Missouri History Today

The Post-Dispatch reported that General Motors was planning to build a new plastic car in St. Louis. Sure enough, every Corvette in America was built there from 1953 to 1981.

Eleven automobiles were running a 25-mile endurance race to Manchester Mills when a boy ran out and poked a stick through the spokes of one of the wheels. The boy was injured and his father said, "It's a purty thing for city folks to come out to the country and run down innocent children." Yes, that kind of parent was around way back then too.

O’Fallon was incorporated as a city. At the time, there were 107 householders. It now has tens of thousands of residents and the 2010 census showed it to be Missouri’s fastest growing city.  

Antoine Robidoux was born into the prosperous St. Louis family of that name. His brother was the founder of St. Joseph but Antoine went further west and trapped, explored, and led pioneers into the new territories.

Jayhawks crossed the border and sacked Osceola on this day. The town of 3,000 people was plundered and burned to the ground, and nine local citizens were executed.

James Shields and Abraham Lincoln came to Missouri for a duel. Shields, an Illinois attorney and State Auditor accused Lincoln of writing a newspaper article critical of him. For weapons they chose cavalry sabers but Lincoln convinced Shields that he did not write the article so the duel was called off. Shields probably also noticed that Lincoln’s long arms gave him a much longer reach.

Ewing Marion Kauffman was born in Garden City. He went on to found Marion Laboratories, the Kauffman Foundation, and the Kansas City Royals. He is also the namesake for Kauffman Stadium.

William Clark wrote of the "great velocity" of their trip as they grew ever more eager to get home. They made 65 miles this day and found themselves near present day Washington and Marthasville. One of the men shouted when he saw a cow and they knew they were back on the edge of settled country.

The Beatles spent some secret vacation time in the Ozark Mountains near Alton. They arrived in a seven-seater airplane and spent thirty-six hours relaxing, swimming, hiking, horse riding, go-karting, shooting, and fishing.

Harry Truman was making remarks to a crowd in Trenton, Missouri, from the rear platform of his train as a part of his whistle-stop campaign tour.