This Month in St. Louis History

First TV station and beginnings of Forest Park

The first television station in St. Louis went on the air in 1947 and the first beer-sponsored TV program wasn't far behind. The start-stop-and-start-again effort to establish Forest Park got started first in 1864.

Also, a club for tall people started in 1941 and is still operating. But, some of the first members now don't seem to be very tall.

These are just some of the people and events with key dates in Februarys past that helped to shape the St. Louis metro area.

Each month, the Missouri History Museum cooperates with Young Saint Louis.com to compile information about people and events that include a key date in the month this feature appears. All of the items in this feature include a key date in a past February.

(For more about local history, check the contents of www.mohistory.org.)

 

First TV station on air in 1947

St. Louis' first television station went on the air Feb. 8, 1947. KSD-TV was put on the air by the Pulitzer Publishing Co., publishers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

At that time, the St. Louis station was one of just seven TV stations in the whole country.

St. Louis always has been a sports town. So it was natural that KSD-TV early on would get into broadcasting play-by-play. The first contest on the station was a basketball game between Saint Louis University and the University of Oklahoma.

St. Louis also always has been a beer town. Modern Brewery Age magazine has named the Hyde Park Brewery of St. Louis as the "first brewery to sponsor a televised program anywhere."

The magazine said, in 1947, the brewery was the sponsor of a man-on-the-street interviewer who talked with local residents. The early commercials featured "Albert, the Stick Man," an animated cartoon character with a knack for finding trouble.

KSD-TV was the only TV station in town until 1953. The Pulitzers sold the station to Multimedia in 1983, when the call letters were changed to the present KSDK-TV.

 

Drive for Forest Park starts in 1864

In 1864, the Missouri Legislature authorized an election for St. Louis voters to approve a centrally located park. The legislation also created a board of commissioners who were instructed to pick a site of not more than 350 acres.

But, in the election on April 4, 1864, voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal.

It wasn't until March, 1872, that the Legislature established Forest Park.

But, residents weren't done yet. A group filed a lawsuit, seeking to have the Legislature's action deemed unconstitutional. The high court agreed and pronounced the 1872 Forest Park law dead.

But, the idea came back that same year when the Legislature passed ordinances establishing three parks in St. Louis County. In addition to Forest Park, the lawmakers established Carondelet Park in the south and O'Fallon Park in the north.

The Forest Park dedication was finally held June 25, 1876. That was 12 years after the Missouri Legislature had first authorized the park.

 

St. Louis' Tall Club starts in 1941

Lots of kids-especially boys and girls who want to play basketball-want to be tall. But, there was a time when tall people thought the world was against them.

That led to establishment across the country of Tip Toppers clubs. Tall people banded together to bring more attention to problems of being tall.

The California Tip Toppers are said to be the first such club. The club's founder was Kae Sumner. The first meeting was May 1, 1938. (Ironically, Ms. Sumner was an illustrator for Walt Disney. One of her assignments was to work on the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.)

The St. Louis Tip Toppers chapter began in February, 1941. There were 19 charter members. The tallest man was 6'9½". The tallest women were 6'1/4"

(To learn about the club, visit http://216.242.115.52/html/history.htm)

 

Anheuser-Busch buys the Cardinals in 1953

In February, 1953, August Busch Jr. came to the rescue of the St. Louis Cardinals. The team was in danger of being sold and moved to either Milwaukee or Houston. But, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery stepped in to buy the Cardinals.

Of course, Mr. Busch and the brewery became closing associated with the baseball team.

He often would enter the park behind a team of the brewery's famous Clydesdale horses.

In recent years, the brewery sold the team to a group of investors. The lead partner is Bill DeWitt Jr. Although he doesn't live in St. Louis now, his father formerly owned the St. Louis Browns. And Mr. DeWitt Jr. was a batboy for that American League team.

 

Campbell House Museum opens in 1943

The Campbell House Museum is a great opportunity for St. Louis families to see rare furnishings from the 1800s and early 1900s. A tour makes an interesting family trip to see how prominent local residents lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Original construction of a smaller version of the home was started in 1850. Additions were made several times.

The home was in the ownership of the retailing Campbell family from 1854 through 1938. The home's future was in doubt after the deaths of Hugh and Hazlett Campbell during the 1930s.

But, the home attracted interest of historic preservation groups. It was considered to be "an intact and integral display of elaborate and ornate furnishing of the middle Victorian period."

The Campbell House Museum opened on Feb. 6, 1943.

Interestingly, one of the first guests at the museum that day was Gus Meyer. He had been the last servant of the Campbells and had lived in the house for 40 years.

The Campbell House Museum is at 1508 Locust. For information, call (314) 421-0325.

 

President Wilson's "Preparedness Speech" of 1916

President Woodrow Wilson set out across the country in 1916 to make a series of speeches to warn the American people about the upcoming threat of World War I.

The final speech of that "preparedness" series was in St. Louis on Feb. 3, 1916.

During that speech, he called on the U.S. to create "the greatest navy in the world." He also urged widespread military training against the day the nation might have to put "new levies of inexperienced men onto the modern field of battle."

Of course, it wasn't much later that the country was drawn into the war in Europe.