This Month
in Missouri History
Author Joe Sonderman's look at local history
St.
Louis author Joe Sonderman has been writing about St. Louis
history for years. He now has a feature on STLMedia.net
in which he gives dozens of short items about history for
every day of the year.
Young
Saint Louis.com had a feature during 2003 in which
we reproduced items each month from his book, "St. Louis 365."
To introduce new readers to Sonderman's work, YSL.com
is reproducing, with permission ŠJoe Sonderman,
some items from the STLMedia website for the month of August.
(To learn more, go to www.stlmedia.net/sonderman.
The home page lists the months along with each day in each
month. Click on any day and a whole list of items that happened
in the past are available to you.)
From past Augusts:
Aug. 1, 1770: William Clark was born in Virginia.
In the 1790s, he commanded a rifle company in battles with
the Indians, where he met Meriwether Lewis. Lewis and Clark
fought in the Revolutionary War together under Gen. Anthony
Wayne.
After the war, Lewis became secretary to President Jefferson
and wrote his old friend to ask him to join an expedition
to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. (The expedition
was from St. Louis to the Pacific and back in 1804-06.)
Leon
Spinks |
Aug. 1, 1976: St. Louisans Michael and Leon Spinks
won boxing gold medals in the Olympics in Montreal. Michael
won the middleweight title and Leon the light-heavyweight
crown.
Aug. 5, 1811: William Greenleaf Eliot was born in
Massachusetts. He founded the first Unitarian congregation
in St. Louis. In 1853, Eliot and Wayne Crow co-founded Eliot
Seminary, which later became Washington University. He served
as chancellor from 1872 until his death in 1887. Poet T.S.
Eliot was his grandson.
Aug. 5, 1968: Roger Maris announced he would retire
after the World Series if the Cardinals made it. That seemed
pretty likely as the Birds were in first place by 14 games
at the time. Maris later said the years he spent in St. Louis
were the happiest of his career.
Aug. 10, 1821: President Monroe signed the bill admitting
Missouri as the 24th state, after years of struggle over the
balance of free and slave states in the Union. When Missouri
first petitioned Congress for admission, there were 11 free
and 11 slave states. It took two Missouri Compromises before
Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri was admitted
with no restriction on slavery.
Stan
Musial |
Aug. 10, 1955: Stan Musial doubled off Braves' Lew
Burdette at Milwaukee, becoming the ninth player in major
league history to get 1,000 extra base hits.
Aug. 15, 1859: Charlie Comiskey was born in Chicago.
"The Old Roman" played for the St. Louis Browns from 1882
to 1891 and managed the team for four straight championships
beginning in 1885. His first baseman was the first to play
off the base. He is best remembered as owner of the Chicago
White Sox at the founding of the American League. Comiskey
was named to the Hall of Fame in 1939.
Aug. 15, 1980: St. Louis was sweltering under a killer
heat wave that had begun on June 23rd. At least 147 people
died from the heat here. The death toll across 28 states was
at 1,272. Damage to crops was set at about $12 billion.
Aug. 20, 1804: Sergeant Charles Floyd became the first
casualty of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He died from what
was probably a ruptured appendix near the present-day city
of Sioux City, IA. Floyd became the first U.S. Soldier to
die west of the Mississippi River. Lewis and Clark named the
hllltop where he was buried Floyd's Bluff and dubbed a nearby
stream Floyd's River
Aug. 20, 1948: The City of Kinloch was incorporated,
the largest all-black community in Missouri. Former slaves
who wanted to create what they called an "escape society"
settled Kinloch after the Civil War.
Aug. 25, 1900: The 12th U.S. Census showed that St.
Louis was the 4th largest city in the nation. The population
of the city had increased more than 123,000 since 1890, placing
the city behind only New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Regis
Philbin |
Aug. 25: 1931: Regis Philbin was born in New York
City. He hosted Saturday Night in St. Louis on KMOX-TV beginning
in 1970. In its final season, the show drew more viewers than
upstart Saturday Night Live on NBC. Philbin left in 1975 to
host a show in Los Angeles.
Aug. 30, 1901: Roy Wilkins was born in St. Louis.
Wilkins became editor of The Crisis, the NAACP publication.
In 1955, he became executive director of the NAACP. Wilkins
served during the height of the civil rights movement, retiring
in 1977. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
in 1969.
Roy
Wilkins |
Aug. 30, 1998: The statue of Jack Buck outside Busch
Stadium was dedicated. Cards fans were enraged when a rookie
umpire threw Mark McGwire out of the game the day before.
Buck urged the fans to show class when the umps took the field
that day. Cards fans responded with a standing ovation.
(For more, visit www.STLMedia.net/sonderman.)
