Forward, Into The Past
There stands a neoclassical bronze statue of Thomas Hart Benton, complete with toga and sandals, in Lafayette Park. I recently put the compass of my iPhone in a line from the Benton statue’s nose. West 270 degrees bang on. There’s a reason for this.
There’s an old expression that history is written by the victors. But what if there’s no particular struggle to inspire the writer? We’re lucky when famous people from interesting times write down their thoughts and experiences; luckier still when the writer was literate and conscious of the times. Herodotus was one, and Boswell, and of course, Churchill. We are then left a time capsule to open and interpret. St Louis had such good luck in 1880, when Mayor John Fletcher Darby wrote his memoirs.
Continue reading “1836: Mayor Darby Gets A Park”
Aviation history leads through Leonardo Da Vinci, to the Montgolfier and Wright Brothers. But for real celebrity, in flew Charles A. Lindbergh!
Casting a look back a hundred years in St Louis history, it requires little effort to find a subject with deep roots in Lafayette Square, whose tale is well worth retelling. Here’s the story of the 32nd mayor of St Louis, Henry W. Kiel.
Continue reading “1917: The Life and Times of Mayor Henry Kiel”
From May 18 through May 24, 1896, the most famous show of its type, the original and biggest spectacle of its age, stopped in St Louis, setting up at the corner of Compton and Manchester. The show was so large that it required 15 acres of empty ground to stage.
Continue reading “1896: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show Comes To St Louis”
