This month in St. Louis history

Eads bridge & ice cream cone

Two events in past Julys brought some international attention to St. Louis. One was a serious engineering feat and the other was about fun in the summer.

• On July 4, 1874, famed St. Louis engineer James B. Eads' bridge across the Mississippi was dedicated. At the time, the bridge was a marvel of creative engineering.

Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman presided over the bridge dedication

Two interesting websites give more details of Eads' long life in engineering. One is the St. Louis Walk of Fame: www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/james-eads.html
Also see a University of Missouri site: www.system.missouri.edu/upress/spring1999/scott.htm

• July 23, 1904, the story goes that St. Louisan Charles Menches made the first ice cream cone during the 1904 World's Fair. That's when he took a pastry cone and filled it with ice cream to help World's Fair-goers to cope with St. Louis' summer heat and humidity.

For more about the history of ice cream, you can visit American Memory at the Library of Congress at: memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul23.html.