French settlers colonized southeast Missouri over 200 years ago. And with them came the French language and culture.
About 150 years ago in the vineyards of southern France, winemakers start to notice their vineyards aren’t looking healthy. They rack their brains but can’t figure out what is devouring the crops. Samples are taken, scientific investigations mounted and letters for help are sent out across the globe.
In 1969, graduate student Barbara Papish hands out an underground newspaper on the University of Missouri Columbia campus. The Free Press Underground issue features a cartoon on the cover depicting police officers raping the Statue of Liberty and Lady Justice. The words “With Liberty and Justice For All” encircle the image.
Helen Stephens starts high school in Fulton in 1931. She’s a gangly, gravelly-voiced farm girl dressed in homemade clothes. Her classmates tease her with the unfortunate moniker “Popeye.” Helen takes it in stride with humor, attempting to own her identity - a feat for any teenager.
When the St. Louis Arch was being built in 1964, no Black workers had been hired for the construction crew.
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s journey to becoming a worldwide author is interlaced with pure hardship.
Today, on a map, Lake of the Ozarks looks like a sprouting, twisting tree root that covers 86 square miles. The over 1000 miles of shoreline are dotted with resorts and cabins.
In the steamboat’s glory days right before the Civil War, there would be on average, 60 boats traveling through different ports along the Missouri River each day. Cargo of agricultural products, furs and settlers would move up and down the river. From St. Louis to Montana.
In the 1940s and ‘50s, designated police officers and university administrators were on the lookout for gay students and faculty.
Walt Disney famously spent a good chunk of his youth growing up in Missouri. Just ask the residents of Marceline, Walt’s boyhood town.
How many tricks can your dog do? Sit? Stay? Rollover?
Did you know Missouri and Iowa almost went to war in the 1800s? Each claimed ownership over a strip of land along the border and believed it had the right to tax the people living there.
How do you pronounce Missouri? And why do you say it that way?
What would the state look like today if the capital wasn't Jefferson City? But Sedalia?
If you grew up in 1970s Poplar Bluff, you likely heard of the story of Doc Annie. Legend has it, Doc Annie was a witch-like woman who operated a haunted hospital in the woods. She kept fetuses in jars of formaldehyde there. She also would throw babies into an old well called “the pit.”
If you grew up in 1970s Poplar Bluff, you likely heard of the story of Doc Annie. Legend has it, Doc Annie was a witch-like woman who operated a haunted hospital in the woods. She kept fetuses in jars of formaldehyde there. She also would throw babies into an old well called “the pit.” High school students and young people would drive into the Ozark Foothills looking for Annie’s spooky hospital and tell ghost stories about her.