January 4, 1917
Theaters in Columbia were showing “motion pictures” and a campaign against showing these silent dramas was being carried on by the women’s organizations of Columbia and of the University. A vigilance committee to discourage the showing of the plays had been appointed and the fraternity men were organizing to oppose them.
Missourians Survive Y2K Scare
On January 1, 2000, Missourians survived the Y2K (Year 2000) scare. Millions of anxious people around the state waited to see if electronics would shut down at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000.
January 3, 1903
A merchant in Ozark County reported that the drought had destroyed the grain and vegetable crops and some families were “subsisting almost entirely upon acorns.”
January 2, 1932
In Brookline near Springfield, the Young Gang shot six police officers dead. Six gang members were involved as well as two other gunmen. One of those was believed to be “Pretty Boy Floyd.” When finally cornered, the gang shot themselves rather than surrender.
January 1, 1939
Landlords in Butler, Pemiscot, New Madrid, and Dunklin counties evicted hundreds of sharecroppers (black and white) who then moved their possessions onto the roadways of Highways 60 and 61.
December 30, 1949
The May Company announced the construction of the Southtown Famous-Barr, a massive, three-story department store being built at the corner of Chippewa Street and Kingshighway Boulevard in south St. Louis.
December 31, 1928
Marlin Perkins, host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and director of the St. Louis Zoo, was bitten by a Gaboon viper and became one of only a few people to ever survive such a bite.
December 28, 1848
The steamboat Amaranth arrived in St. Louis carrying cholera. The city was bulging with people waiting for Spring so they could head west in the 1849 Gold Rush. The cholera spread quickly and one out of every ten people in the city died.
December 27, 1926
Charles Lindbergh was turned down by his boss, William B. Robertson, for help in financing his solo Trans-Atlantic flight. He already had $1,000 from Albert Bond Lambert. The Post-Dispatch also turned Lindy down, but business leaders Harry Hall Knight and Harold Bixby would say yes.
December 26, 1878
A carrier of the US Mail said that he was near Rocheport on this day when two men with drawn pistols stopped him and forced him to drink a bottle of whiskey before he moved on. (What do you think?)