the State Historical Society of Missouri
![Bernard Pratte. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N46666]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Bernard-Pratte.jpg?h=e60c9bd5&itok=y0XzssIr "Bernard Pratte. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N46666]")
Bernard Pratte’s father, Jean Baptiste, settled first on the east bank of the Mississippi.…
![Red’s Giant Hamburg sometime after it closed in December 1984. [State Historical Society of Missouri, David Eslick Photograph Collection, SP0088, 1976-2001]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-03/1.-reds-giant-hamburg.jpg?h=cb1fa88b&itok=MzxABlva "Red’s Giant Hamburg sometime after it closed in December 1984. [State Historical Society of Missouri, David Eslick Photograph Collection, SP0088, 1976-2001]")
The original Red’s Giant Hamburg on Route 66 in Springfield, Missouri, was a legendary roadside spot for…
![Joseph Robidoux. [State Historical Society of Missouri Image Collections]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-09/1-Joseph_Robidoux.jpg?h=8367ab58&itok=FkZ-VAhs "Joseph Robidoux. [State Historical Society of Missouri Image Collections]")
Joseph Robidoux III, the eldest son of a large family, was born in St. Louis on August 10,…
![John S. Sappington. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Thomas Easterly Daguerrotypes Collection, Photographs and Prints Collection, N17356]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-06/1.%20John%20Sappington.jpg?h=ef00ba2b&itok=ARTN3m13 "John S. Sappington. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Thomas Easterly Daguerrotypes Collection, Photographs and Prints Collection, N17356]")
The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, popularly known as the Frisco, was a regional freight and passenger carrier…
![A view of the upper Missouri River by Karl Bodmer, circa 1830s. Print by Charles Vogel. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Art Collection, 1958.0047]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-04/1.%20William%20Sublette.jpg?h=618cae78&itok=l2w5KTpm "A view of the upper Missouri River by Karl Bodmer, circa 1830s. Print by Charles Vogel. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Art Collection, 1958.0047]")
William Lewis Sublette was born at Stanford, Kentucky, on September 21, 1799. The family…
![Ted Drewes Frozen Custard on Chippewa Street, which was once part of Route 66 in St. Louis. [Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo by Philip Leara]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2025-02/1.-ted-drewes-frozen-custard.jpg?itok=P6Cj_H4S "Ted Drewes Frozen Custard on Chippewa Street, which was once part of Route 66 in St. Louis. [Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo by Philip Leara]")
When pundits make lists of the foods most associated with St. Louis, they often include such…
![Henry von Phul. [J. Thomas Scharf, History of Saint Louis City and County, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-11/1.%20Henry%20von%20Phul.jpg?h=46441fa5&itok=3DIg7Gc5 "Henry von Phul. [J. Thomas Scharf, History of Saint Louis City and County, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883)]")
Henry von Phul was born in Philadelphia in 1784, the son of Johann Wilhelm (later William)…
![William Bradford Waddell. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Waddell Smith Photograph Collection, P0727]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-11/1.%20William%20Bradford%20Waddell.jpg?h=fb232171&itok=P2hTq5Cy "William Bradford Waddell. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Waddell Smith Photograph Collection, P0727]")
William Bradford Waddell typified the mid-nineteenth-century entrepreneur who shaped the…
![William S. Woods. [A Memorial and Biographical Record of Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, 1896]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-12/1.%20William%20Stone%20Woods.jpg?h=3cf6c07a&itok=Qmhg7cWS "William S. Woods. [A Memorial and Biographical Record of Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, 1896]")
William Stone Woods was born on November 1, 1840, the son of James Harris and Martha Jane…