editor's pick
HANNIBAL — Fred Stohr, working as a meat cutter in Hannibal as early as 1873, had a number of setbacks during his business years including:
Editor’s note: Following is the second part of a story series by contributing writer Brent Engel. It contains language that some may find objectionable. Discretion is advised.
Editor’s note: Following is the first part of a story series by contributing writer Brent Engel. It contains language that some may find objectionable. Discretion is advised.
editor's pick
Frederick W. Waller was a splendid man. Or so says his death announcement in the Ralls County Record newspaper on Jan. 7, 1916.
editor's pick
George W. Pine, the third in succession of eight known children born to William H. and Maria P. Sanders Pine, spent a portion of his childhood in a house still standing at 3700 James Road. Bel…
LOUISIANA, Mo. — January would prove an important month for John Brooks Henderson.
editor's pick
“There is a saying that it is always darkest just before day, if this is true then methinks it must be near day dawn in Missouri, for surely it can hardly get much darker than now.” Diary entr…
BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — The man for whom twin counties in Missouri and Illinois are named would have celebrated a birthday Thursday.
editor's pick
While A.B. Sweeney was in the act of drawing molasses from a barrel at his family grocery store in late April 1860, the camphene lamp he used as a light source somehow “took fire and exploded,…
editor's pick
In an old, converted barn, west of Oakwood, located south on Paris Gravel Road near the Marion/Ralls county line, members of the Hannibal Kiwanis Club gathered together on one particular night…
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Two of the three gifts of the Wise Men — frankincense and myrrh — remain in high demand more than 5,000 years after gaining popularity in religious rituals, says University of …
editor's pick
William Price Carstarphen, born in 1830 to Ralls County slave-holding parents, worked as a druggist in Hannibal, Mo., during the Civil War years, 1860-1864. Upon his death in 1910 he left behi…
LOUISIANA, Mo. — Before there was Missouri, there was Pike County.
editor's pick
Augusta McKee Griffen was a woman ahead of her time. Born post-Civil War, in 1869, she not only raised five children to adulthood, but also served as the catalyst behind the successful establi…
Editor’s note: Following is the final part of a story series by contributing writer Brent Engel.
editor's pick
Oh, to be a mouse in the corner of the one-story brick and frame house, situated at 109 North Seventh Street, during the late afternoon and early evening of May 23, 1891.
Editor’s note: Following is the third part of a story series by contributing writer Brent Engel.
ASHBURN, Mo. — Dense woods and majestic bluffs belie a horrific Thanksgiving Eve blast that rocked Pike County Missouri in 1898.
editor's pick
As early as 1894, Callie Taylor, daughter of a pioneer Methodist minister from Lewis County, Mo., taught educational fundamentals to the children of Ralls County, who lived nearby to Oakwood. …
Editor’s note: Following is the second part of a story series by contributing writer Brent Engel.
Editor’s note: Following is the first part of a story series by contributing writer Brent Engel.
editor's pick
On Sunday evenings back in the day, Hannibal’s black churches (Second Christian on Broadway, Helping Hand Baptist, the Church of God in Christ on Settles Street and Scott’s Chapel Methodist) h…
LOUISIANA, Mo. — Before they could duel, they got drunk.
In 1950, German-born Herman Robert Glasenapp, a trained eisengiesser, (iron worker) was employed as a janitor at Hannibal High school on McMaster’s Avenue, following the 1943 closing of the Ha…
editor's pick
Drawing a conclusion from studying Sanborn maps and city directories, it is likely that Charles Lavoo’s meat market was the first occupant of the building at 2300 Market Street.
LOUISIANA, Mo. — Thirteenth Amendment author John Brooks Henderson might have gone along with changes being considered by voters in five states, and one that almost made it onto the ballot in …
editor's pick
Close your eyes for a moment and let’s remember what once was.
editor's pick
As the calendar turned to the last quarter of the 19th century, the 600 block of Broadway was a curious combination of businesses, private residences and boarding houses.
editor's pick
Resting below an awning of tree branches at Hannibal’s Holy Family Cemetery are the remains of the Rev. Denis Kennedy. Irish by birth and educated in St. Louis, Rev. Kennedy served the Immacul…
CLARKSVILLE, Mo. — A man known for his steel resolve saved Clarksville from a Confederate guerilla who once broke up a wedding to enlist recruits.
editor's pick
In 1890, the Cincinnati Enquirer set out to identify sets of triplets (then aged 5 or younger) which resided in West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky.
editor's pick
Nearly a dozen boys in their mid teens gathered together on Sunday morning, July 1, 1924, at what was then known as the Scyoc farm, located on the Paris Gravel Road, a mile west of Oakwood.
editor's pick
Sixteen-year-old Eliza Drane, with her deep blue eyes, golden hair and a dazzling complexion, was among the students featured in an entertainment offering at Convent Hall, St. Joseph’s Academy…
LOUSIANA, Mo. — A Louisiana man born more than 140 years ago is still having an impact on his hometown.
editor's pick
A small tombstone among the oaks and pines at Hannibal’s Mount Olivet Cemetery carves out the details of a life cut too short, on the morning of Jan. 29, 1861, some 161 years ago.
LOUISIANA, Mo. — An unassuming Northeast Missouri priest won a victory for freedom of speech just by saying Mass.
Sept. 3, 1865: Father John Cummings is arrested after saying Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Louisiana. His crime? Failing to recite the new state constitution’s “loyalty oath” enacted a…
Editor’s note: Following is the final part of a two-part series by contributing writer Brent Engel of Louisiana.
editor's pick
Long before there was train service between Hannibal and St. Joseph. Long before the city of Hannibal had its first steam-powered fire engine. Long before budding writer Sam Clemens left with …
Editor’s note: Following is the first of a two-part series by contributing writer Brent Engel of Louisiana.
editor's pick
In January 1923, Lieut. Andrew Ramsey’s remains were transported by rail from Los Angeles, California, where he died, to Cincinnati, Ohio, where funeral services and burial awaited.
editor's pick
When Bettie (Williams Doxey) Whisler boarded one of the two Quincy, Ill.-bound steamboats docked along Hannibal’s riverfront following the fireworks display on July 4, 1902, she carried with h…
HANNIBAL — Both sides of a divided America could argue that words voiced 160 years ago by John Brooks Henderson echo today.
editor's pick
There was a fire, in Hannibal’s distant past, the latest in a series of suspected incendiary fires, which served as a tipping point toward the establishment of Hannibal’s first official fire d…
editor's pick
Much of the Hannibal’s original Lindell Avenue, which ventures roughly southwest from Market Street, was lost during the construction of Warren Barrett Drive.
If success is measured by civic accomplishments, then William Derwin was a success indeed.
editor's pick
Lem Welch was casually standing in front of San Francisco’s Novelty Theater on O’Farrell Street during the noon hour on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1906, when two young men drove up in a horse-drawn carriage.
editor's pick
During the later years of the 19th Century, John F. Turner (1857-1937) — son of Civil War-era Marion County businessman ‘Ras Turner — opened a store at 314 (later renumbered 2320) Market Street.
editor's pick
Thousands gravitated toward Hannibal in 1902, for the long-planned and well-executed celebration of this nation’s birthday.
editor's pick
Two young men from Marion County, Missouri, forged westward circa 1897, in search of riches derived from the goldfields of Colorado. Leaving a wife, a young child and aging parents behind, the…
editor's pick
By the beginning of the 20th century, the concept of transporting live cattle to the Chicago markets for processing had been — for the most part — replaced by the opening of regional packing p…