This Month in Missouri History

The leader in books for blind,
"Happy Meals for Kids"

Events during Januarys past put St. Louis in the forefront of three very different historic trends.

The St. Louis Public Library led in the development of books for the blind. The city also was home to the developer of McDonald's "Happy Meal for Kids."

And one of the early labor leaders who worked for the 8-hour work day and no-work Sundays also lived here.

(Each month, the Missouri History Museum searches for items of historic interest from the city's colorful past. Then, Young Saint Louis.com brings those items to you to enrich your understanding of what's come before you.

(To learn more, you can search www.mohistory.org.)

Books for the Blind

On Jan. 8, 1924, the St. Louis Public Library created a special department to serve blind residents. The city and the state of Missouri went on to become a national leader in bringing reading resources to blind people.

Even before setting up a special department, the city library had been lending Braille books to local blind people.

When head librarian Dr. Arthur Bostwick set up the special department, the library had just 300 volumes, about 100 of which actually were circulated.

By 1934, the library had 15,000 volumes, of which 500 were talking books.

By 1940, the Library of Congress said the St. Louis Public Library distributed more Braille and talking books than any other library in the country. The library had over 81,000 volumes and were distributing to blind readers in Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas.

In 1985, the now-separate Wolfner Memorial Library for the Blind was moved to Jefferson City under the Missouri Department of Higher Education.

For a history of books to the blind, visit http://www.sos.mo.gov/wolfner/history.asp

For a bit of fun, you can see your name written in Braille by going to http://www.afb.org/BrailleBug/thenamegame.asp

"Father of McDonald's Happy Meal"

In 1977, Dick Brams was the St. Louis Regional Advertising Manager for McDonald's restaurants. He asked two advertising agencies to develop a special menu just for kids.

In June, 1979, the first McDonald's "Happy Meal for Kids" was introduced nationwide and became an instant hit. And Brams was given the name "Father of the Happy Meal."

That first meal was called the Circus Wagon Happy Meal. It contained a hamburger or cheeseburger, fries, a cookie sampler, a soft drink and a variety of puzzles and games for kids.

For more on the "happy meal" and Mr. Barms, visit http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-21-2004/0002214589&EDATE and http://detnews.com/article/20091001/OPINION03/
910010399/Happy-Meal-offers-little-to-celebrate

Labor leader Terence Powderly

In January, 1879, Terence Powderly was serving as General Working Foreman of the Knights of Labor Order in St. Louis when he was promoted to head of the national labor union.

Powderly was to lead the labor union to the forefront of early efforts to improve working conditions in the United States. He already was preaching for an 8-hour work day and work-free Sundays.

With his leadership, Knights' membership rose from 80,000 to 700,000 in 1885.

However, the infamous Haymarket labor riots of 1886 in Chicago caused a strong backlash against the labor movement. It also disenchanted Powderly with his own organization.

In 1894, Powderly was expelled from the Knights of Labor after increasing conflict within the organization.

By 1897, he had been named the federal government's commissioner of general immigration and continued in the immigration field until his death.

For more about Powderly, visit http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/
Powderly__Terence.html, For a bio of Powderly, visit http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/powderly/bio.html

History of city gas service

On Jan. 8, 1842, the City of St. Louis granted The Gas Light Company the "exclusive privilege" of lighting the streets of the city.

However, the recently incorporated Laclede Gas Company claimed it had that exclusive right to light the city.

It's obvious who ended up the winner of that dispute since Laclede Gas is still operating in St. Louis and beyond.

If you are interested in that original lawsuit, you can go to Google Books' account at http://bit.ly/6FiHSY. This is from weekly notes of cases determined in the Supreme Court, Volume 10.

Also, there's a good account about gas lighting at http://www.rushlight.org/research/gas.html.