undesirable behavior and prevent the spread of venereal disease. On July 9, 1870, St. Louis approved the Social Evil Ordinance, making St. Louis the …
Social Evil Hospital
1873
As a national railroad system emerged following the Civil War, St. Louis leaders realized that their city’s economic well-being was tied to railroad access. In response, the St. Louis Bridge and Iron Company hired self-educated engineer James Buchanan Eads in 1867 to build a bridge across the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Illinois. A …
Admission Ticket – Eads Bridge Celebration
1874
This wooden wine barrel assembled in Hermann, Missouri, represents the heart and humble beginnings of the state’s historic wine industry. Carved into the face of the barrel is an image of a man surrounded by fruitful grapevines. This etching symbolized the grapevine-covered land that the first German settlers purportedly found when they arrived at Hermann’s …
Wine Barrel
1875
Missouri’s son, Mark Twain, wrote the American literary masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, among other famous works. The 1876 American Publishing Co. edition of Tom Sawyer shown here is the first version of the story by Twain. Although Twain sent the original manuscript to Elisha Bliss at American Publishing Co. in November 1875, Bliss …
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Manuscript
1875
After Reconstruction ended in 1877, white southerners sought to reassert their power and reverse African Americans’ recent political and economic gains. Increasingly, Black men faced discrimination and threats of violence at the polls. At the same time, many African Americans were forced into exploitative sharecropping contracts, and others faced unfair jail sentences if they refused …
Arrival of Exodusters Illustration
1879-1880
This footstone bearing the initials J.W.J. is from the original 1882 gravesite of Jesse James at his family’s farm outside of Kearney, Missouri. Jesse Woodson James was born in Clay County, Missouri, on September 5, 1847, the second of three children of Reverend Robert and Zerelda James. Jesse’s father died in the Gold Rush when …
Footstone of Jesse James
1882
The Linnean House, named after Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, is a greenhouse located on the grounds of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Constructed in 1882, it is the oldest continuously-serving public greenhouse west of the Mississippi River. Designed by regarded architect George I. Barnett, the greenhouse was constructed with elaborate masonry, wood doors …
Linnean House, Missouri Botanical Gardens
1882
Marceline is a small town with a big reputation and history reflecting the rise of small towns in Missouri. As the Santa Fe Railroad expanded into the west in the late 19th century, railroad leadership designated locomotive stops along the line in Missouri for water, fuel, and crew changes. This created a number of new …
Marceline, Missouri
1887 - present
This 1908 postcard depicts an image of one of Kansas City’s most iconic boulevards. The Paseo, which runs approximately ten miles through the city, is characterized by its scenic views, Beaux-Arts architecture, gardens, fountains, and green spaces. The Colonnade is one of the original decorative structures along the boulevard. Located between 10th and 11th Streets, …
Colonnade at the Paseo
1890 - 1920
Throughout the 19th century, Missouri’s population swelled with the arrival of Irish immigrants. By 1860, economic and political forces within and outside of Ireland prompted more than 43,000 Irish emigrants to relocate to Missouri. Nearly 70% of these immigrants settled in St. Louis, where many established enclaves and a shared identity tied to their Irish-Catholic …
112th Annual Celebration of Robert Emmet
1890
Mercy Hospital in Springfield began on October 29, 1891 when three Sisters of Mercy – Sister M. Alacoque Kelley, Sister M. Xavier Kinsella, and Sister M. Stanislaus Tennelly – arrived in Springfield from St. Louis to open St. John’s Hospital. They were brought here by a Hospital Aid Society at the behest of local physician …
St. John’s Hospital
1891
This 243-foot stone tunnel in Rocheport is the only one of its kind along the Katy Trail. Completed in 1892, the structure is a reminder of the trail’s roots as a corridor for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) Railroad. In the late 19th century, the Katy Railroad serviced Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Unlike most railroads, the Katy …
Katy Trail Rocheport Tunnel
1892 - present
Glass lantern slide belonging to Arthur Hildreth, created by the US Slide Company of Kansas City, Missouri. It is a color image of the members of the first class of osteopathy on glass with Andrew Taylor Still in the center standing next to a skeleton. On October 3rd, 1892, Andrew Taylor Still began classes at …
First Class of the American School of Osteopathy
1892
Alley Spring is the seventh largest spring in Missouri, discharging approximately 81 million gallons of water per day. This continuous flow of water provided enough power to operate a grist mill, and one was constructed in 1868 to support the town of Alley and its population. Around 1894, George Washington McCaskill built the present standing …
Alley Spring & Mill
1893 - Present
Composed by Scott Joplin, the “Maple Leaf Rag” changed the course of modern American music. Joplin was born and raised in Texarkana, Texas, and moved to Sedalia in the 1890s. He performed as a pianist at local Black establishments, including the Maple Leaf Club, while taking music classes at George R. Smith College. In 1899, …
Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin
1899
Published in 1899, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, an upper-class woman living in Louisiana in the 1890s. In the novel, Edna challenges the prevailing moral codes of the late-19th century south as she transforms from a conventional mother into an independent woman who finds purpose outside of the home. Chopin’s …
Kate Chopin’s Book and Letters
1899
Originally from North Carolina, Rabbi Samuel Mayerberg arrived in Kansas City in 1928 to lead B’nai Jehudah, the area’s oldest Jewish congregation. The 36-year-old Rabbi immediately became a vocal leader in the community. During his 32 year tenure, his social justice efforts shaped the B’nai Jehudah congregation into a proactive force for civic progress. These …
Cufflinks of Rabbi Mayerberg
1900s
The Kansas City Board of Trade was unofficially formed in 1856 when merchants organized a trading association for buying and selling grain. A testament to the city’s rapid economic growth, the group underwent significant changes over the next two decades. In 1876, the Kansas City Board of Trade officially incorporated and began trading in commodity …
Kansas City Board of Trade
1900
At the turn of the 19th century, Missouri’s growing population demanded access to education. Private tutors and schools were the only options for structured learning until the 1830s when tax-funded public schools were introduced in several Missouri cities. Although public schools proliferated into the 1870s, private schools continued to flourish as they addressed the unique …
Visitation Academy Bed Frame
1900s
Walter Majors was born to Weaver and Payton Majors in 1879. He was an inventor and entrepreneur who is credited with building and driving the first automobile in Springfield, Missouri. Majors owned a bicycle shop in Springfield off Jefferson Street near the square. He used supplies at his shop, including wagon-wheel spokes and bicycle tires, …
Walter Majors’ Machine
1901
Springfield Public Schools is the largest school district in Missouri, with more than 23,500 students enrolled. The school district consists of 35 elementary schools, an intermediate school, nine middle schools, five high schools, and four early childhood centers. Springfield’s first high school was established in 1867. Its first graduating class had just two members. As Springfield’s …
Springfield High School Yearbook
1902
Albert Frederick Mutti (1876-1958) moved with his new wife, Eva, in 1902 to Hopkins, a town founded in northern Nodaway County just thirty years earlier. At the time, Hopkins was a thriving farming community of around 900 people that boasted multiple businesses and a railroad line. Mutti pursued many business opportunities over the years. His …
Mutti Hardware Sign
1902 - 1985
In April 1904, St. Louis opened the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. Popularly known as the St. Louis World’s Fair, the exhibition showcased the city’s grand achievements and the wonders of technology, agriculture, art, history, and culture. Throughout the fairgrounds, gardens displayed beautiful landscaping, sculptures, and waterways that …
Shi Statue, Chinese Pavilion, World’s Fair
1904
The Mutual Musicians Foundation Building is located on Highland Avenue between 18th and 19th Street in Kansas City’s historic 18th and Vine district. Built in 1904, the building has served multiple different organizations, most notably the Musician’s Union Local 627. The building is associated with many famous musicians who have made an impact on jazz, …
Mutual Musicians Foundation
1904 - Present
This 1906 tinted postcard shows a bustling intersection in downtown Joplin. The picture displays four electric trolleys following each other on Main Street past the Keystone Hotel. As part of the Southwest Missouri Railway, Joplin’s electric interurban trolley system connected the city’s neighborhoods and linked Joplin with other mining towns in Southwest Missouri, Northeast Oklahoma, …
Trolley at Keystone Hotel
1906
This well-preserved embossed tray was unearthed during a backyard gardening project at a South Kansas City home. It is a limited-edition souvenir that accompanied an invitation to the Priests of Pallas ball in 1906. Elite Kansas City businessmen and community leaders first organized and sponsored the Priests of Pallas festivities in 1887 and held the …
Priests of Pallas
1906
Harold Bell Wright’s novel The Shepherd of the Hills introduced readers across the world to the Missouri Ozarks. The inspiration for Wright’s fictional story came from his time in the White River region near Branson. Throughout the 1890s, Wright made several trips to the area and developed a connection to the land and the locals. …
The Shepherd of the Hills
1907
Saint Louis University has a long storied place in Missouri history. The University’s College of Arts and Science traces its origins to the St. Louis Academy. Established in 1818, the academy was the first institution of higher education west of the Mississippi River. Saint Louis University received its formal charter for the state in 1832, …
Billiken
1908
The current state flag of Missouri was designed by Cape Girardeau resident Marie Elizabeth Watkins Oliver as part of a Daughters of the American Revolution project in 1908 and was adopted by the Missouri General Assembly in 1913. The flag is a tricolor consisting of three horizontal stripes of red, white, and blue. The coat-of-arms …
Missouri State Flag
1908
St. Patrick’s Day, a day most commonly associated with green, alcohol, and joyous celebration, also has a special connection with engineering students across the world. St. Patrick, born in the late 4th century AD, was known for spreading Christianity and building churches, particularly in Ireland. He is credited with introducing arches and the use of …
St. Patrick’s Day
1908
This picture is reminiscent of the large dragline excavators used by engineers to create hundreds of miles of drainage ditches and canals in the Southeast Missouri Bootheel region. The project, known as the Little River Drainage District (LRDD), was one of the most significant land transformation projects ever undertaken, encompassing over 500 thousand acres. After …
Drainage Reclamation
1909 - 1940
This tin of “Wonderful Hair and Scalp Preparation” represents Madame C.J. Walker’s innovation and the life-changing opportunities she offered Black women in the early 20th century. Drawing inspiration from her time in St. Louis, Madame C.J. Walker developed this hair and scalp ointment to help Black women restore their natural hair. As her small operation …
Madame C.J. Walker Hair Tin
1910, ca.
Carl Worner, a German immigrant, was a drifter and traveling artisan. At a time when unemployment was high, immigrants like Worner were able to support themselves by applying their whittling and artistic skills to carve dioramas or scenes of businesses displayed in a bottle. The scene in this “bottle whimsy” created by Worner in 1908 …
Saloon Diorama Bottle
1910
During the first half of the twentieth century, segregation and racist real estate practices in Kansas City forced Black families to settle into crowded residences around the 18th and Vine intersection. As the population swelled, African Americans cultivated an autonomous area that catered to the social and cultural needs of their community. By the 1920s, …
Gem Theater
1912 - Present
Founded in 1911 by suffrage clubs from Kansas City, Warrensburg, and Webster Groves, the Missouri Equal Suffrage Association (MESA) became a vehicle to demand women’s right to vote across the state. This handmade banner was likely carried in a St. Louis women’s suffrage parade on September 30, 1913. The demonstration began with a motorcade of …
Suffrage Banner
1913
The seal of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis denotes the building’s date of incorporation (May 18, 1914) and the Federal Reserve district which St. Louis would govern. District 8-H covered a large part of Missouri, all of Arkansas, and parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. The Federal Reserve organizing board granted …
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Seal
1914
Taking root from field hollers, work songs, and spirituals, the blues emerged at the turn of the 20th century. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when the genre began, many have credited W. C. Handy as the “father of the blues.” In 1892, Handy traveled to St. Louis, a hub for Black …
“St. Louis Blues” – W.C. Handy
1914
On October 30, 1914, Kansas City’s Union Station opened to the public before a crowd of 100,000 people. Designed by the Chicago-based architect Jarvis Hunt, the Beaux-Arts style building is perhaps the city’s best representation of the City Beautiful Movement. Union Station is over 850,000 square feet and features ornate ceiling details, a grand hall, …
Union Station Kansas City
1914 - Present
Artist Rose O’Neill’s preliminary sketch (c.1915) of a New Woman and the liberated New Man was one of several suffragette posters she drew for the National Women’s Suffrage Movement. A photograph by F. DeMaria & Co. showed O’Neill and her sister Callista wearing the completed illustration as a placard during a suffragette march in New …
Rose O’Neill
1915, ca.
Published in 1916, this May-June magazine issue from the Willows Maternity Sanitarium highlights a hidden yet complex network of seven mother-baby homes that operated within Kansas City during the twentieth century. This network thrived due to the city’s centralized location in the national railroad system and Missouri’s relaxed adoption laws. Women came to these Kansas …
The Willows
1916
Gas Masks like this one would have been worn by French, American, and British troops during the First World War. Although each nation had variations on gas masks, by 1917, they had become fairly standardized due to the increased frequency of gas attacks on the front lines. The gas mask features a filtration canister connected …
Allied Gas Mask & Helmet
1917
When Missouri was granted statehood in 1821, the state’s first legislators sought out a location for a permanent capitol. They settled on a site that would eventually be Jefferson City, chosen for its central location and proximity to the Missouri River. St. Charles served as the seat of government until the new capitol could be …
Missouri State Capitol Building
1917 - Present
In the late 19th century, the convergence of transportation, livestock, industry, and commerce made Kansas City a booming Midwestern metropolis. Within fifty years, the Stockyards spanned more than 200 hundred acres and employed 20,000 people, primarily Black, Southern and Eastern European, and Mexican workers. The multiple businesses that comprised the Stockyards positioned Kansas City as …
Kansas City Stockyards Map
1917
In 1917, One year after the creation of the National Park System, a state park fund was created using monies from the fish and game department to establish public use areas across Missouri. Big Spring State Park near Van Buren, Missouri, became the first in 1924. However, it would later be incorporated into the Ozark …
Missouri State Parks
1917 - present
Cartoons like this published in the St. Louis Republic aimed to convince readers that the German-language press in the United States did not provide education but instead served as a tool for German propagandists. Although the publisher and editor of the newspaper appreciated the contributions of Germans like Carl Schurz and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, …
“Step On It” Political Cartoon
1918
This photo from the St. Louis Post Dispatch of October 1918 shows American Red Cross stretcher bearers taking a patient from a house at Edzel and Page Avenues during the Spanish influenza pandemic. All but one person is masked as they transport the patient to the hospital. This scene would have been commonplace across Missouri …
St. Louis Red Cross Motor Corps
1918
John J. Pershing was born in Laclede, Missouri, on September 13, 1860, and graduated from the United States Academy at West Point in 1886. Pershing served with the 10th Cavalry, an African American regiment, during the Spanish-American War. In 1916, he led an expedition that pursued Francisco “Pancho” Villa in Mexico. President Woodrow Wilson appointed …
John J. Pershing Presentation Sword
1919
Springfield was home to the world’s largest Boy Scout band, led by R. Ritchie Robertson, a music teacher at the then-Springfield High School. Established in 1920, the band had 400 members at the height of its success. The band quickly grew in fame, and over the years, performed before several distinguished individuals, including John Phillips Sousa and …
Springfield Boy Scout Band
1920 - 1949
Located in Kansas City’s Westside, the Guadalupe Center is one of the most prominent Latinx organizations in the region. Founded in 1919 by the Agnes Ward Amberg Club, a group of affluent white Catholic women, the center sought to address the needs of the Mexican immigrant community and the discrimination they faced locally. Despite its …
The Guadalupe Center Scrapbooks
1920 - 1940
On March 11, 1920, a large tornado traveled through southern Taney County, leaving death and devastation in its wake. Melva, a modest mining and railroad town along the Missouri Pacific line, was completely destroyed by the storm. The tornado took eleven lives and left only foundations intact. Damage to stores, homes, and other buildings amounted …
Lucy Woods Home
1920
The Assemblies of God organized in April 1914 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The approximately 300 participants at the meeting incorporated the General Council with a hybrid congregational and Presbyterian policy. The Assemblies of God headquarters was first located in Findlay, Ohio, followed by St. Louis, and eventually moved in 1918 to Springfield, Missouri, where it …
Central Assembly of God
1922
Newton (Newt) Allen wore this red and white wool uniform while playing ball for the Kansas City Monarchs in the 1930s. Allen’s uniform embodies the team’s significance to the Negro Leagues and African American baseball players in Missouri. Excluded from the Major Leagues, Black players faced few options to continue their baseball careers. In February …
Kansas City Monarchs Uniform
1922 - 1944
Walt Disney began his animation career in Kansas City. Raised in Marceline, Disney’s family moved to Kansas City then to Chicago during the 1910s. After serving in WWI, Disney returned to the city in 1919 and found work at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. During this time, he and his friends created silent clips …
Laugh-O-Gram Studio
1922
More than 156,000 Missourians served in the First World War; more than 11,000 of those became casualties, and five received the Medal of Honor. Some authorities rank Missouri as 8th of men in uniform. Prominent Missourians who fought in the war include Generals John J. Pershing and Enoch Crowder, future President Harry S. Truman, and …
National WWI Museum and Memorial
1923 - Present
Federal Prohibition Agents notoriously conducted raids on businesses and homes throughout Missouri. Raids became somewhat of a spectacle as agents publicly dismantled stills and poured beer and liquor out onto city streets. In this handwritten log, Agent Paul Toelle documented a raid in St. Louis on 24 March 1925. Notice the detailed information Agent Toelle …
Prohibition Raid Log
1925
First published in 1917 by prominent agricultural scientist and educator Dr. George Washington Carver, this bulletin on growing and preparing peanuts speaks to Carver’s larger mission throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Witnessing how decades of cotton and tobacco farming had depleted soil in the rural South, Dr. Carver encouraged farmers to grow …
Bulletin No. 31 – George Washington Carver
1925
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (1902-1974) achieved international fame after completing the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20-21, 1927. A Detroit native, Lindbergh took an interest in engineering and aviation from an early age, becoming a barnstormer at age twenty-three before enlisting in the Army Air Service. After completing his service, Lindbergh …
Charles Lindbergh Logbook
1927
This 1929 “white only” sign from the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company exhibits the defining presence of racial segregation in Missouri during the early twentieth century. Also known as the “Cotton Belt Railroad,” the rail connected St. Louis and Missouri to the South’s cotton industry. It later formed a critical part of other major rail …
“White Only” Sign
1929
Freemasonry, a fraternal organization of men, has a long history in Missouri dating back to the early 19th century. The first Masonic lodge was constituted on November 14, 1807, in St. Genevieve. A year later, Meriwether Lewis, Rufus Easton, and Thomas F. Riddick, the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, established Saint …
1929 Masonic Uniform
1929
These moonshine still photographs were captured by folklorist Vance Randolph in 1930. Born in Pittsburg, Kansas, Randolph moved to Pineville in the 1920s, and spent the rest of his life documenting and writing about life in the Ozarks. His first book, The Ozarks, offers a look into the customs and traditions of the region ranging …
Moonshine Still
1930
This photograph features the banks of Roaring River State Park lined with people fishing for trout, highlighting the popularity of the park and pastime. Roaring River State Park is best known for its clear streams stocked with Rainbow Trout from its onsite fish hatchery. The fish hatchery was constructed in 1910, making it one of …
Roaring River State Park
1930s - Present
Three themes drove Missouri tourism in the mid-twentieth century: roads, retailers, and recreation. Paved roads provided new freedom—no longer did tourists have to conform to rail schedules and routes—if they had the means to own a car and a job that afforded leisure time, they could go where and when they pleased. Retailers, together with …
Eubank Dolls
1930s-1950
After Missouri emancipated the state’s enslaved people on January 11, 1865, many of Greene County’s Black residents settled in Springfield. The largest neighborhood was near modern-day Drury University and the Ozarks Technical Community College. To serve the growing African American population, a Freedmen’s School opened in Springfield. The school was held in the “upper part …
Lincoln High School Drum
1931 - 1955
The Great Depression affected all aspects of daily life in the 1930s. One of the most visceral repercussions following the 1929 stock market crash was the security of a home. Rising unemployment rates and a deepening financial crisis led people to look to the federal government for much-needed relief. When assistance never came, thousands of …
“Hooverville Mansions”
1931
Graham’s Rib Station, located on the corner of Chestnut Expressway and Washington Avenue, became a gathering place for Springfield’s Black community and out-of-towners traveling along Route 66. Soon after opening in 1932, owners James and Zelma Graham began catering events and selling bottles of barbeque sauce in local stores, making their signature recipe a well-known …
Graham’s Bar-B-Q Neon Sign
1932 - 1967
The Bagnell Dam was built by the Union Electric Light and Power Company between 1929 and 1931. Construction began two months before the stock market crash of 1929 and became the only major construction project in the nation during the Great Depression. Job seekers from across the country flocked to the Ozarks for work. Records …
Bagnell Dam
1932 - Present
As pictured in the political cartoon, the Pendergast political machine held a grip over Kansas City for nearly four decades. Jim Pendergast, the machine’s first official leader, served as the first ward alderman for roughly 20 years. After Jim’s death in 1911, his younger brother Tom took control of his role in city council and …
Citizens’ League Bulletin, No. 653
1935
Excelsior Springs, Missouri, emerged as a tourist and health treatment destination after mineral waters were discovered at nearby Siloam Springs in 1880. The area’s extensive number of mineral water springs and wells and the construction of fine hotels such as the Elms and other tourist amenities contributed to the reputation of the area as a …
Hall of Waters – Excelsior Springs
1936 - present
In May 1935, the Missouri State Legislature approved a bill commissioning Neosho-born artist and nationally acclaimed artist of the ‘American Scene’ Thomas Hart Benton to paint a mural on the walls of the Capitol Building’s House Lounge. Its passage authorized the appropriation of $16,000 to pay Benton. This was a serious commitment of resources, exceeding …
A Social History of the State of Missouri
1936
The area that encompasses Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site and Park was originally settled by Waltus Lockett Watkins in the 1830s. His first dwelling was a small log cabin, but by the 1850s Waltus had begun his stately brick home that can still be viewed today. Around the same time, the woolen industry was …
Watkins Woolen Mill State Park & State Historic Site
1939 - Present
Painter and muralist Thomas Hart Benton used these paint brushes at his Kansas City home and studio. Born on April 15, 1889, in Neosho, Missouri, Benton spent much of his early life in Southwest Missouri and Washington DC. After studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and in Paris, he eventually settled in New York …
Thomas Hart Benton Home & Studio
1939 - 1975
During the Great Depression, decreased demand for cotton, the major cash crop in the Missouri Bootheel, resulted in the loss of profit for landowners and loss of work for sharecroppers. The federal government destroyed the Mississippi River levee on the Missouri bank to protect Cairo, Illinois, during a 1937 flood, placing additional economic pressure on …
Highway Officials Moving Sharecroppers Photograph
1939
St. Louis based Dorsa Clothing Company produced this silk crepe dress and jacket in the early 1940s. Located at 1007 Washington Avenue, Dorsa was at the forefront of junior dress manufacturing. After the 1920s, a demand arose for dresses that fit more youthful figures. St. Louis makers, often credited with conceiving the first junior dresses, …
Dorsa Silk Crepe Dress
1940s
“Ellie,” Aircraft NC18137, is a retired Lockheed Electra 12-A aircraft on display at the TWA Museum in Kansas City. Constructed in 1937 by the Lockheed Corporation, Ellie served as a TWA executive transport and aeronautical research laboratory from 1940 to 1945. Research collected from the plane’s five-year tenure helped develop important technology like static discharge …
Lockheed Electra 12-A Aircraft “Ellie”
1940 - 1945
Fort Leonard Wood, located in Pulaski County, Missouri, has trained Army infantry and engineers since World War II. As the conflict engulfed European countries, the United States prepared its military to enter the war. In 1940, the War Department approved the construction of a training facility in South Central Missouri. The base, named after General Leonard …
Fort Leonard Wood
1940 - Present
In February 1941, Springfield was chosen as the site of the O’Reilly General Army Hospital, to be located on a 160-acre reservation bounded by Division Street, Fremont Avenue, and Pythian Street and Glenstone Avenue, an area later occupied in large part by Evangel University. The staff of O’Reilly was recognized as being among the best …
O’Reilly General Army Hospital Wheelchair
1941 - 1952
This collection of signed baseballs features the signatures of important Cardinals players and staff members throughout the team’s history. The Cardinals are one of Missouri’s two current major league baseball teams and is one of baseball’s most historic franchises. Originally called the St Louis Browns, the team name changed to the Cardinals in 1900. The …
St. Louis Cardinals Autographed Baseballs
1941 - Present
In these photographs, Members of the Missouri Wing Civil Air Patrol drill and practice a simulated air crash in Greene County. The Civil Air Patrol is a congressionally chartered auxiliary of the United States Air Forces. Founded in 1941, the CAP’s first missions were to aid in spotting enemy submarine and aircraft activity near U.S. …
Missouri Wing Civil Air Patrol
1941 - present
This city directory is a comprehensive catalog of Kansas City’s Black community from 1942 to 1943. The guide listed Black churches, schools, secret societies, state institutions, and organizations, as well as an index of Black-owned and managed businesses. Beyond Black public spaces, the directory also detailed the names, addresses, phone numbers, occupations, property and vehicle …
Kansas City Negro City Directory
1942 - 1943
In 1942, the US Army established a training site for gilder crews two miles south of Knob Knoster that would eventually become Whiteman Air Force Base. Although the site was deactivated after World War II, improvements were made beginning in 1951 for its return to service. The site became home to the 340th Bombardment Wing …
Whiteman Air Force Base
1942 - Present
President Harry S. Truman kept this sign on his desk in the Oval Office at the White House. It was a gift from Fred A. Canfield, then a United States Marshal for Missouri’s Western District and Truman’s personal friend. The phrase “The Buck Stops Here” appears on the front of the 13 inch painted glass …
Harry S. Truman’s Desk Sign
1945 -1953
In 1945, J.D. and Ethel Shelley purchased a home in St. Louis’ Fairgrounds neighborhood (now part of the Greater Ville). Like many Black families, the Shelleys left Mississippi to escape violent racism and settled in St. Louis. After years of living with relatives and renting, the Shelleys moved into the modest brick duplex at 4600 …
Shelley House
1945 - Present
In 1894, George Robinson, William H. Danforth, and William Andrews founded the Robinson-Danforth Commission Company in St. Louis. The company first began manufacturing feed products for horses and mules and later expanded into food products for human consumption. As Danforth moved into breakfast cereal production, he sought the endorsement of the Ralston Health Club, a …
Purina Mills
1946
As the rise of the middle class, the growth of the automobile industry, and the construction of interstate highways made the road trip the most popular form of travel among American families, the Green Book became an essential guide for Black motorists during the Jim Crow era. Victor H. Green, a Black U.S. postal worker …
The Negro Motorist Green-book
1946
Springfield Newspapers Inc. photographer Betty Love poses for a portrait with her camera. Love first began working for Springfield newspapers as an illustrator and cartoonist, and later filled in as a photographer during WWII while many of the male photographers went overseas. Love taught herself how to use a camera, and process the images using …
Betty Love Portrait
1947
The Community Builders’ Council of the Urban Land Institute, published this handbook in 1948 to serve as a comprehensive guide for suburban real estate and retail development. Influenced by the Institute’s Chairman, J.C. Nichols, the book promoted the redlining tactics he and other real estate developers employed to racially segregate the Kansas City metropolitan area …
The Community Builders’ Handbook
1948
Throughout the 1940s, the public became more aware of organized crime and its influence in cities across the United States. When business and political leaders called for action, the U.S. Senate created a special committee chaired by Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee to investigate organized crime and institutional corruption. The Kefauver hearings of 1950-51 exposed …
Organized Crime Chart
1950
This business card advertises the hotel owned by Alberta Northcutt Ellis, an African American entrepreneur from the Ozarks. Ellis owned several businesses in Springfield including the Crystal Lounge and The Farm–a working farm located ten miles west of the city that also served as a roadside park for Black tourists. After World War II, Ellis …
Alberta’s Hotel Business Card
1950s - 1964
In 1951, a catastrophic flood changed the course of the Missouri River. The French Bottoms, an area of fertile farmland in St. Joseph, originally lay in the bow of the river and formed the border between Missouri and Kansas. This map shows how the flooding carved a new path for the river to flow, creating …
Flood Map
1951
In the mid-twentieth century, Kansas City officials shifted their focus and funding from public transportation to highway development amid the emergence of a national highway system. Although the city had created an extensive streetcar system before World War II, post-war suburbanization and economic changes prompted officials to consider new ways to increase the city’s economic …
Kansas City Highway Construction Phases Map
1951
In the early fall of 1953, ten cobras were found in northeast Springfield. The ensuing panic frightened residents, kept children indoors, and drew international attention to Springfield. No one knew how many snakes were loose in Springfield or just exactly how they got to the city, but most blamed a local exotic animal dealer, Reo …
Cobra
1953
Throughout the 1940s, St. Louis activists led sit-ins to protest the denial of service Black residents faced in restaurants, cafeterias, and lunch counters. The first demonstration occurred on May 15, 1944, when a group of Black and white women walked into a Stix, Baer, & Fuller department store and sat at the lunch counter. The …
Woolworth’s Luncheonette Sign
1954
Perhaps best known for his hits “Peace in the Valley” and the “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy,” Clyde Julian “Red” Foley had been a popular star on the Grand Ole Opry for eight years when he came to Springfield to host the Ozark Jubilee in 1955. Broadcast from the Jewell Theatre, the show reached a national audience …
Red Foley Barrel Seat
1955 - 1960
In 1876, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company reorganized and renamed its southwest branch the St. Louis and San Francisco Railways, also known as the Frisco. As the Frisco grew, the company became one of Springfield’s largest employers. Railroad buildings became a prominent part of Springfield’s landscape. The Frisco’s repair shops featured a roundhouse capable of …
FRISCO Railroad Mortgage Income Bond
1955
Former President Harry Truman and a Missouri mule at the state fair on August 23, 1955. As a young man, Truman worked on his family’s farm for eleven years where he plowed many fields with mules. The sturdy animals were first brought to Missouri by traders along the Santa Fe Trail in the 1820s. Mules soon became …
Missouri Mules
1955
In the early twentieth century, Missouri’s hospitals engaged in discriminatory practices. Frustrated by lack of care and educational opportunities, Black leaders sought to establish racially segregated facilities to meet their community’s needs. In 1937, Homer G. Phillips Hospital opened its doors to African American students and patients in St. Louis. Located at 2601 Whittier Street, …
Homer G. Phillips Nursing Cap & Dress
1956
White River floods occurred regularly throughout Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas affecting many outlining towns including the city of Branson. As the population of the region grew, a solution to flooding had to be considered. Congress initially authorized the construction of a dam with the Flood Control Act of 1941, but construction was delayed by …
Table Rock Dam Construction
1956
In 1954, the St. Louis Public Schools Instruction Department drafted a report outlining the city’s integration plan following the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision. Although the report acknowledged that total desegregation was possible for the 1954-1955 school year, its authors proposed a more gradual integration schedule for the city’s 90,000 students. Using …
Report: “Desegregation of the Public Schools”
1956
Charles Francis O’Reilly began his career in the automotive part business in 1914 as a traveling salesman for Fred Campbell Auto Supply in St. Louis. By 1932, he had become manager of Link Motor Supply in Springfield. One of his sons, Charles H. “Chub” O’Reilly, had also joined the company. In 1957, Link Motor Supply …
O’Reilly Auto Parts Ceremonial Scissors
1957 - Present
This grinder cart was owned and operated by Italian immigrant Anthony “Tony” Gagliarducci. Like many before him, he relied on his trade skills to make a living in a new country. Gagliarducci started his tool sharpening business in the 1920s, pushing a 250-pound cart through the streets of Southern St. Louis for over 60 years. …
Grinder Cart of Anthony Gagliarducci
1958
Considered the “Father of Rock N’ Roll,” Chuck Berry transformed music. Berry, a lifelong Missourian, was born Charles Edward Anderson Berry in St. Louis in 1926. He taught himself to play guitar and created his own unique sound blending blues and country styles. Berry’s professional music career gained traction in the 1950s when he played …
Photograph of Chuck Berry
1958
The St. Louis Zoo, established in 1904, is one of the country’s leading zoological institutions focusing on animal management, research, conservation, and education. The Zoo owes much of its national recognition to Marlin Perkins, who quit college to join the Zoo in 1926. Over the next eleven years, as Director of the Reptile Exhibits, Perkins …
“Mr. Moke” – St. Louis Zoo
1960 - 1969
This promotional poster advertised the grand opening of Branson theme-park Silver Dollar City on May 1, 1960. The sign is designed like a wanted poster, featuring “wanted” in old-fashioned letters and the bust of an outlaw to evoke the 1880s theme of the park. A family favorite for over 60 years, Silver Dollar City continues …
Silver Dollar City “Wanted” Poster
1960
Fairyland Park was a popular Kansas City amusement park owned and operated by the Brancato family from 1923 to 1977. At its height in the mid-twentieth century, the park featured three roller coasters, an eight-story ferris wheel, a massive swimming pool, among other attractions. Like many public spaces in Missouri, the park employed segregationist policies, …
Fairyland Park NAACP Flyer
1961
The St. Louis Gateway Arch, which towers 630 feet above the Mississippi River and the city that the river helped build, commemorates the 200th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis and the city’s role as the gateway to America’s westward expansion. The arch, designed by architect Eero Saarinen and architectural engineer Hannskart Bandel, sits …
Gateway Arch National Park
1963 - Present
The American Royal (officially the American Royal Livestock and Horse Show) has been a major event in Kansas City for over a century. In October 1899, the American Royal began as the National Hereford Show. As the first national exposition of purebred cattle, the show attracted 55,000 attendees from across the country to see and …
American Royal Queen’s Gown and Boots
1963
In the early 1900s, real estate developer J. C. Nichols began the development of the Country Club District in Kansas City. The area, located south of Brush Creek, included upscale housing, manicured landscapes, and other planning features to complement the city’s parks and boulevards projects. In order to complete his vision of an exclusive district …
Map of Country Club Plaza
1967
Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hundreds of communities across the country witnessed protests. This photograph depicts Bruce R. Watkins leading a group of students to City Hall during the Kansas City uprising in April 1968. The image captures the emotion of Mr. Watkins and the crowd on I-70 on a mission …
Bruce R. Watkins Protest March Photograph
1968
This map sketch serves as a ghostly reminder of the promises and failures of Urban Renewal. Like many cities across the state, St. Joseph experienced a decline during the second half of the twentieth century. The Belt Highway expansion, the construction of East Mills Mall, and suburban growth to the east left a once-bustling downtown …
Urban Renewal Plan Map
1970 - 1978
In 1970, the country witnessed rising anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in response to increased U.S. military intervention in Southeast Asia. Two tragedies that year–the Kent State and Jackson State University Shootings–ignited protests at the University of Missouri–Columbia opposing the war and condemning the killings of dissenting students. MU students held several rallies, marches, class strikes, tagged …
Anti-War Demonstration
1970
Bass Pro Shops, a mega-retailer of hunting, fishing, camping, and sports gear, is headquartered in Springfield. The company’s logo features an illustrated bass which reflects founder Johnny Morris’s passion for bass fishing and harkens back to the shop’s humble origins. In 1972, the company got its start when Morris began selling fishing tackle out of …
Bass Pro Shops
1972 - Present
In August 1976, the Republican National Convention took place at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. This contested convention resulted in Gerald Ford’s narrow victory over Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination. GOP Host Committee members—a group of local Republican leaders responsible for bringing the convention to Kansas City—wore this hat during the …
Republican Convention Cowboy Hat
1976
Located in St. Louis, Harris-Stowe State University is one of the two historically Black colleges in Missouri. The university began as two normal schools: Harris Teachers College and Sumner Normal School. Founded in 1857, Harris Teachers College became the first public teachers’ college west of the Mississippi, primarily training white teachers to work in white …
Harris-Stowe University Cheer Uniform
1977-1979
This poster urged Missourians to vote “no” on Amendment 23. If approved, the measure slated for the November 1978 election would have added verbiage to the State Constitution prohibiting collective bargaining contracts requiring union membership and dues as a condition of employment. The piece depicts an image of the 1933 Strike in St. Louis’ Garment …
Defeat Right to Work Poster
1978
Each year, thousands of Roman Catholic Vietnamese Americans gather in Carthage, Missouri, to worship in a celebration known as Marian Days. The festival’s origin dates back to 1975 when members of the Mother Co-Redemptrix clergy fled Vietnam shortly before the fall of Saigon. They were first sent to a refugee camp in Arkansas, but soon …
Marian Days
1978 - present
David Wing Yin Leong is responsible for creating a favorite local dish affectionately referred to as “Springfield-style cashew chicken.” This dish features deep-fried chicken covered in a brown slurry of soy and oyster sauce, covered with green onions and halved cashews. Leong understood Americans’ fondness of fried foods and found a way to integrate the …
Springfield Style Cashew Chicken
1983
This photograph depicts Bernard and Bernard Jr. Francka inspecting corn on their family farm in Bolivar, Missouri. In 1901, the Francka family and other Czech immigrant families built a church and founded the town of Karlin, just south of Bolivar. The Francka family has continuously farmed the area since focusing on dairy operations. Missouri is …
Francka Farm
1983
The Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals met in the 1985 World Series. The Royals lost the first two games at home before the series traveled to St. Louis. Game 3 went to the Royals, but they lost again in Game 4. A Royals victory in Game 5 brought the series back to …
1985 World Series Ticket
1985
In 1987, The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) was formed in New York City in response to government inaction during the AIDS Crisis. Numerous ACT-UP chapters were established across the nation, including one in Kansas City, founded in September 1988 by Jon Barnett and David Weeda. ACT-UP/KC organized locally to aid and fight for …
Act Up Kansas City Buttons
1987
On October 11, 1987, about 500,000 LGBTQ people and allies gathered in Washington, D.C. for the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. This national demonstration was prompted by President Ronald Reagan’s failure to respond to the AIDS Crisis and the 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold state …
Missouri Pride Banner
1987
First published in November 1989, Coming Out: A Lesbian Newsletter was created by and for lesbians in Columbia. According to its first issue, the newsletter’s mission was to fight against the community’s alienation and “create a greater sense of connectedness” among lesbians in the area. For nearly a decade, Coming Out published local news stories, …
Coming Out: A Lesbian Newsletter
1989
A second-round draft pick from high school, George Brett made hisMajor League debut with the Kansas City Royals in 1973. A thirdbaseman for most of his 21 seasons with the Royals, Brett became oneof the best hitters in the history of baseball. His most memorableseason was 1980 when he chased one of the sport’s greatestmilestones. …
George Brett 3,000th Hit Baseball & Bat
1992
Joe Peebles, photographed on his dairy farm in Boaz, faced declining diary prices alongside other Missouri farmers in the 1990s. In 1992, decreasing dairy prices helped fuel a rash of family farm sales and closures as larger corporate farms replaced smaller operations and drove down prices. On April 6, 1992, a convention was held at …
Peeble’s Dairy Farm
1992
In 1994, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art installed the world’s largest shuttlecocks in its Sculpture Park. Designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, a husband-and-wife artist team, the four shuttlecocks stand at 18-feet tall and are made out of aluminum, fiberglass, and reinforced plastic. The duo incorporated the museum grounds into the design by …
Shuttlecocks
1994
The St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans 23 to 16 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The victory brought the city of St. Louis it’s only Super Bowl championship. The team would leave St. Louis, heading for Los Angeles in 2016.
Super Bowl XXXIV
2000
The World famous Budweiser Clydesdales appear at Hammons Field in Springfield, Missouri. To celebrate the end of prohibition in the United States, Adolphus Busch and August A. Busch Jr. presented their father with a gift of 12 Clydesdale Horses on April 7, 1933. Adolphus Sr. immediately recognized the marketing potential of the Scottish-bred horses and …
Budweiser Clydesdales
2005
This t-shirt, game program, and ticket stub are from past editions of the Border Showdown, the sports rivalry between the University of Missouri and the University of Kansas. The conflict is usually referred to as the Border War by fans, and the t-shirt was created following the 2007 football game between the schools. It features …
MU – KU Border Showdown
2007
This photograph depicts eight wind turbines in a rural field in Northwest Missouri. Turbines represent a source of renewable power and showcase the trajectory of Missouri’s energy industry. At the turn of the twentieth century, the state had a few electrical generators in its largest cities and relied on coal-powered steam turbines to keep the …
Wind Turbines
2009
The American Bison, pictured here, is the heaviest land animal in North America and the second tallest after the moose. Before First Encounter, bison roamed an area from northern Alaska to northern Mexico and east to the Atlantic Seaboard. At their peak, over sixty million animals shared the grazing grounds that included Missouri. Bison remained …
American Bison
2010
In the evening of May 22, 2011, an EF-5 multiple vortex tornado struck Joplin, Missouri. The tornado reached wind speeds of 200 miles per hour, carving out a mile-wide path of destruction. The storm traveled eastward, affecting portions of Jasper and Newton counties as well. This extensive tornado was responsible for 158 fatalities, 1,150 injuries, …
Joplin Tornado
2011
Missouri’s rivers, primarily the Mississippi and Missouri, have played an essential role in commercial transportation since the start of the twentieth century. Once used by steamboats to transport people and freight, the Missouri and Mississippi rivers transitioned into commercial routes for transporting goods via barge around World War I. After the devastating 1927 Mississippi River …
Barge on the Mississippi River
2013
This protest sign was carried by Larry Miller, a Ferguson resident and community activist. Miller was heavily involved in the demonstrations following the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014. This sign features “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” and “#JusticeforMikeBrown” in black, capital lettering. The sign’s quote, a …
Ferguson Protest Sign
2014
The Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s brought national visibility to the fight for Mexican American civil rights, and Missouri was no exception. Despite making up a small population in the state, Mexican Americans and Latinxs engaged in local and national efforts to end discrimination and bring about social change. Entire families participated in …
Interview With Carlos Salazar
2017
Missouri’s Latinx population has grown incrementally within the last few decades, subsequently transforming the state’s culture, society, and urban landscape. Kansas City’s Historic Northeast is one of these changing communities. The Northeast is the city’s second oldest residential neighborhood and has a rich history as a beacon for immigrant communities. Due to rapid rates of …
Northeast Kansas City Murals
2018
This photograph shows the Lily Pad Room of Onondaga Cave State Park, located near Leasburg, Missouri. Onondaga Cave provides visitors with near-pristine examples of water deposit features, or speleothems, such as stalagmites, stalactites, soda straws, flowstones, and dams. These features form when acidic surface water dissolves calcite and deposits it as it flows through and …
Onondaga Cave State Park
2019
The 2019 Stanley Cup was a historic moment for Missouri’s hockey team, the St. Louis Blues.On May 21, the team advanced to the National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 49 years after winning the NHL’s Western Conference Final series in six games. Although the team had the most playoff …
Stanley Cup
2019
The Kansas City Chiefs were established in 1963 when Lamer Hunt, founder of the American Football League (AFL), moved his hometown Dallas Texans, to Kansas City, Missouri in 1963. Hunt had established the AFL to compete with the already established National Football League (NFL). In 1967 the Kansas City Chiefs faced off against the Green …
Vince Lombardi Trophy
2020
Immigrants and refugees have historically created communities in Missouri’s large cities. In the late 20th and early 21st century, however, industries have drawn new populations to the state’s rural areas. Noel, a two-square-mile town with a population of about 2,000 people, has experienced rapid growth over the last two decades. Latinx immigrants as well as …
RAISE Community Garden
2020
After the stay at home order was lifted in Springfield, hair salons were able to reopen as long as thestylist and clients both wore masks. Two stylists at this Great Clips hair salon at 1864 S. Glenstone in thePlaza Shopping Center tested positive for COVID-19 and saw 139 clients while contagious. The storymade national news …
Great Clips
2020