This Month in St. Louis History

The rise and fall of the first shopping mall

As proof of how fast things can change in St. Louis, you can look at the rise and fall of the Northland Shopping Center in Jennings. In just over 50 years, the area's first suburban shopping center has risen and declined.

And when St. Louisan William Seward Burroughs patented the nation's first adding machine, he set off a process that changed how U. S. business is conducted.

Then, there's Sam Muchnick of St. Louis who started professional wrestling in the U.S.

And, "bloody island" in the Mississippi River was a focus of deadly duels in the 1800s. Now, "bloody island" doesn't even exist; it's been blended into the Illinois side of the current river channel.

Each month, the Missouri History Museum compiles reports about interesting people and events from the past. Those activities mentioned in this article are from past Augusts.

Young Saint Louis.com then brings that information to you to show the variety of events and people in this area's varied history.

(For more about Missouri history, visit the museum's website at www.mohistory.org.)

Northland Shopping Center

In the 1950s, population shifts from the City of St. Louis to the northern suburbs was in full flight. And the passage of the Interstate Highway legislation in Congress focused urban development on the automobile.

In St. Louis, those developments combined to bring strong growth to the city of Jennings.

In August, 1955, the Northland Shopping Center became the area's first ultra-modern "urban village." Where the town square usually was the focus of small towns, now the center of town was the shopping mall.

The Famous-Barr department store became an anchor store. Many other retail establishments joined.

In 1979, St. Louis magazine listed all the strengths of the Northland center.

But in the early 1990s, Famous-Barr looked further into the suburbs. Northland was unable to find a new anchor and the exodus of smaller stores began.

By 2004, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article talked about a plan to demolish what was left of the Northland Center. By August, 2005, the 50th anniversary of Northland found about half of the original mall demolished.

For a unique history of the Northland mall, visit www.tobyweiss.com/northland.htm.

William Seward Burroughs

St. Louisan William Seward Burroughs received a patent for his adding machine on August 21, 1888. That machine helped to change business record keeping into the precise system it is today.

Although he was born in Rochester, N.Y., and died in Citronella, Ala., Burroughs is buried in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. His Burroughs Adding Machine Company was headquartered in St. Louis.

Burroughs first "calculating machine" was designed to calculate the area of fur skins. But, his mechanical adding machine was the basis of his fame.

The ability to add and subtract with accuracy was a boon to American business. The electronic calculator and later the computer were a continuation of that process.

His company was merged with Sperry to form the computer giant Unisys.

Two generations later, his grandson, William Seward Burroughs II, became one of the authors of the "beat generation." He is listed as an inspiration for writers Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.

For more on William S. Burroughs I, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/adding_machine.

For more on Burroughs II, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/william_s_burroughs.

Wrestling promoter Sam Muchnick

Professional wrestling is big on TV today. The "father" of pro wrestling and the televising of matches was St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick.

Born in the Ukraine, Muchnick is remembers mostly for his "Wrestling at the Chase" matches at the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis. They were televised on KPLR-TV from 1959-1983.

Virtually all of the "first generation" of pro wrestlers were controlled by Muchnick's World Wrestling Alliance. Among the wrestlers were Ric Flair, Harley Race, "Dick the Bruiser" Afflis, Gene Kiniski, Lou Thesz and Ted DeBiase.

The Chase matches are considered to be one pro wrestling's most historic events.

For more about Muchnick's life, visit www.wrestlingclassics.com/fe/sammuchnick/lifeandtimes.html.

Dueling on "bloody island"

The fragile piece of land in the middle of the Mississippi River was nothing more than a sandbar with some trees and vegetation. But, it became notorious in the early 1800s for the large number of duels that were held there.

Two duels in 1817 involved the same people, noted St. Louis attorneys Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Lucas. In the first duel, both were wounded. But, a few months later, the two met again and Benton succeeded in killing Lucas.

Benton went on to be one of Missouri's first U.S. senators.

Another duel involving famous people was in 1831. Thomas Biddle, director of the St. Louis branch of the Bank of the United States, fought with Congressman Spencer Pettis. Pettis had been critical of the bank.

In that duel, both men were killed.

During the dueling period, "bloody island" had Mississippi River waters on both sides. But, the eastern channel was filled in to narrow the river. What was river is part of Illinois about where East St. Louis is now.

For more, visit www.eslarp.uiuc.edu/ibex/archive/guidebook/bloody%20island.htm.

And you can read more about "bloody island" in the Cemetery story on the Home Page.