This Month in Missouri History

Two significant transportation anniversaries

One landmark anniversary involving highway transportation and another involving light-rail occurred in Missouri in Augusts past.

On Aug. 2, 1956, Missouri became the first state in the U.S. to issue contracts for construction of what became the nationwide interstate highway system. And, on Aug. 26, 2006, the St. Louis Cross-County extension to the Metrolink light-rail system opened to the public.

Among other notable August anniversaries, The Beatles performed in Busch Stadium, the last business of what was Gaslight Square closed and a terrible trapeze accident occurred in an 1872 circus performance.

There's also a story about a Missouri version of the vacuum sweeper.

(Missouri History Museum researchers compile for Young Saint Louis.com a series of significant anniversaries from the state's colorful history. YSL.com also provides internet links. For more history, visit www.mohistory.org.)

Missouri gets first interstate funding

On Aug. 2, 1956, the Missouri State Highway Commission signed contracts for three highway segments to what would become the U.S. Interstate Highway System. These were the first interstate contracts signed in the whole country.

Two of the segments were in the metro St. Louis area while the third was in Laclede County.

One contract was for work on U.S. 40 in St. Louis County. That segment is now Interstate 70 and was called the Mark Twain Expressway.

The other metro segment was for work on U.S. 40 in St. Charles County.

The third segment was on U.S. Route 66 in Laclede County. That is now a part of Interstate 44.

Work on the segments started on Aug. 13, 1956.

Discussion about a nationwide network of highways started in 1941 with appointment of a National Highway Committee by President Franklin Roosevelt.

But, the main impetus got underway when President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act on June 29, 1956. The first Missouri construction contracts were signed less than two months later.

For U.S. Highway System history, visit www.gbcnet.com/ushighways/history.html.

Cross-County light rail extension opens

The first branch line to the Metrolink light-rail system was opened Aug. 26, 2006, with a dedication ceremony. The branch line ran from the Forest Park neighborhood through Clayton and then ended in Shrewsbury.

It added eight miles of new track and nine new stations.

The extension was added to the 38-mile track that ran from Lambert Airport east across the Mississippi River and ended at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

About the extension, the Belleville (IL) News-Democrat said, "For the first time in MetroLink's 13-year history, you can now accidentally board the wrong train." The paper was referring to the fact that the original MetroLink was only a one-track railroad with no branches.

For the official MetroLink website, visit www.metrostlouis.org.

The Beatles at Busch Stadium

The Beatles played to a sold-out crowd at the old Busch Memorial Stadium in downtown St. Louis on Aug. 21, 1966.

This was the second concert the famous group played that day. The first was in Cincinnati, OH.

Prices for the field boxes and loge were $5.50 apiece. The upper terrace seats were $5.

If you'd like to see some unique photos of the concert, you can visit: www.members.tripod.com/~calvin8tor/beatleslive.jpg.

Last Gaslight Square business closes

Jack Parker was the longtime proprietor of O'Connell's Pub, an anchor of Gaslight Square. At one time, the Square was a prime hub of nightlife in St. Louis.

But, by the time Parker moved his pub to the corner of Shaw and Kingshighway, he was one of the last Square merchants. It was a finishing statement for the Gaslight Square strip near Olive and Boyle.

Parker's move was in August, 1972.

For a look at Gaslight Square, visit: http://stlouis.missouri.org/cwe/landmarks_gaslights.html

A tragic trapeze accident in 1872

The report in the St. Louis Journal in August, 1872, gives a look at newspaper coverage of serious events of that period.

For instance, the reporter left the scene of the accident that injured three people seriously before details of the injuries were known.

The report is of the fall by gymnasts Fred Lazelle and Billy Millson when their trapeze collapsed at the end of their aerial performance. The third person injured was George North, who was on the ground under the equipment. The report was from a website that searches over 1,300 different newspapers.

Visit: www.gendisasters.com/data1/mo/accidents/stlouis-circusaccident-aug1872.htm.

You can have fun just scrolling through the various reports. You might find some of your own interesting historical material.

A St. Louis version of vacuum sweeper

On Aug. 30, 1901, a British engineer, Hubert Cecil Booth, received a British patent for the first vacuum cleaner.

But, St. Louisan John Thurman may have had the first vacuum cleaner, a horse-drawn, gasoline-powered machine. He received his U.S. patent on Oct. 3, 1899.

It was called a pneumatic carpet renovator but some historians consider his machine to be the first vacuum cleaner.

The first rug cleaners were huge machines that worked from outside the house. Long tubes ran into the house to get at the spots to be cleaned. In fact, the earliest cleaners actually blew outward to dislodge the dust.

The jet of air blew the dust into a receptacle. This was the style for Thurman's machine.

But, it wasn't long before the idea of sucking up the dust and dirt into a closed container proved more successful. For more, see www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2006/4/2006
_4_4.shtml