Eugene Field

September 2, 1850

“The Children’s Poet,” Eugene Field was born on this day in St. Louis.  His boyhood home is now a the Eugene Field and Toy Museum at 634 South Broadway in St. Louis. 


Joyce C. Hall Hallmark

August 29, 1891

Birthday of Joyce C. Hall from Kansas City who founded Hallmark Cards, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Hall of Fame, etc. Read more about him in Tales From Missouri and the Heartland.


August 15, 1791

Duff Green was born on this date. Green founded the towns of Chariton and Bluffton, and established the first stage line west of the Mississippi. He was a  teacher, lawyer, and the owner and editor of the St. Louis Enquirer, Missouri’s second newspaper.    


July 29, 1892

Legendary actor William Powell was born in Pennsylvania, though his family moved to Kansas City in 1907.


July 18, 1867

Birthday of Margaret Brown in Hannibal, MO. She led an extremely interesting life, which included being a passenger on the Titanic, and was made famous in the Broadway show and movie called The Unsinkable Molly Brown, named in part for stories about her unbreakable spirit during the ship's sinking. She was portrayed by Kathy Bates in James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic.


June 23, 1902

This is the birthday of "The Coach," Don Faurot, the namesake of Mizzou's Faurot field.


Josephine Baker

June 3, 1906

Josephine Baker was born on this day in St. Louis. In her time, she was a world famous dancer and jazz and pop singer. She was also a civil rights leader who defected to France, where she became a citizen in 1937.


May 3, 1930

Laura Ingalls became the first licensed woman pilot in St. Louis.


April 27, 1822

Birthday of President, General, and adoptive Missourian Hiram Ulysses Grant (aka Ulysses S. Grant).


April 16, 1857

Birthday of Henry Smith Pritchett, astronomer, who was born at Fayette, MO and attended Pritchett College in Glasgow, MO. After additional training at the U.S. Naval Observatory he went to work at Washington University in St. Louis. He was named Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Geodetic Survey and was president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Peace.