Jim Owen promoting the Branson Silver Cornet Band, one of his many enterprises. [Courtesy of Trenton Thompson/Findagrave.com]

James M. Owen, a young advertising and insurance professional in Jefferson City, left mid-…

The O’Joe Club in Noel, Missouri. [Courtesy of Dorene Stiles and Noel Centennial, 1887–1987]

The O’Joe Club in Noel, Missouri, was one of the first commercial resorts in the Ozarks. Although it was not…

Pippin Place. [State Historical Society of Missouri, John F. Bradbury Jr. Postcard Collection, R1551]

Pippin Place was a legendary Gasconade River resort in the Missouri Ozarks. With the spread of railroads…

George Sisler. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-npcc-11451]

George Sisler ranks among baseball’s all-time finest hitters. His longtime manager and…

St. Louis Browns players and owner Donald Lee Barnes celebrate the team’s lone American League pennant in 1944. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N45028]

The St. Louis Browns were a professional baseball team that played in the American League…

Stony Dell. [State Historical Society of Missouri, John F. Bradbury Postcard Collection, R1551]

Stony Dell, fourteen miles west of Rolla, was one of the central Missouri Ozarks’ premier tourist…

Chris Von der Ahe. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, N45223]

Christian Frederick Wilhelm Von der Ahe, a pioneering figure in early professional baseball…

souvenir program from the 1944 World Series

The 1944 World Series was the first played entirely west of the Mississippi River. St. Louis,…