Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about miscellaneous history.
On Saturday, March 12, 1904, St. Louis Detective James J. Moran led a team of detectives to a room in a row house at 634 South Broadway on St. Louis’ Near South Side. Frank Ward, a suspected safe cracker, rented a room in the row house. Besides Ward, the detectives arrested Edward Seely and John Shumway. Moran and the detectives
On a cold January night in 1904, when the city of St. Louis was preparing for the World’s Fair which would make it famous, overzealous co-workers killed seven boys and a man. It was 5:45 p.m. on January 13th at the old Brown Shoe Company factory at the corner of Washington Avenue and North Eleventh Street. Time for the men to
The fate of much of St. Louis’ historic buildings prove the old real estate adage. It’s all about location, location, location. If the building is in the South St. Louis, it has a better chance of being saved than a building on the North Side. The same could be said for buildings located in the center of the city except
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
General William Tecumseh Sherman of Civil War fame had deep roots in St. Louis stretching back to 1843. As a soldier, the US Army assigned Sherman to Jefferson Barracks. Sherman was also involved in St. Louis businesses as the St. Louis Street Railroad Company President until he left St. Louis for the Civil War in 1861. After the war,
I previously wrote about an incident in which a Detective Sergeant for the St. Louis Police was shot during a robbery attempt. Unlike a number of other incidents in Gilded Age St. Louis history, Detective Sergeant James Martin King’s home in January 1920 still exists. The home is still in excellent condition. 4973 Lotus Avenue was the home of Sgt. King in
I first heard about Chang Apana in a featurette on one of the Charlie Chan DVD sets. I knew a real life detective inspired Earl Derr Biggers to create Charlie Chan. I did not know who the man was. Chang Apana was that man. Chang Apana (born Ah Ping Chang) on December 26, 1871 on the island of Oahu was
This is a story about 1942-44 Hebert Street, which is in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood of St. Louis, MO. Like its neighbors, this structure has seen better days. I became interested in the building because my great grandmother lived at this address in 1930. My maternal grandfather’s family lived in the northern part of St. Louis during his