Missouri History

The Henry Blosser House and Barn near Malta Bend had been abandoned and neglected for years when new owners Dr. Art and Carolyn Elman stepped in to preserve these architectural treasures. The project, led by acclaimed interior designer Kelee Katillac, took years of painstaking effort by a team of preservation experts. The result is a masterpiece where conscientious conservation and spectacular design intersect.

This date in Missouri history. A tragic day for Missouri’s wineries and breweries: Alcoholic drinks were prohibited across the nation. Then came stills in the hills.

The Missouri Reform School was founded at Boonville. (Its existence would be used as a common childhood threat for generations to come.)

On this date in Missouri history: The University of Missouri played its very first basketball game defeating Central Methodist. The overall record that year was 10-6 including two wins over Kansas. 

Since Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not cover Missouri, the state’s Constitutional Convention voted on this day to abolish slavery in Missouri. Missouri was the first former slave state to do so.

This date in Missouri history: Employees taking down the World’s Fair in 1905 discovered the fine qualities of the snow-covered hill in front of what is now the St. Louis Art Museum. It proved to be a great place for toboggans. Today’s sledders look for every opportunity to use Art Hill for the same purpose.

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.

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.

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.”

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.