Elijah Parish Lovejoy, Part I

One of my favorite television programs is American Experience on PBS. Known for their well-produced and in-depth historical documentaries, American Experience has been simply killing it lately. “Death and the Civil War“ aired back in November, a film based on the fantastic book This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust. Recently, they aired another…

Gin and Drugs, My Dear, Gin and Drugs

In his masterpiece The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot begins with the famous line “April is the Cruellest Month”. What follows is generally regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th Century. When T.S. Eliot published his influential work, it was 1922 and he had been living in London for several years. He was…

The St. Louis Schools of William B. Ittner

In 1897, a man named William B. Ittner became the Commissioner of School Buildings for the Board of Education in St. Louis.  It was a new position, created to oversee an ambitious plan to design and build scores of new public schools in St. Louis city. Before this, school buildings in St. Louis were vastly unappealing structures….

Tower Grove Park & A Fantastic Manhattan

Most St. Louisans will agree that Forest Park is the flagship park of their city. Bigger than Central Park in New York City, Forest Park has museums, golf courses, restaurants, lakes, fountains, trails, and countless other amenities. It’s a magnificent park.  The site of the 1904 World’s Fair, I’d go as far as saying it’s…

The Campbell House & Virginia’s Punch

It’s not difficult to find historic houses in America. Travel around this country and it seems every town claims to have at least one or two homes that have stood the test of time.  Few, however, can match the history, authentic restoration, and original content that can be found in the house that sits at…

The Social Evil Hospital

Note: This was originally a Facebook history fact that I posted in April 2012. I wasn’t writing this blog at the time, so I went back to get some more information and images to expand on the original post. I also found a good place to get a drink. On July 5, 1870, the city…

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Note: This is one of the original “Facebook posts” from April, 2012. This was one of the early “history finds” that were posted on Facebook and eventually led to this creation of this blog. I have plans to expand on all of the original “Facebook” history finds in the near future. I’ll add more pictures, history,…

Blondie, Dagwood, & Chic

Note: This is one of the original “Facebook posts” from April 2012. This was one of my early “history finds” that were posted on Facebook. These early posts eventually led to the creation of this blog. I plan to add more information, more pictures, and a drink story in the near future.  This is 2148 Oregon…

The Magic Chef Mansion

Note: This is one of the original “Facebook posts” from April 2012. This was one of my early “history finds” that were posted on Facebook. These early posts eventually led to the creation of this blog. I plan to add more information, more pictures, and a drink story in the near future. This is 3400 Russell…

The First Public Kindergarten

Note: This is one of the original “Facebook posts” from June 2012. This was one of the early “history finds” that were posted on Facebook. These posts eventually led to this creation of this blog. It’s from a day trip I took with my friend Stephanie around to find some of the historical places in St. Louis….