St. Louis People 365

All-St. Louis World Series, 7-Up and more

In local Octobers past, there was an all-St. Louis World Series and launching of the first Civil War iron-clad boat. Also, 7-Up was invented here and Missouri's first two U.S. senators were named.

On the bizarre side, there was a national convention to try to move the nation's capitol from Washington, D.C., to St. Louis.

These and other local historic items are included in the book, "St. Louis People 365." It includes hundreds of other trivia items about St. Louis' colorful history.

(St. Louis author Joe Sonderman has given permission to Young Saint Louis.com to quote selected items from the book. If you'd like a copy of the book, check local book stores or go to www.booksonstlouis.com.)

Here are 10 of the 124 items in the October chapter of the book:

Oct. 2, 1820: The legislature elected David Barton and Thomas Hart Benton as the first two Missouri senators. Lawmakers met at the first Missouri capitol at St. Charles. Barton served until 1830, but Benton was a major force in American and Missouri history well into the 1850s. Benton once shot it out with Andrew Jackson and killed the son of his leading opponent in a duel on "Bloody Island."

Oct. 4, 1944: The first all-St. Louis World Series opened at Sportsmen's Park. The city was buzzing and seemed to favor the underdog Browns. Classes were cancelled at St. Louis and Washington universities and Mayor Aloys Kaufmann declared it "St. Louis Baseball Week." Mort Cooper of the Cardinals allowed just two hits but the Browns took Game One 2-1 on a home run by George McQuinn.

Oct. 7, 1909: Glenn Curtis made the first airplane flight in St. Louis. Albert Bond Lambert offered Curtis $6,000 to bring his "Golden Flyer" for an aviation meet during the Centennial Week celebrations. A crowd of over 300,000 waited for hours to see Curtis fly about 60 yards in four seconds. Curtis made seven flights during the meet, the longest lasting about 1½ minutes.

Oct. 12, 1861: James Buchanan Eads launched the first iron-clad gunboat at Carondelet. The St. Louis would become the first ironclad ever to see battle. In August, 1861, Eads signed a contract calling for seven gunboats to be completed in just 64 days. It actually took 100 days, still an amazing feat. The ships were vital in the Union's first major Civil War victories at Fort Donelson and Fort Henry in Tennessee. A little-known general named Ulysess S. Grant led those campaigns.

Oct. 12, 1929: C.L. Grigg of St. Louis was introducing his new soft drink. Grigg had formed the Howdy Soft Drive Company to market his orange drink in 1920. His new product was called "Bib-Label Lathiated Lemon-Lime Soda." It sold well, despite the name and the fact that the new drink was more expensive than most of the 600 lemon-lime sodas already on the market. In 1931, Grigg changed the name to "7-Up."

Oct. 13, 1925: President Calvin Coolidge appointed Dwight Davis as Secretary of War, replacing John Weeks. Davis was a well-known St. Louis tennis player and public servant who donated his salary as parks commissioner from 1911 to 1914 to ensure the success of the first municipal tennis courts here. He donated the trophy we now know as the Davis Cup.

Oct. 19, 1921: Bill Mauldin was born near Santa Fe, New Mexico. He won a Pulitizer Prize for his Stars and Stripes cartoons featuring weary soldiers Willie and Joe. Mauldin joined the Post-Dispatch as an editorial cartoonist in 1958. He won another Pulitizer that year for a cartoon that features Soviet author Boris Pasternak in a gulag speaking to another prisoner, "I won the Novel Prize for literature. What was the crime?" He moved to the Chicago Sun Times in 1962.

Oct. 20, 1869: Delegates from 21 states convened a national convention here to petition Congress to move the nation's capitol to St. Louis. Logan Uriah Reavis of the St. Louis Press led the effort. Amazingly, a Chicago newspaperman was backing him. Joseph Medill and his powerful Chicago Tribune said St. Louis was now the center of a country that stretched from coast to coast.

Oct. 26, 1792: Samuel Hawken was born in Hagerstown, Maryland. With his brother Jacob, he designed and built the famous Hawken rifle in St. Louis, beginning in 1822. "The Gun That Opened the West" was the weapon of choice for trappers and traders. Western figures such as Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, Kit Carson, John Fremont and Jim Bridger all carried Hawken rifles.

Oct. 31, 1980: Life Magazine had named the Lemp Mansion as one of the 10 most haunted houses in America. Brewery magnate William Lemp killed himself in the mansion at 3322 DeMenil Place in 1904. William Lemp Jr. killed himself in 1922 after prohibition caused the brewery to fail. Charles Lemp also committed suicide in the mansion in 1949. The house is now a restaurant where staff members report strange happenings, including appearances by the "Lavender Lady," Lillian Lemp.