MO History
Gerald Brooks: Lincoln Band Director
Gerald Brooks was born on January 6, 1913 in Quincy, Illinois. After his mother passed away at a young age, he moved to Hannibal, Missouri and attended Douglas High School. While at Douglas, he was greatly influenced by his own band teacher, Martin A. Lewis. Gerald Brooks graduated from Lincoln University in Jefferson City in…
Read More70th Anniversary of the Great Cobra Scare
2023 is already shaping up to be a big year for Springfield! This year also happens to be the 70th anniversary of the Great Cobra Scare of 1953. If you haven’t heard the details yet, be prepared to learn your new favorite story from Springfield’s history. In August of 1953, Rio Mowrer owned a…
Read MoreBonnie and Clyde in Springfield: Kidnapping, Robbery, and Tangible History
The Depression Era of the early nineteen-thirties is home to many enduring American stories. One of the most famous is that of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the infamous criminal couple who robbed, kidnapped, and murdered their way across the central United States for several consecutive years before their eventual death at the hands of…
Read MoreBob Barker: Springfield Citizen, Television Legend
Bob Barker was born in Darrington, Washington on December 12th, 1923. He spent most of his childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota, where he was listed as an enrolled member of the Sioux tribe. His family moved to Springfield, where Barker graduated Central High School and attended Drury University on a…
Read MoreSpringfield, Missouri: The Birthplace of Route 66
If you’ve spent even a few hours in Springfield, you’re bound to see a sign declaring it “The Birthplace of Route 66”. This may sound like a bold claim, considering that the route begins and ends in Chicago and Los Angeles. While our city is not the start of the physical highway, it is where…
Read MoreOn the Diamond: African American Baseball in Springfield
Baseball in Springfield was segregated either by law or by custom until the 1950s. Information about the early African American teams is largely unavailable. The Hyde Park All Stars, sometimes known as the “Stars” took on all comers. They were an African American, semi-professional, barnstorming baseball team. They traveled to other cities and played teams…
Read MoreNotable Women in Agriculture
Around 12,000 years ago our hunter-gatherer ancestors began farming, providing themselves with a larger and more easily accessible food source. The first tenders to these crops would have been men and women, working together to ensure the availability of their food. Since then, we have learned about famous and influential male farmers such as George…
Read MoreRabbi Karl Richter
Rabbi Karl Richter was born and grew up in Stuttgart, Germany. He received his higher education at the University and Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau. He was ordained in 1935 and served two major congregations in Germany until the destruction of his temple in Mannheim during the infamous “Kristallnacht” in November, 1938. As the Nazis…
Read MoreThe Sarah Gorham Graham Case
Springfield, Missouri has a history of sensational true crime cases, but one of the oldest is the tale of Sarah Gorham Graham. Sarah was born in December of 1851, and little is known about her until her marriage to George Graham in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1871. George spent most of the first years of…
Read More“The Unsinkable” Molly Brown
Born in 1867 and raised in Hannibal, Missouri, Margaret “Molly” Brown would go on to live a life of wealth, adventure, and activism. The daughter of Irish immigrants, Molly Tobin went to school until she was 13 when she dropped out to work in a tobacco factory and help support her family. Once adults, she…
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