MoHistory

Antikamnia Chemical Company, named after its most popular patent medicine, was an American pharmaceutical company based in St. Louis. The company manufactured supposed cures for pains featuring toxic and undertested ingredients such as acetanilid, quinine, codeine, and heroin—ingredients considered nostrums, or “cure-alls,” by many physicians at the turn of the 20th century. The story of …

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What do you think of when you think of the Gateway Arch? Do you think of westward expansion, or a sense of city pride? How about racial discrimination? Most St. Louisans today would not connect the monument to race, but in 1964, the Arch became a focal point for St. Louis civil rights. In the …

Continue reading "Percy Green and the Fight for Equality at the Gateway Arch"

Collecting and preserving materials related to Missouri history are central to the Missouri Historical Society’s mission, but occasionally a donation can confound even the most experienced registrar. Beth Carter came across an entry in a nearly 90-year-old ledger that immediately intrigued her. The donor was Alice Packard, a middle-aged African American woman who lived in …

Continue reading "The Mystery of a Saltcellar and the St. Louis Woman Who Donated It"

Most people have fond memories of their favorite childhood television show, and for many St. Louisans who grew up in the 1970s, that show was Mr. Patches and the Little Castle. Written, produced, and hosted by Jack Miller, Mr. Patches and the Little Castle ran on KDNL-TV Channel 30 from 1969 to 1975. The star …

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In the fall of 1926, after 44 years as a major league baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals won their first National League (NL) pennant and then defeated the formidable New York Yankees in what was then called the World’s Series. It was the beginning of a baseball dynasty. In 1964 the St. Louis–based Sporting …

Continue reading "Looking Back at the Cardinals’ First World Series"

Jack Daniel’s whiskey is proud to be known for its birthplace in Lynchburg, Tennessee. But many would be surprised to know the role St. Louis played in its growth worldwide. According to Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel took the train to St. Louis to have his …

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The Board of Trustees of the Missouri Historical Society has made a momentous decision that both meets the moment we are in today and perfectly matches MHS’s original mission outlined by our founders in 1866. On September 16, 2026, the Board of Trustees, following votes by its executive committee and by our subdistrict commissioners, unanimously …

Continue reading "Introducing the St. Louis History Museum"

Picture south St. Louis city, and there’s a good chance a giant windmill comes to mind: the famous landmark at Gravois and Morganford that gives the Bevo Mill neighborhood its name. Anheuser-Busch built the Bevo Mill in 1916 as a gathering spot right in the middle of a community where German immigrants—many first or second …

Continue reading "A Fountain and a Flower: Memory and Home in St. Louis’s Little Bosnia"

On October 3, 1926, the St. Louis Cardinals won their first World Series game. Behind some brilliant pitching by Grover Cleveland Alexander and late-game home runs by right fielder Billy Southworth and shortstop Tommy Thevenow, the Cardinals walked off the field at Yankee Stadium with a 6–2 victory in Game 2. A week later, on …

Continue reading "Making “St. Louis at Bat: 100 Moments in Baseball History”"

St. Louis is home to incredible opportunities for learning about history in the places where it happened. Sites like Jefferson Barracks, Ulysses S. Grant’s estate at White Haven, and the Scott Joplin House—to name just a few—offer visitors a chance to explore historic structures and landscapes, physically connecting with the stories they tell. But not …

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Note: This is a topic that covers over 12,000 years of history, many cultures, and the actions of countless individuals. Given the complexity of the topic, we cannot cover all its intricacies in this blog. This is meant to give readers a general understanding of some significant moments in Missouri’s Indigenous history. If you would …

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St. Louis can boast of many famous citizens who have made meaningful contributions to society. Yogi Berra and Jackie Joyner-Kersee were leaders in athletics. Chuck Berry and Tina Turner recorded famous songs. Jenna Fischer and Jon Hamm are successful actors. But perhaps Ernest A. Hamwi is a name we should include on this list as …

Continue reading "Ernest Hamwi and the Ice Cream Cone"

Happy 160th birthday to the Missouri Historical Society! The Missouri Historical Society, one of the oldest and biggest historical societies in the country, turns 160 years old next week. It has been the honor of my life to be part of this organization for 20 of its 160 years. MHS is one of St. Louis’s …

Continue reading "16 Defining Moments in Missouri Historical Society History"

“Prose is the devil and all—and so is poetry when one has no longer the steam of youth.” —Sara Trevor Teasdale (1884–1933) Born in St. Louis in 1884, Sara Trevor Teasdale was the inaugural winner of what is now the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her 1917 collection Love Songs. This volume paid a romantic …

Continue reading "Sonnets in St. Louis: The Life and Letters of Sara Teasdale"

The photograph selected to preview Soldiers Memorial Military Museum’s new traveling exhibition, Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces, is layered with stories. It was made by the celebrated Kiowa photographer Horace Poolaw (1906–1984), whose work depicting Native American life has been featured in books, exhibitions, and film. Gracefully captured beneath …

Continue reading "Heritage and Sacrifice: The Poolaw Legacy of Service"

Just south of the MacArthur Bridge sits the Union Pacific Lesperance Yard, a St. Louis mainstay with a unique history. During the Great Depression, between the tracks of what was then called the Terminal Railroad Company and the banks of the Mississippi River, stood one of the nation’s largest Hoovervilles. Hoovervilles were shantytowns constructed by …

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Before the Louisiana Purchase, what country was St. Louis in? The answer depends on who you ask—and when. Great Britain, France, and Spain spent most of the 1600s and 1700s waging war, forming alliances, and signing treaties with one another. The resource-rich North American colonies were important bargaining chips in their negotiations. It was (and …

Continue reading "I Am the Place That Was Ruled by Three Empires"

When the American Council of the Blind (ACB) selected St. Louis as the site of its July 2026 national convention, members of the AGAPE Council of the Blind St. Louis encouraged convention organizers to include a visit to the Missouri History Museum in the convention schedule. “They recommended the Museum because of our strong partnership …

Continue reading "Accessing St. Louis History"

In No Lone Zone, Adam Reynolds explores two museums that once housed functional Minuteman II and Titan II nuclear missiles. The history he captures demonstrates the thinking, challenges, and dangers that shape today’s nuclear weapons. Peace Through Deterence From the 1960s to the 1980s, Minuteman II and Titan II missiles represented the land-based arm of …

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On January 15, 1921, 23 teachers at Sumner High School gathered on campus and resolved to form what would become one of St. Louis’s most impactful yet underrecognized Black professional organizations: the Mound City Teachers Association (MCTA). At a time when Jim Crow segregation marginalized every aspect of Black life in the city, including education, …

Continue reading "The Mound City Teachers Association: Black Educators Organizing for Justice in Jim Crow St. Louis"