Missouri’s St. Louis Roots

Today marks the 191st anniversary of the first meeting of the Missouri general assembly:

“September 18, 1820: The first session of the general assembly of the state of Missouri met in the Missouri Hotel in St. Louis to administer the affairs of a state still awaiting statehood. In March jubilant St. Louisans had received news that the Missouri State Bill had passed Congress, and, despite the fact that debate over the Missouri Compromise caused a delay of more than a year in its ratification.” (St. Louis Day by Day p178)

Missouri became the 24th state in the Union on Aug. 10, 1821 (source). Missouri’s origins were in St. Louis:

The present Capitol, completed in 1917 and occupied the following year, is the third Capitol in Jefferson City and the sixth in Missouri history. The first seat of state government was housed in the Mansion House, Third and Vine Streets, St. Louis; the second was in the Missouri Hotel, Maine and Morgan Streets, also in St. Louis. St. Charles was designated as temporary capital of the state in 1821 and remained the seat of government until 1826. (Wikipedia)

The Missouri Hotel was razed in 1873. The poll question this week: “Missouri legislators are “part-time” public servants, should we have full-time legislators to manage the state?” The poll is in the right sidebar, final results on Wednesday September 28, 2011.

– Steve Patterson

The Appeal of Water

There is something about water that is naturally appealing to people of all ages. Of course, we all need water to survive.

But water can bring life to urban areas.

The benefits of water far outweigh the costs.

Even the Mississippi River attracts people to watch the muddy water flow by. The water looks better at night, you can’t see how muddy it is.

– Steve Patterson

1907: “Colored” St. Louis School Principal Misquoted by the Press

In researching the Dumas Public School, razed long ago, I came across an interesting tidbit about the school’s principal, Arthur D. Langston. The following appeared in the New York Times on December 8, 1907:

URGES NEGROES TO BE POLITE
Colored School Principsal Advises His Race — Corrects Statement.

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 7. – Prof. Arthur D. Langston, Principal of the Dumas Public School of St. Louis, in addressing the Missouri Negro Republican League delegates here a few days ago, was erroneously reported as having said that  “no negro should occupy a seat while a white woman stands, and dirty negros should not be allowed on the street cars at all.”

In his address Prof. Langston said: “Colored people and whites associate more intimately in the street cars than in other places; therefore, it becomes a matter of great importance that we conduct ourselves properly in “every way on street cars.  Let the negro make the white man ashamed by never occupying a seat while a lady is standing.”

Wow, huge difference between the two! Mr. Langston (1855-1908) died the following April at the age of 52, he is buried in Nashville TN.

– Steve Patterson

The Great Fire Engine Rally Has 19th Century Roots

This past weekend was the annual Great Fire Engine Rally with participation from fire departments throughout the St. Louis region. The rally is part of firefighters weekend.

You might think such an event was held  this past weekend of to coincide with 9/11. You can think that, but you’d be way off – this year was the 28th.  But the history of celebrating firefighting in mid-September is much much older.

From the book St. Louis Day-By-Day:

September 15, 1858

The Steam Engine Fire Department celebrated it’s first anniversary with a procession of its seven steam fire engines through downtown St. Louis. For several years the volunteer fire system had been increasingly troublesome as fights erupted between companies for first place at the city’s conflagrations, and in 1857 a board of fire engineers was appointed to organize a new system using steam boilers in place of the old hand-pumped machines.

It was less than a decade earlier when fire destroyed boats on the wharf which spread to nearby buildings:

The St. Louis Fire of 1849 was a devastating fire that occurred on May 17, 1849 and destroyed a significant part of St. Louis, Missouri and many of the steamboats using the Mississippi River and Missouri River. This was the first fire in United States history in which it is known that a firefighter was killed in the line of duty. Captain Thomas B. Targee was killed while trying to blast a fire break. (Wikipedia)

To these early residents fighting fire was serious business.  In 1850 the population was  just 77,860 but by 1860 it had grown to 160,773 (Wikipedia), all living in very close proximity where a single fire could destroy many properties.

Hats off to the men and women who serve as firefighters and EMS!

– Steve Patterson

Urban Review STL’s New Look

Usually on Wednesdays I share the results of the readers’ poll from the prior week, but I had no poll last week as I was changing the look of the blog. The prior theme, the 3rd I’d used since starting the blog on Halloween 2004, had been in use since January 2006.

So much has changed since January 2006, integrating social networking sites like Facebook & Twitter are now a must.  I did my best with the old theme but it was written many years ago and could no longer be patched.  It was time for change.

I know basics of WordPress but for the job of updating the blog I hired Justin Chick to do the heavy lifting. We aren’t finished but at this point we are just tweaking the settings.

I started over on links, weeding out old links and adding new ones.  Hopefully they are better organized too.   Those listed under “research” are very helpful sites. I’ll be adding more links, especially in organizations and places.

This week ads returned – a horizontal banner (728×90) at the top and a rectangle (300×250) in the sidebar. As before, non-profits should email me about free ad space to promote your organization. For businesses, the rates are very reasonable ($10 CPM).   $150 buys 15,000 ads which is 41 ads per day, every day, for a year. Not getting rich, just trying to cover my costs.

Your support is appreciated, thanks for reading!

– Steve Patterson