the State Historical Society of Missouri
Thomas Allen was among the most prominent and powerful individuals who led St. Louis in its transition from…
![A 1911 State Highway Department map of the Boone’s Lick Road and Santa Fe Trail. [State Historical Society of Missouri Map Collection, 850 M691h 1911]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-05/1.-boones-lick-road.jpg?itok=KLOxhlwD "A 1911 State Highway Department map of the Boone’s Lick Road and Santa Fe Trail. [State Historical Society of Missouri Map Collection, 850 M691h 1911]")
The Boone’s Lick Road was the first major conduit to the trans-Mississippi West after the …
![James Eads. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, P0004-1016]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-06/1.%20James%20B.%20Eads.jpg?h=ff10fb74&itok=eL4n5_kH "James Eads. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, P0004-1016]")
Born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on May 23, 1820, James Buchanan Eads became an engineer of…
![A muddy road in Lafayette County, Missouri, circa 1910s. At the dawn of the automobile era, the predicament of drivers in Missouri and elsewhere sparked a nationwide Good Roads Movement. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Leonard D. and Marie H. Rehkop Collection of Algert T. Peterson Photographs, C3888-G0043]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-11/1.-good-roads-movement.jpg?h=0cd267b8&itok=cLdsW5XX "A muddy road in Lafayette County, Missouri, circa 1910s. At the dawn of the automobile era, the predicament of drivers in Missouri and elsewhere sparked a nationwide Good Roads Movement. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Leonard D. and Marie H. Rehkop Collection of Algert T. Peterson Photographs, C3888-G0043]")
Two convoys of army trucks left St. Louis and Kansas City on September 27, 1920. Their mission was to travel…
![Hooker Cut as it looked upon completion in 1945. This view is looking east on Route 66. [Courtesy of Missouri State Archives, Missouri Department of Transportation Collection]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2025-04/1.-hooker-cut.jpg?itok=dhAd3zbv "Hooker Cut as it looked upon completion in 1945. This view is looking east on Route 66. [Courtesy of Missouri State Archives, Missouri Department of Transportation Collection]")
By the middle of 1940, Europe was engulfed in war. On September 16, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation…
![The Figure 8 roller coaster at Lakeside Park, added in 1907, was a “huge reversing spiral” in which cars rushed down a half-mile curving track with “three figure eights in a descent of 50 feet.” [Courtesy of the Joplin Historical & Mineral Museum]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-06/1.%20Figure%208%20Roller%20Coaster%20Lakeside%20Park%20Joplin%20Museum%20Complex.JPG?h=c36628e1&itok=hcrmvx97 "The Figure 8 roller coaster at Lakeside Park, added in 1907, was a “huge reversing spiral” in which cars rushed down a half-mile curving track with “three figure eights in a descent of 50 feet.” [Courtesy of the Joplin Historical & Mineral Museum]")
“Once the most important and popular play place of the Tri-State district,” Lakeside Park in Jasper…
![Albert Bond Lambert with Orville Wright in St. Louis, circa 1910. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, P0059-00002]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-10/1.-lambert-with-orville-wright-p0059-00002-mhs-stl.jpg?h=8899aa07&itok=Th08gJ4r "Albert Bond Lambert with Orville Wright in St. Louis, circa 1910. [Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Photographs and Prints Collection, P0059-00002]")
Important in the history of business in Missouri, Albert Bond Lambert made even larger…
![Log City, circa 1942. [State Historical Society of Missouri, John F. Bradbury Jr. Postcard Collection, R1551]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2025-02/1.-log-city.jpg?h=faa43f9b&itok=BH2xWmeN "Log City, circa 1942. [State Historical Society of Missouri, John F. Bradbury Jr. Postcard Collection, R1551]")
![Alexander Majors. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Kansas City Research Center]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-04/1.%20Alexander%20Majors.jpg?h=b25d747c&itok=h8kInbfu "Alexander Majors. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Kansas City Research Center]")
Those familiar with the Pony Express recognize Russell, Majors, and Waddell as the…
![John Malang. [Floyd Calvin Shoemaker, Missouri and Missourians: Land of Contrasts and People of Achievements, 1943]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-04/1.-john-malang.jpg?h=7d0e74b9&itok=G6K7Xt8P "John Malang. [Floyd Calvin Shoemaker, Missouri and Missourians: Land of Contrasts and People of Achievements, 1943]")
John Malang, “The Father of Missouri Roads,” was born on September 9, 1866 or 1867. Sources provide…