Missouri History

Powerful thunderstorms moved through our area on the night of May 22, 1962. As threatening weather passed, my father went outside, came back in later, and said, “I heard something, and I don’t think it was thunder.”

At around 9:20 PM, the peace in the Missouri/Iowa border town of Unionville, Missouri was shattered by a loud, explosive boom. It wasn’t thunder.

Judging for the National History Day contest in Missouri is underway statewide as just under 500 students in grades 6 to 12 compete in this year’s virtual contest, which is themed Debate and Diplomacy in History.

Exploring Missouri’s German Heritage, a documentary produced by Missouri Life Media, premieres on April 28 at Stone Hill Winery.

On this day in Missouri history, the Admiral riverboat opens again on the Mississippi River. The popular attraction along the St. Louis riverfront arrived in 1940 and stopped cruising in the late 1970s when it was grounded by the Coast Guard for structural weakness.

James Polk’s presidency ended on March 3. Zachary Taylor had been elected to succeed Polk. March 3 was on a Sunday and Taylor’s religious convictions would not allow him to swear the oath of office. Therefore, with Polk’s term ended and Taylor refusing to be sworn in, David Rice Atchison became president. (Or so it seemed.)

Union Station Kansas City has expanded the hours of its Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. exhibit for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays beginning February and running through March 19, 2022. Union Station officials announced the expanded hours as a response to public demand. he exhibition features artifacts and materials—never before seen in North America—on loan from more than twenty institutions and private collections around the world.

Two groups with distinct cultures emerged from our region’s first residents to dominate this land. Worshipful and warlike on an untouched landscape, the Osage and the Missouria did more than live here. For centuries, they ruled.

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that separate-but-equal facilities like schools were unconstitutional. This led to the closure of the school perched on the hillside in Dalton. After the 1956 school year, active Dalton students attended now-integrated schools in their hometowns.
Now seemed like a great time to gather memories of Dalton Vocational School from the shrinking pool of aging alumni. This podcast tells the story of Dalton Vocational School—Missouri's "Little Tuskegee"—in the former students' own words.