St. Louis

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  

  The Ill-Fated Idea to Move the Nation’s Capital to St. Louis

  In the aftermath of the Civil War, a surprising number of Americans thought moving the capital (and the Capitol building itself) to St. Louis was a good idea, say historians Adam Arenson and Walter Johnson. 

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• SOURCE: American Scholar
  3/13/2021
  

  The Baddest Man in Town

  by Eric McHenry

  Writer Eric McHenry recounts picking up the documentary trail (started in the 1970s by John Russell David) of the notorious "Stagger Lee" Shelton, whose reign of terror in early 20th century St. Louis became immortalized in song and legend.

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• SOURCE: NPR
  3/9/2021
  

  St. Louis' Sumner High Facing Possible Closure; Tina Turner, Others Attended

  Despite its importance to the history of education and its famous alumni (including Dick Gregory, Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, and several of the Tuskegee Airmen), the school may fall victim to declining enrollment and cost considerations. Alums are working to keep the building in use for other purposes.

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• SOURCE: Public Books
  2/16/2021
  

  The Arch of Injustice

  Historian Steven Hahn reviews Walter Johnson's "The Broken Heart of America," finding that Johnson makes a compelling case that St. Louis is the archetypal American city but is less effective at showing concepts like white supremacy and racial capitalism as dynamic historical processes. 

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• SOURCE: St. Louis American
  6/27/2020
  

  Catholics, Alt Right Clash With Protesters over Louis IX Statue

  One group demanded that its anchoring sculpture, a statue of King Louis IX, come down as a token of reconciliation against the generations of hate they feel the statue represents. A collective of other groups, including individuals who said they belonged to The Catholic Church and white supremacists, stood in defense of the statue of the city’s namesake.

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• SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  4/17/2020
  

  Harvard Professor Links St. Louis to History of American Racism

  A review of Walter Johnson's new book "The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States."

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• SOURCE: St. Louis Today
  5/8/19
  

  The St. Louis roots of 'Make America Great Again'

  by Steven P. Miller and Warren Rosenblum

  In pronouncing this version of Americanism, the Legion drew upon the worst of the nation’s wartime tendencies: rising xenophobia.

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• SOURCE: New Historian
  1-15-15
  

  North America’s First Big City

  Although little is known about the Native Americans who lived in the East St. Louis area, a team of archaeologists who worked on a dig to clear land for the Stan Musical Veterans Memorial Bridge are ready to share their latest discoveries.

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• 2-24-14
  

  Story about SS St. Louis Flounders at Sea

  by Bruce Chadwick

  "Sotto Voce" is a turgid, rambling, and ultimately dull look at an historic tragedy.

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• SOURCE: Special to HNN
  5-3-13
  

  Murray Polner: Review of Edward Achorn's "The Summer of Beer and Whiskey" (PublicAffairs, 2013)

  Murray Polner wrote “Branch Rickey: A Biography.”

• SOURCE: St. Louis CBS
  3-25-13
  

  Revolutionary War battlefield lies beneath future ballpark village site

  ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – Even life-long St. Louis residents may not realize that a big battle was once fought on what is now the site of Ballpark Village, which is in the early stages of development just north of Busch Stadium.Interestingly, this wasn’t a conflict during the U.S. Civil War, but the Revolutionary War.The “Battle of St. Louis” — also known as the “Battle of Fort San Carlos” — took place in May 1780, and downtown looked much different 233 years ago.“The early French city of St. Louis had a wall that enclosed it on three sides, and the fourth side was the Mississippi River,” notes Michael Fuller, history professor at St. Louis Community College-Meramec and one of the foremost experts on the battle....