(Every month, the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park
checks on items of historic interest that occurred in Missouri's
colorful past. Then, Young
Saint Louis.com brings them to you, along with internet
links that provide additional information.
(To learn even more about Missouri history, visit www.mohistory.org.)
Saint Louis' Centennial Week of 1909
In the Globe-Democrat in 1909, D.O. Fitzmaurice wrote:
"We have enshrined the men of a century ago. Let us see
to it that the multitude crowding to the next St. Louis Centennial
(in 2009) shall put us in a niche no lower than that in which
we now place the pioneers of 1809.
"The coming generation may smile at our rude and crude ways
of doing things. We want to make sure that smile will be such
as we now give to our predecessors of a century ago: a smile
of congratulation, of pride, of genuine admiration and respect,
even though mixed with amusement at primitiveness and wonder
at their achievement."
Fitzmaurice
was quoted in the second book about St. Louis by Walter Barlow
Stevens. The quote was reported in Google Books.
The Centennial Week included photographic images, such as
this airship at: http://www.mearsonline.com/images/forsale/1909%20airship
%20PC%20jan%2022.jpg
Painting
of the Lincoln Douglas debate in Alton, IL |
Local reporter at Lincoln-Douglas Debates
In 1858, the St. Louis Republican newspaper took a chance
on a young British reporter by the name of Henry Binmore to
cover the presidential campaign between Abraham Lincoln and
Stephan Douglas.
He did such a notable job that the Chicago Times hired Binmore
to be in Alton, IL, to cover the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate.
If you'd like to read the whole debate text, visit:
http://books.google.com/books?id=RRh_zcnQOVcC&lpg=PA11
&ots=eDVSGG612r&dq=lincoln%20douglas%20debate%20st.
%20louis&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q=lincoln%20douglas%20
debate%20st.%20louis&f=false
First Jewish doctor in St. Louis
Simon Gratz Moses, who would grow up to become the first
known Jewish doctor in St. Louis, was born in Philadelphia,
PA, on Oct. 6, 1813.
Before coming to St. Louis, Moses was a private physician
who included among his patients Joseph Bonaparte. Joseph was
the brother of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France.
This historic reference about Moses is found in a book by
Walter Ehrlich titled "Zion in the Valley: The Jewish Community
of St. Louis, Vol. 2.
For more, visit: http://books.google.com/books?id=SICMMh8Stc8C&lpg=PA41
&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Local newspaper joins Scripps national chain
In
1880, Edward Willis Scripps purchased the St. Louis Evening
Chronicle and the Cincinnati Post newspapers to add to papers
he already owned in Detroit and Cleveland. Scripps' papers
became the first newspaper chain in the country.
He later established the United Press International news
service which sold news to papers around the world.
In an article written on Oct. 28, 1907, Scripps wrote about
his concern that newspapers were catering to the rich and
neglecting news about the poor.
He said, "A newspaper is an organism, a living, conscious
entity. At any period of its existence, its whole body, form
and characteristics is the composite mind and soul of each
and every man that has ever been a part of its personnel."
He said, if the newspaper doesn't offer this complete record
of the society, it ignores and negates any group it doesn't
cover.
This view of newspapers covering all facets of the society
has an odd sound at a time when present day newspapers are
struggling to survive, let alone cover all the news.
For sites of interest on Scripps and newspapers, visit: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/E._W._Scripps
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_1995/ai_n19122453/
http://media.library.ohiou.edu/scripps/
When
St. Louis celebrated its first Centennial Week in 1909, the
Globe-Democrat newspaper issued a challenge to those who would
live in the city's second hundred years.