This Week in Missouri History


These biographical and historical sketches are highlights of Missouri history. Many sketches are from Missouri, Day by Day, published by the State Historical Society of Missouri in 1942.


January 20, 1845 Inaugural meeting of the first statewide historical society
January 27, 1891 Formation of Missouri Division of United Daughters of the Confederacy
February 3, 1837St. Charles College Chartered
February 8, 1796 Birth date of Peyton R. Hayden
February 13, 1855St. Louis Girl's Industrial Home Incorporated
February 22, 1818Birth date of Joseph Washington McClurg in St. Louis County
March 1, 1897Soldiers' Homes Become State Property
March 7 and 8, 1862Battle of Pea Ridge
March 16, 1819Birth date of William Franklin Switzler
March 23, 1808Birth date of William Barclay Napton
March 26, 1804District of Louisiana Created
April 6, 1879Lincoln University Receives First Regular Appropriation
April 15, 1889Birth date of Thomas Hart Benton
April 18, 1880Tornado Devastates Marshfield
April 24, 1917Missouri Council of Defense Named
May 5, 1775Birth date of Alexander McNair
May 11, 1869Birth date of Lars Peter Jensen
May 15, 1776Birth date of John Sappington
May 26, 1849Benton's "Appeal to the People"
June 2, 1865Last meeting of the "Iron Brigade"
June 3, 1875Grasshopper Plague of 1875
June 10, 1872Birth date of Guy B. Park
June 24, 1798Birth date of Jedediah Strong Smith
June 30, 1870Race of the Natchez and the Lee
July 2, 1864Birth date of Walter Williams
July 12, 1808First Issue of Missouri Gazette Printed
July 19, 1820Missouri's First Constitution Signed
July 28, 1881Crittenden Offers Reward For Arrest and Conviction Of James Gang
August 3, 1976Congressman Jerry Litton Dies In Plane Crash
August 11, 1807Birth date of David Rice Atchison
August 18, 1774Birth date of Meriwether Lewis
August 21, 1863Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas
August 31, 1825Birth date of Odon Guitar
September 8, 1842Birth of Phoebe Wilson Couzins
September 14, 1818Sisters of the Sacred Heart found school for girls in St. Charles
September 20, 1861The Battle of Lexington
September 27, 1864Centralia Massacre and the Battle of Centralia
October 9, 1858First Overland Mail From California Reaches St. Louis
October 12, 1861First Civil War Iron-Clad Gunboat, the Baron DeKalb, Launched in St. Louis
October 18, 1862Palmyra Massacre
October 24, 1875Dedication of the Present Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in St. Louis
October 30, 1886Birth date of Zoe Akins
November 8, 1960Theodore D. McNeal, First Black Missouri Senator, Elected
November 15, 1869Birth date of Harry Bartow Hawes
November 23, 1871Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy Opened At Rolla
November 29, 1854Kansas Election For Territorial Delegate
December 8, 1881St. Charles Bridge Disaster of 1881
December 16, 1811First Shock of the New Madrid Earthquake Felt.
December 18, 1890Richard Henry Jesse Elected President of the University of Missouri.
December 24, 1861Gratiot Street Prison Receives First Confederate Prisoners of War.