Posts about miscellaneous history.
This post is an exerpt from the second edition of St. Louis’ Civil War: The Streetcar Strike of 1900 (Second Edition). Saint Louis Police arrested transit security officer Ora Havill for the third time in a week on Sunday, June 3, 1900. Havill shot multiple men in two previous incidents. Havill claimed self-defense on both occasions. Havill fired six to […]
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Jim Londos developed into professional wrestling’s biggest box office star during the 1930s. Londos wrestled main events against Ed “Strangler” Lewis and Jim Browning at baseball stadiums. These matches drew crowds of more than 30,000 fans for the first time since the second Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt in 1911. When Londos wrestled in Greece, Londos drew crowds estimated to be at […]
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After Theodore Roosevelt won reelection in his own right during November 1904, TR impetuously announced he would not run for another term. His inner circle, particularly his wife Edith, would think the decision a mistake. However, once Theodore Roosevelt made a pronouncement, he intended to keep his word. Roosevelt picked his Secretary of War and former Governor of the Phillipines […]
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Johnny Reagan was an important fighter in the St. Louis boxing scene during the first decade of the 20th Century. Originally from Brooklyn, Reagan moved to St. Louis to train under Jack McKenna. McKenna based his operation out of St. Louis, where his fighter primarily fought at St. Louis’ West End Club. Reagan was a rising bantamweight at the time […]
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I’ve been on an Alan Ladd kick lately. When I was still in college, I watched a number of Alan Ladd films one summer. I’ve been watching them over again the last few weeks on Amazon Prime. I’ll share some of these films over the next few months. The first film I watched was Thunder in the East (1951) starring […]
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On August 17, 1891, St. Louis Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick celebrated his 85th birthday and fifty years as head of the St. Louis Catholic Church. In 1841, Kenrick was appointed as Coadjutor Bishop of St. Louis. When St. Louis Bishop Joseph Rosati died in Rome during 1843, Bishop Kenrick was appointed Bishop of the St. Louis Diocese. In 1847, the […]
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On September 15, 1919, St. Louis citizens woke up to read about the death of one of their oldest citizens, Alexander Baptiste. Just a few months before his 101st or 102nd birthday depending on which source you believed, Alexander Baptiste passed away from intestinal disease. For years, Alexander was known as one of the fittest St. Louisans. An early advocate […]
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On November 1908, three bishops and an abbot dedicated St. Francis de Sales Church, “the Cathedral of South St. Louis”. Built to serve the growing German Catholic population in St. Louis, the huge church would become the home to many families including my great grandparents, Eduard and Magdalena Mosblech, and their 14 children. The St. Louis Archdiocese dedicated the church […]
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In early March 1873, bare knuckle prizefighter Ned “The Irish Giant” O’Baldwin was preparing for a potential match with Jem Mace, who claimed the World Bare Knuckle Prizefighting Championship. However, before O’Baldwin could face Mace, he served as a second for a friend and fellow prizefighter named Hicken. Professional fighting in the 19th Century enjoyed a poor reputation outside of […]
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When it comes to machine politics and organized crime, Kansas City has always outshone St. Louis. Kansas City’s Pendergast political machine helped land Harry S. Truman in the White House. Kansas City was also home to several high-profile gangland shootings. St. Louis’ last organized crime leader was arrested for playing cards. We did have a Democratic party political machine around […]
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