Backward and in High Heels: Remembering Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was born as Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence in 1911, and she spent her early years in Independence and Kansas City. Ginger is best remembered for movies made with dancing partner Fred Astaire. She is famously credited for doing everything Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels.
December 18, 1963
Brad Pitt was born in Oklahoma. However, soon after his birth, his family moved to Springfield. He attended Kickapoo High School and went on to study journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
December 5, 1901
Innovator of animated cartoons, theme parks, and more, Walt Disney from Marceline and Kansas City was born on this day.
November 30, 1835
Samuel Clemens—who later changed his name to Mark Twain—was born in Florida, Missouri. Haley’s Comet was seen across the night sky at that time, and Twain later told people that he rode in on Haley’s Comet and he would someday ride out.
Meet the Kirksville Man Who Survived Two Heart Transplants
Patrick Weston has overcome long odds to survive, live, and thrive throughout his life. This is his story.
November 20, 1889
Astronomer Edwin Hubble was born today in Marshfield. Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding as well as ways to measure its speed. He discovered that almost every “star” that had been observed was actually a galaxy containing millions of stars.
November 16, 1826
Today is the birthday of statesman John Brooks Henderson from Lincoln County, MO. He was appointed a Senator and, after Lincoln's death, Henderson co-wrote the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution which prohibited slavery in the U.S.
November 2, 1754
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.
November 1, 1819
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.