MoHistory

Taylor Swift’s music career is filled with tributes to her late maternal grandmother, Marjorie Moehlenkamp Finlay. Photographs and home videos of Finlay are included in several of Swift’s lyric music videos, including the one for “Timeless,” which was released exclusively for the album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). But Marjorie Moehlenkamp Finlay wasn’t just Taylor Swift’s grandmother—she …

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Delmar Boulevard is one of St. Louis’s best known streets, stretching over 10 miles from just outside Laclede’s Landing downtown to the western edge of University City. For six blocks after it leaves the St. Louis City boundary, it’s known as the Delmar Loop—a reference to an early streetcar line that would make a loop …

Continue reading "The Delmar Garden Amusement Park"

In the mid-1800s, St. Louis was notoriously filthy, but nowhere more so than the riverfront. On the riverfront it wasn’t just St. Louis’s own dirt to worry about, but the dirt, disease, and sickness from dozens of other towns, brought along with the residents of every incoming steamboat. In 1849, some of them were carrying …

Continue reading "Cholera in the City"

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 "Sister Antona Ebo"

This post is part of a series about the materials that built St. Louis. Check out part 1 for more about clay in St. Louis. Bricks weren’t the only thing being made in Cheltenham. Workers also crafted sewer pipes, floor tiles, roof tiles, chimney liners, flower pots, and more out of clay. The other main product made from …

Continue reading "Built St. Louis: Clay, Part 2"

Where were you on August 21, 2017? If you were like most people in St. Louis, you were watching the total solar eclipse cover our region in shadow. You were also probably watching with a group of people, whether they were family, friends, neighbors, classmates, or fellow science geeks. As St. Louis prepares for the …

Continue reading "A Total Eclipse of the Sun"

Threads, our highly anticipated signature fundraiser, is returning on April 13, 2024. This year, St. Louis–based designers have been selected to create a 21st-century piece inspired by an item of their choice from the Missouri Historical Society’s textile collection. Check out the 10 historic artifacts that inspired these student and professional designers to make bold, …

Continue reading "10 Historic Fashion Pieces Inspiring Runway-Ready Designs"

St. Louis teenagers from the late 1940s to the early 1970s eagerly anticipated the next issue of Prom magazine as their go-to source for all things high school—sports, homecoming, graduation, and fashion trends. The magazine featured a fashion editor and advertisements for local department stores like Famous-Barr and Stix Baer & Fuller, which were St. Louis …

Continue reading "1960s Spring Fashion Trends as Seen in Prom Magazine"

You might not expect to find a 46-year-old cardboard box in the Missouri Historical Society Collections. But this seemingly everyday item, still in relatively good condition, held a shrine belonging to Gee Wong and Gee Hong, the owners of the last hand-wash Chinese laundry in St. Louis. The story of their business, Sam Wah Laundry, …

Continue reading "The Campaign to Save St. Louis’s Last Chinese Laundry"

On June 17, 1966, a crew aboard a boat near Cam Ranh Bay off the coast of Vietnam witnessed a Lockheed C-130E Hercules crash into the water of the South China Sea. There was no sign of gunfire, no smoke, and no evidence that any hostile action had occurred. When the boat arrived to look …

Continue reading "“And He Loved to Fly”: The Story of M. J. Savoy"

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 People’s Princess: The Impact of Princess Diana’s Death in St. Louis"

The highly skillful and evocative work of local artist Hannah Brown Skeele still thrills and engages us today. As an independent and assertive single woman working in a worldly and cosmopolitan city on the edge of the American frontier, Skeele won numerous awards and male critics lauded her art. She also may have associated with …

Continue reading "A Painter of Exceptional Gifts: Hannah Brown Skeele in St. Louis"

This post is part of a series about the materials that built St. Louis. The story of St. Louis becoming a brick metropolis is one of getting extremely geographically lucky. Just south of Forest Park, in the area commonly known as Dogtown, is the Cheltenham syncline. The geologic term refers to the bowl-shaped dips in the rock …

Continue reading "Built St. Louis: Clay, Part 1"

Hailed for her work within the civil rights movement, Margaret Bush Wilson blazed her own path as a Black attorney and activist. She rose to prominence as a giant for the cause of civil rights and tirelessly worked for equality. Her story began in St. Louis, where she was born to James T. and Margaret …

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Thinking Historically is a series of short talks and conversations presented at the Missouri History Museum’s monthly family event History Exploration Days. The series is designed to help learners and visitors of all ages explore how historians think about and make sense of the past and the present. Maria Explains the Gap of Uncollected History …

Continue reading "Mind the Gap: Thinking Historically about Untold Stories"

This spring, Twilight Thursdays concerts will return to our newly reopened front plaza, new special exhibits will shed light on the 1904 World’s Fair and the Eads Bridge, and there will be countless opportunities to engage with history at our three locations and out on the streets of St. Louis. 1. The History Chicks Live! …

Continue reading "13 Ways to Make the Most of Springtime at MHS"

The Missouri Historical Society’s African American History Initiative (AAHI) supports the collection of unique artifacts and materials concerning historically underrepresented communities, the development of future museum professionals, and the preservation of African American resources and history in the greater St. Louis area. Here are a few items exploring the African American experience in St. Louis …

Continue reading "New to the Collections: African American History"

This post is part of a series about the materials that built St. Louis. Southwest of St. Louis the landscape rises into rolling hills and exposes a long, thin strip of sandstone that stretches from Eureka and Pacific down southeast toward Crystal City and Festus. Sandstone is extremely soft and crumbles apart very easily, so it wasn’t useful …

Continue reading "Built St. Louis: Sandstone"

Howard John Wilkinson, Jr. was born on March 20, 1921, the son of Alma and Howard J. Wilkinson, Sr. Shortly after his 19th birthday on April 3, 1940, Howard enlisted in the US Navy for a 6-year term. He was initially assigned to the USS Wasp as a seaman and was promoted to a 2nd …

Continue reading "A Love That Lasted a Lifetime"

When Yugoslavian George Mihaljević emigrated to America in 1957 at the age of 21, he brought his love of soccer with him. Soccer was perhaps the best part of his childhood in Belgrade, behind the Iron Curtain. George Mihaljević was born on February 28, 1936, in Vuka, Yugoslavia. While attending grammar school, he also played …

Continue reading "Remembering a St. Louis Soccer Legend"