This Month in Missouri History

WWII, Blueberry Hill, Daniel Boone
and animal crackers

World War II started with the invasion of Poland in September, 1939. But, plans to extend the battle to the United States started long before that and involved the St. Louis area.

Another key September anniversary date was Sept. 8, 1972, with the opening of the Blueberry Hill restaurant in University City. Its owner, Joe Edwards, has been instrumental in development of the unique Delmar Loop neighborhood.

Other key anniversary dates in September include Sept. 20, 1887; Sept. 26, 1820, and September, 2002. Sept. 20 involves weather forecasting; Sept. 26, Daniel Boone and Sept. 2002, animal crackers.

(Each month, the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park helps Young Saint Louis.com look at unique anniversaries of people, events or activities that occurred in the past. YSL.com also provides Internet links so you can find out more. Also, see www.mohistory.org.)

German sabotage plan for the Midwest

WWII started in September, 1939, with the invasion of Poland. But, overall German planning included much more than just European targets.

Among proposed far-flung activities was infiltration of spies into the U.S. seeking to cripple the aircraft industry and key inland transportation waterways. Many of these installations were in the Midwest.

The mastermind of the spy infiltration was a German named Walter Kappe. He immigrated from Germany to the United States in 1925 and settled in Kankakee, IL. He later moved to Chicago and then in 1933 to New York.

After returning to Germany, Kappe became a Nazi official in the Abwehr, the German military intelligence branch.

Kappe's proposed plan for U.S. sabotage was to cripple the American light-metals industry, which supplied material for airplane construction. He targeted Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) plants in Tennessee, New York and East St. Louis, IL.

He also wanted to blow up locks and dams on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to disrupt barge transportation.

The plan started with infiltration of teams of spies into New York harbor and in Florida. The spies came by Nazi submarines, known as U-boats.

Despite the heavy planning, none of the spies ever caused a single incident. In fact, the episode became known as the "keystone commandos." That was a reference to the Keystone Kops, a fictional band of inept police portrayed in stage skits.

Here are two Internet sites that give differing views. One is from the Atlantic magazine and the other is a report from the German Navy. The sites are:

www.theatlantic.com/doc/200202/cohen and
www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/articles/feature2.html.

Blueberry Hill restaurant opens

Joe and Linda Edwards opened the Blueberry restaurant and bar on Sept. 8, 1972. In subsequent years, Blueberry Hill has been the hub for development of the Delmar Loop area.

Among changes included the enlargement of Blueberry Hill to include an entire block of Delmar. One of the featured entertainers has been the legendary Chuck Berry.

In front is the St. Louis Walk of Fame and features stars embedded in the sidewalk honoring St. Louis celebrities.

In recent years, Edwards was involved in the opening of the Pageant Theater and he's now proposing a return of old-time street cars on Delmar.

For more, visit www.stlcommercemagazine.com/archives/july2000/
profile.html.

Weather observations from Springfield, MO

Intermittent weather observations from the National Weather Service office in Springfield, MO, were as early as July, 1857. But, regular weather observations were begun by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Sept. 20, 1887.

The observations were sent to Washington, D.C., and the Springfield office got back Weather Bureau forecasts. Flags atop local buildings indicated changes in the weather.

Starting in 1893, the weather forecasts came to Springfield from St. Louis.

For a Springfield office history, visit http://www.crh.noaa.gov/sgf/?n=nws_sgf_history.

Pioneer Daniel Boone dies

Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone was a famous pioneer long before he moved to Missouri in 1799. Most of his early frontier exploits were in Kentucky and he was a figure in the American Revolution.

He was born in 1734 and died Sept. 26, 1820, in Osage Creek, MO.

His Missouri home is located at Defiance, MO, and is a great tourist attraction. The home area has been expanded with inclusion of a Boonesfield Historic Village.

Lindenwood University now owns the area and a complete schedule of 2008 events can be found on www.lindenwood.edu.

For a history of Daniel Boone, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Boone.

A predecessor of Animal Cracker cookies

The koala bear was the newest addition to the Animal Crackers cookie lineup. It was picked to join the other 18 animal shapes in Sept. 2002.

But, cookies in the shapes of animals have been around for more than 100 years. That's long before there was a National Biscuit Co. (Nabisco).

One of the U.S. animal cookie bakers before Nabisco was the Dozier-Wyl Cracker Co. of St. Louis. The firm was one of the American bakers who began copying the animal shapes in the late 1880s.

Each baker had its own version of the early animal crackers. Most cookies were sold in the immediate area.

At the end of the 1800s, bakers consolidated and the Animal Crackers we know now came into being.

The lineup of Animal Crackers animals now stands at 19. The koala beat out the penguin, walrus and cobra to join the lineup. The koala was picked in a survey of customers.

For more on Animal Crackers, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_cracker.