Early Lottery

On January 28, 1817 territorial Governor William Clark signed an act authorizing a lottery in St. Louis to raise funds for fire-fighting equipment and fire engines.

The lottery was designed to sell 6,000 tickets at $5 each. Half of the tickets would pay a prize ranging from $6 to a grand prize of $5,000. The territorial legislators hoped the lottery would generate a $3,000 profit.

But, the conservative nature of Missourians resulted in the lottery being called a "complete failure." Twenty-two months later in November 1818 the Missouri Gazette reported that Missourians were so "against lotteries that nothing could be done in that way to raise money.."

St. Louis got its first 2 fire engines in 1819. They were purchased by private subscription.

Source

• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.

Papal Visit

Having arrived the day before and attending a Youth Rally at the Kiel Center, Pope John Paul II holds mass at the Trans World Dome (now named Edward Jones Dome) the morning of January 27, 1999. After the morning mass and an afternoon at the Archbishop's residence, the Pope delivered speeches during a prayer service at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and departure ceremony at Lambert Field.

Sources

• AmericanCatholic.org. “The Pope Visits St. Louis” Accessed January 23, 2011. http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Apr1999/feature1.asp.
• Catholic Supply of St. Louis. “Pope John Paul II's St. Louis Visit” Accessed January 23, 2011. http://www.catholicsupply.com/pope/pope1.html.

Thieving Kansans

The following Union correspondence highlights the difficulties between Missourians and Kansans. Whether in the 1850s during the Missouri-Kansas Border Wars or during the 1860s (or now in college sports), "Jayhawkers" have long been a thorn-in-the-side for Missourians of all political allegiances.

Headquarters. First Calvary Missouri State Militia, Warrensburg, Mo., January 26, 1864. General E.B. Brown, Commanding Central District of Missouri: General: I have the honor to state that Captain Meredith reports that a detachment of his command have recaptured a part of the property taken by the Kansas men in LaFayette, viz, 2 horses and a wagon, and have returned the same to the owner, a widow lady by the name of Robinson. James McFerran, Colonel First Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, Comdg. Third Sub-Dist. of Central Dist. of Missouri.

Source

• United States War Department. "War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I Volume XXXIV Part II." Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891.

Last Missouri Lynching

On January 25, 1942 the last racial lynching in Missouri occurred in Sikeston. Around 1:30am someone forced their way into a house occupied by 2 women whose husbands were serving in World War II. One woman was stabbed during the crime.

Thirty minutes later, Cleo Wright, a 25-year old black man, was arrested nearby with bloodstained clothes. On the way to jail Wright pulled a knife from his boot and stabbed the night marshal. Wright was then shot four times by the lawman. After being treated at the hospital, Wright was taken to the city jail.

That morning, the angry mob of 400-500 citizens forced their way into the jail. Wright was dragged out of the jail and down the courthouse steps by his feet. His was then tied to a car by his legs and dragged through the town. He was eventually set on fire and his charred remains laid in the street for 3 hours.

Source

• Sam Blackwell, “Sikeston's history as rich as its swamp-turned-farmland,” Southeast Missourian, November 11, 2001, accessed January 23, 2011, http://www.semissourian.com/story/50133.html.

St. Louis Arsenal

Early 1861 found many political factions positioning themselves to gain control of the St. Louis Arsenal. The seizure of federal property within the limits of already seceded States had focused attention on this federal arsenal. The tens of thousands of rifles and ammunition would be critical supplies when conflict broke out. The arsenal was commanded by Major William H. Bell. A North Carolinian by birth, Bell had been in the ordnance service since graduating West Point in 1820.

On January 24, 1861, General Daniel Marsh Frost wrote the following letter to Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson concerning the St. Louis Arsenal and Major Bell. Shortly after this time, unionists were successful in having Bell replaced. Rather than obey orders to transfer to New York, Bell resigned his commission and retired to his St. Charles County farm.

Frost was from New York, had graduated West Point in 1844, was a Mexican War veteran, and married in St. Louis in 1851. In 1854, Frost was elected to the Missouri Senate and helped pass the law that organized the Missouri State Militia. We would later organized and be appointed to command the First Military District, Missouri State Militia (authority with which he wrote the letter below). Frost would later command the 9th Division and 7th Division, Missouri State Guard and eventually become a Brigadier General of the Confederate Army.

The Joplin Kid

Born in Joplin, Missouri on January 23, 1887, Percy Wenrich became a successful and popular ragtime composer. In 1901 he enrolled in the Chicago Musical College. Known as "The Joplin Kid," Wenrich published Ashy Africa and Just Because I'm From Missouri. In 1905 his first major hit Peaches and Cream was published.

After several more successful songs, Wenrich acheived major success in 1909 when Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet (lyrics by Stanley Murphy) sold more than two million copies. Wenrich penned several war related songs during World War I including Where Do We Go From Here?

Source

• The Parlor Songs Association, Inc. "Percy Wenrich." Accessed January 21, 2011. http://parlorsongs.com/bios/pwenrich/pwenrich.php

A Native-born Governor

Missouri had seventeen governors, before electing a native-born Missourian. Thomas Clement Fletcher was elected Missouri's 18th governor in 1864 and re-elected in 1866.

The Fletcher family had emigrated from Maryland to Herculaneum, Missouri where Thomas was born January 22, 1827. In the mid-1850s Fletcher was admitted to the bar and became a land agent for the Pacific railroad.

Fletcher was a staunch supporter of Lincoln during the 1860 presidential campaign and a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago. He became one of Lincoln's chief advisors concerning Missouri. In 1861, Fletcher was appointed provost marshal of Missouri and was colonel of the 31st and 47th Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Infantry. In December 1862, he was captured during the Confederate Victory at Chickasaw Bayou and sent to Libby Prison at Richmond, VA.

In 1864, Fletcher recruited the 47th Missouri Regiment of Missouri Infantry, U.S. Army and was later brevetted brigadier general.

Sources

• Douglass, Robert Sidney. History of Southeast Missouri. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1912.
• Johnson, Alfred Sidney ed. The Cyclopedic Review of Current History, Volume 9. Boston: Current History Company, 1900.
• Phisterer, Frederick. Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States: Campaigns of the Civil War, Supplementary Volume. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1883.
• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.

Capital Relocation

After serving as the territorial capital, St. Charles served as the temporary capital of the State of Missouri until the state government was permanently relocated to Jefferson City.

Missouri's general assembly first met on June 4, 1821 at St. Charles during a special session convened by Governor Alexander McNair. The general assembly last adjourned in St. Charles on January 21, 1826. At this time all state property was loaded onto a keelboat and transported by river to Jefferson City.

Sources

• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.
• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri's Struggle for Statehood, 1804-1821. Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1916.

Truman's Day

An unlikely pick as Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1944 running mate, Harry S Truman would become president and win an unlikely re-election. With the ratification of the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the day January 20 was destined to be a recurring day of significance in the life of the President from Missouri.

On January 20, 1945, Truman would be inaugurated as the 34th Vice President. After Roosevelt's death in April 1945, his ascension to the Oval Office as the 33rd President, his stunning re-election in 1948, Truman would be inaugurated for a second term on January 20, 1949; the first televised presidential inauguration.

Four years later, after attending Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration, Truman boards a train and heads home to Independence, MO on January 20, 1953.

It would be exactly 8 years before Truman returned to the nation's capital to attend John F. Kennedy's January 20, 1961. It was on January 20, 1966 that Truman, at his namesake presidential library, announced the formation of the Harry S. Truman Center for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem.

Sources

• Harry S Truman Library & Museuam. “The 1949 Inauguration of President Harry S. Truman Historical Facts At-A-Glance.” Accessed January 17, 2011. http://www.trumanlibrary.org/quiz/inaug.htm.
• The Presidential Timeline Project of the Learning Technology Center (The University of Texas at Austin). "Harry S Truman." Accessed January 17, 2011. http://www.presidentialtimeline.org/html/timeline.php?id=33

County Creation

With 5 territorial counties in 1812, Missouri evolved into a state with 114 counties. The 114th county (Worth) was created February 1861.

On January 19, 1833 Pulaski county was organized from Crawford County. Pulaski County was named for Polish General Casmir Pulaski who fought in the American Revolution and is credited with saving the life of George Washington.

Pulaski County was 1 of 9 counties formed in January 1833 (see lists below for other 8). At that time, January 1833 was the largest monthly increase in the number of Missouri Counties and increased the number of counties by 27% from 33 to 42.

January 1833 would later be surpassed by January 1841 (15 counties on Jan 29) and February 1845 (19 counties on February 14) for the most counties created in one month.

January 2, 1833

• Carroll County; from Ray County; named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton
• Clinton County; from Clay County; named for New York Governor DeWitt Clinton
• Greene County; from Crawford and Wayne counties; named for Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Greene
• Lewis County; from Marion County; named for Captain Meriwether Lewis

January 5, 1833

• Morgan County; from Cooper County; named for Revolutionary War General Daniel Morgan
• Ripley County; from Wayne County; named for Revolutionary War soldier Eleazar W. Ripley
• Warren County; from Montgomery County; named for Revolutionary War General Joseph Warren

January 26, 1833

• Pettis County; from Cooper and Saline counties, named for Missouri Congressman Spencer Pettis

Source:

• Missouri Secretary of State. “Missouri History: What are the Origins of Missouri Counties?” Accessed January 18, 2011. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/counties.asp.

To Secede or Not Secede

In the early days of 1861 Missourians fell into three categories: Unconditional Unionists, Conditional Unionists, and Secessionists. As the names imply, the Unconditional Unionists were for remaining a part of the United States no matter what; the Conditional Unionists were in favor of remaining in the Union so long as the Federal Government made no further encroachments on state sovereignty; and the Secessionists felt immediate secession was necessary and justified to maintain state sovereignty. In early 1861 most Missourians were Conditional Unionists.

On January 18, 1861 the Missouri Legislature passed a bill that called for a State Convention to settle the secession question. Elections were held February 18 to elect delegates. With a hope of remaining neutral in impending struggle, Missouri elected a convention of delegates opposing secession. Former Governor Sterling Price would became the president of the convention.

Price was typical of many who opposed secession early in the war, but after certain events became secessionists. After presiding over the convention that voted against secession, Price would later become the commanding general of the Missouri State Guard, a Major General in the Confederate Army, and a popular choice in discussions across the south as successor to President Jefferson Davis.

Sources

• Harvey, Charles M. “Missouri from 1849 to 1861.” Missouri Historical Review, Volume II No. 1 (October 1907).
• Snead, Thomas L. The Fight for Missouri. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1886.
• McReynolds, Edwin C. Missouri: A History of the Crossroads State. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.

Debtor's Prison

Yesterday we blogged about the passage of a law that established the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. Today, we highlight the abolishment of imprisonment for unpaid debt. In his 1842 message to the general assembly, Governor Thomas Reynolds presented the dilemma of recent federal bankruptcy laws. Now a person with unpaid debt could declare bankruptcy to avoid the debt or face imprisonment under Missouri's debtor laws. Neither case would help resolve the unpaid debt.

In December 1842, the Missouri Senate passed a bill introduced by Benjamin P. Major calling for the abolishment of imprisonment for debt. The House bill introduced by Thomas B. Hudson passed with much debate and amendment. On January 17, 1843, a bill that passed both chambers was signed into law by Governor Reynolds.

Source

• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.

Missouri State Penitentiary

For those familiar with Jefferson City, the Missouri State Penitentiary near downtown, with its historic buildings and stone walls was an iconic landmark. The facility was featured in a History Channel series (ShowMeHistory.net contributor Mark Schreiber was interviewed and featured). The prison housed many notorious criminals and was the scene of major riots that, in the days before the internet and instant "news," captured the nation's attention.

In the 1830s, Jefferson City was still fending off challenges as the state capital. As the state was developing rival towns lobbied for this privilege. But on January 16, 1833 ¹ the general assembly passed a law providing for the acquisition of land and construction of a penitentiary house in Jefferson City; this seemed to settle the calm the activity of other towns trying to become the state capital - at least for a while.

The prison was completed March 1, 1836, consisted of one cellblock, the keeper's house, and utility buildings on was 4 acres and had a capacity of 40 inmates. The penitentiary received its first prisoner, Wilson Eidson of Greene County, on March 8, 1836. In November 1836, the warden reported to the general assembly that the penitentiary had 14 prisoners.

When the Jefferson City Correctional Center opened in September 2004, the nearly 2000 inmates were transferred from the State Penitentiary and the historic prison ceased its function of housing prisoners. Today the site of the Missouri State Penitentiary is being redeveloped and the construction of a new federal courthouse is nearing completion. The Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau conducts historic tours of the site, with Mark Schreiber as primary tour guide.

¹Early sources give the date January 16; later in the Official State Manuals of the 1960s the date is listed as January 18.

Sources

• Official Manual, State of Missouri 2005-2006. Jefferson City: Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State.
• Official Manual, State of Missouri 1963-1964. Jefferson City: Warren E. Hearnes, Secretary of State.
• Schreiber, Mark and Laura Burkhardt Moeller. Somewhere in Time: 170 Years of Missouri Corrections. Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, 2004.
• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.

Super Bowl I

In the 1960s, professional football had 2 leagues but no unified champion. That changed after the 1966 season when the first AFL-NFL championship game was played. The Kansas City Chiefs were a perennial AFL powerhouse in the 1960s and they faced the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers in what would become known as Super Bowl I.

Played in the Los Angeles Coliseum, the game kicked off at 1:00pm and was broadcast on CBS. While one-third of the Los Angeles Coliseum's 95,000 seats were empty, more than 65 million people watch the television broadcast. The television audience was the largest to watch a sporting event in the U.S. at that time.

Kansas City quarterback Len Dawson completed 11 of 15 pass attempts in the first half but the Chiefs trailed the Packers 14-10 at half-time. Kansas City would not score in the second half, and the final score was Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10.

Source

• MacCambridge, Michael. America's Game. New York: Random House, 2004.

Only Governor to Resign

Only Governor to Resign

Daniel Dunklin traveled an unlikely political path to the governor's office and with only 3 months left in his term, he resigned. Born January 14, 1790 in South Carolina. His family moved to Kentucky after his father's death. In 1810 the family emigrated to Ste. Genevieve and finally to farm near Potosi.

Dunklin served under General Henry Dodge during the War of 1812 and later appointed Washington County sheriff. In 1815, he married his childhood sweetheart from Kentucky. He and his wife, Emily Haley, operated a tavern at Potosi. It was at this tavern where Dunklin's political career began. In July 1822, a group of local political leaders were deadlocked in nominating a candidate for state representative. Eventually someone suggested Dunklin and the group nominated him.

Dunklin was elected and served his general assembly term; returning to Potosi and his tavern. In 1828 he was elected Missouri's third lieutenant governor - an office that had been vacant since Benjamin Harrison Reeve's July 1825 resignation. Dunklin served the 4-year term as lieutenant governor and was elected governor in 1832. In September 1836, Dunklin resigned three months before his term ended to accept federal appointment as Surveyor General of Illinois and Missouri.

Sources

• Missouri Secretary of State. “Governors.” Accessed January 10, 2011. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/historicallistings/governors.asp.
• Missouri Secretary of State. “Lieutenant Governors.” Accessed January 10, 2011. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/historicallistings/ltgov.asp.
• Missouri Secretary of State. “Missouri State Legislators.” Accessed January 10, 2011. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/historicallistings/molegd.asp.
• Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin. Missouri Day by Day, Volume 1. Columbia, MO: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942.

Father of the Bootheel

On January 8th, we posted the blog entry "Prayer for Statehood." This week we follow with a related blog about John Hardeman Walker, whom we will dub "Father of the Bootheel;" his contemporaries called him "Czar of the Valley." Popular petitions, or prayers, circulated in 1817-1818 (as quoted in our earlier post) called for Missouri's southern border to be a parallel line at 36 degrees 30 minutes.

Small Town Bank Robbery

One of the more notable gang-related events in Missouri was the June 1933 Kansas City Massacre. Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd and members of his gang were suspected gunmen along with Vernon Miller. While Floyd gang member Adam Richetti was later convicted of this crime and was the sixth person executed in Missouri's gas chamber, his and Floyd's participation in this crime is debatable. Their involvement in the January 12, 1993 Ash Grove bank robbery is more certain.

Great Seal of Missouri

Missouri had been admitted into the Union for nearly 5 months when on January 11, 1822 the General Assembly adopted the Great Seal of the State of Missouri.

The Missouri Secretary of State's website provides the following description of the seal:

New Industry arrives in Missouri

On January 10, 1910, a young man arrived in Kansas City and brought with him an entrepreneurial spirit that would forever change how we recognize birthdays, holidays, graduations, weddings, births, deaths -- just about any event. Imagine the world without greeting cards. Imagine Kansas City without a $4 billion company that employs 3700 people locally and another 3200 across the U.S.

Fire creates State Icon

Those familiar with the University of Missouri campus in Columbia associate certain events, building, and landmarks with the first public university west of the Mississippi River; Faurot Field; Reactor Field; Hearnes Center; anytime the Jayhawks leave town defeated; Jesse Hall. But arguably the most iconic symbol of the University of Missouri came into existence unintentionally.

Prayer for Statehood

The story of Missouri’s evolution from territory to statehood often references Missouri Territorial Delegate John Scott’s presentation of a petition to Congress in March 1818 which resulted in his chair of a seven-member committee to consider several petitions for statehood.

Two Secret Forts

The political atmosphere surrounding control of “New World” territories rivals, and likely surpasses, the complexity of any plot conceived by modern-day novelists and film-makers. The “Old World” powers Britain, France, and Spain created allegiances and pacts openly while simultaneously conspiring against their public “ally” with secret alliances.

Slavery abolished in Missouri

Military and political acts abolishing slavery in Missouri long preceded Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the subsequent 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The 1850s saw John Brown in Kansas, the Bloody Kansas-Missouri Border War, and invading Jayhawkers.

Bunny Lapin, Whipped Cream King

Aaron "Bunny" Lapin was born in St. Louis January 5, 1914. Lapin attended the University of Missouri in Columbia and Washington University Law School in St. Louis.

Welcome

Welcome to ShowMeHistory.net.   Everyone has their interests and passions.  One of my passions is Missouri History.  My interest in Missouri History grew from that of my own family history.  As a child, it was common for family stories to be shared during family gatherings and dinners; and in my family this included the weekly Sunday dinner (dinner in to many refers to the most significant meal of the day and, as in the case in my family the most significant meal on Sundays was the noon time, post-church meal).