This Month in Missouri History

Painter of world's largest picture lectured here

Painter John Banvard, who later produced a 1,300-foot painted panoramic picture of the Mississippi River valley, made a speaking appearance in St. Louis in 1841.

Banvard was a painter of "grand moving panoramas," which were long pictures that unrolled behind the speaker as he was talking. His appearance here was to discuss his rolling panoramas of Jerusalem and Venice at the St. Louis Museum.

Lemma Barkeloo passed the Missouri Bar exam in March, 1870, becoming the first female lawyer to practice in Missouri. She also was the first female lawyer to try a case in the United States.

Other March items from past include: building of second of three Planter House hotels in St. Louis; opera singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish nightingale," singing here and the attack of a boy by two polar bears at the St. Louis Zoo.

(Each month, the Missouri History Museum collects information of historic interest from the current month. Young Saint Louis.com then presents them in this report to give you an idea of interesting episodes from the state's colorful history.)

Largest painted picture in world

John Banvard

Before there were camera and motion pictures, there was something called "the great moving panoramas." These were extremely long painted pictures which were rolled up and then unrolled slowly to serve as backgrounds for speeches.

John Banvard was one of these panoramic scene painters. In March, 1841, he came to St. Louis to present his "grand moving panoramas" of Jerusalem and Venice. The presentation was at the St. Louis Museum.

One of his panorama-painting projects involved traveling the Mississippi River valley and painting scenes that illustrated life along the long north-south river through the heart of the country.

These scenes were then put together onto a 1,300-foot roll of canvas that was moving behind him while he was giving his lecture.

In 1846, the Boston Journal reviewed his Mississippi valley lecture by saying:

"While looking at the picture as it slowly passed before the spectator, one cannot but be delighted with the natural and life-like appearance which each object presents. With a very slight stretch of the imagination, the spectator can fancy himself traveling over this mighty 'Father of the Waters" and beholding the beautiful scenery."

For more about Bavard, read a NYTimes article at http://bit.ly/dy1mmb.

Also see a Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Banvard and a book on pioneer photographers at http://bit.ly/aVGPo2.

Lemma Barkeloo: 1st Missouri female lawyer

In March, 1870, Lemma Barkeloo passed the Missouri Bar exam and became the first female lawyer to practice in the State of Missouri. She also was the first woman in the whole country to try a case in court.

For more on Missouri women writing about their lives, visit http://bit.ly/dwGh2f.

You also can visit Missouri Digital Heritage at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/timeline/
timeline7.asp

Three Planter House hotels in St. Louis

In March, 1837, ground was broken at Fourth and Pine in downtown St. Louis for a Planter House hotel. This was one of three hotels with the same name in St. Louis.

According to a genealogy of the site, the hotel was designed bv Henry Spence and was four stories high with 300 rooms. It had a classic, dignified exterior and shops and offices on the ground floor.

The hotel attracted famous visitors, including Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, U.S. Grant and William F. (Wild Bill) Cody.

Author Charles Dickens stayed there during his American tour. Dickens was notably critical of this country and St. Louis but wrote favorably about The Planter House.

He said, "We went to a large hotel called the Planter's House, a building like an English hospital with long passages and skylights above the room doors to allow for circulation of air.

"There were many fine boarders in it and as many lights sparkled and glistened from the windows down into the street below when we drove up as if it had been illuminated on some occasion of rejoicing."

For more about the hotel, visit: http://genealogyinstlouis.accessgenealogy.com/hotels.htm

For a NYTimes article about the fire that destroyed the hotel, visit http://bit.ly/bd2IAe.

"Swedish Nightingale" sings in St. Louis

Jenny Lind

In March, 1851, opera singer Jenny Lind, known as the "Swedish Nightingale," sang at a concert in St. Louis that was produced by noted promoter P.T. Barnum.

The local concert was one of Lind's 61 American concerts that Barnum had arranged before he had even hear the singer perform.

Lind was wildly popular in Europe at a time before recorded music.

For more about Lind, visit http://history1800s.about.com/od/popularentertainment
/a/jenny-lind-american-tour.htm

There's more on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lind

Two polar bears attack boy at Zoo

On March 21, 1949, the Southeast Missourian newspaper reported on a 13-year-old boy who climbed the fence at the St. Louis Zoo and was attacked by two 1,000-pound polar bears.

The boy survived but the story made the news nationally from Los Angeles to Florida.

For the Southeast Missourian article, see http://bit.ly/b8krT2.

At one from the St. Petersburg, FL, Times, visit http://bit.ly/a0xOqW.