Missouri History Today

At the St. Louis Union Station, Harry Truman displayed the famous newspaper headline, "Dewey Defeats Truman."

This is believed by some to be the birthday of a true legend, Daniel Boone. Boone and the people he brought may have done as much as any other people to give Missouri its unique and distinct character.

Colonel Thomas Fiveash Riddick was an influential banker who helped create the St. Louis public schools, was a founder of the Thespian Society and was a delegate to the original Missouri Constitutional Congress. On this date he founded the first Episcopal Church west of the Mississippi.

The University of Missouri football team played the Kansas Jayhawks for the first time beginning one of the oldest football rivalry in the nation. It ended in 2012 when Missouri joined the SEC and Kansas refused to play against Missouri.

The entire University of Missouri football team resigned. They were upset because the university was requiring that players be full-time students with good grades. 

Henry Armstrong—the only man to ever hold three championship titles at the same time—won his first title (Featherweight) on this date.  He was a lifelong St. Louis resident.

The tallest national monument in America, St. Louis’s Gateway Arch was completed on this date. 

On this day, Robert McClure Snyder, one of the wealthiest men in Kansas City and the builder of Ha Ha Tonka in Camden County was out for a drive. He was one of the first people in Kansas City to have an automobile. His driver swerved to miss a child and Snyder became one of the first to be killed in an auto accident.

A huge crowd turned out to dedicate the new Route 66 bridge over the Meramec at Fenton. The bottle of pre-prohibition champagne set aside for the Christening turned up missing before the ceremony.

TWA established the first coast-to-coast all-air passenger service on this date. The planes flew from New York to Kansas City for an overnight stop and then on to Los Angeles. Total trip time was 36 hours.