Almost Yesterday

It seems like Almost Yesterday that Union troops under General William Tecumseh Sherman were moving south against Atlanta. General Kirby Smith, Commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, saw Missouri as a place to strike a blow at the Union by making a direct threat upon St. Louis. This, he believed, would force the transfer of Union troops from Atlanta, thus saving that vital supply center. General Sterling Price, a former governor of Missouri, was selected to lead the

It seems like Almost Yesterday that the Ohio and lower Mississippi Rivers experienced a severe flood. And, this 1937 flood occurred in January and February in the midst of cold, snow and ice. From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, Louisville, Paducah and Cairo the rivers reached record levels. Desperate calls went out for volunteers to help sand bag. One young man who volunteered was Robert “R. E.” Tompkins of Campbell, Missouri. A young man of 18, R.E. traveled to New Madrid where he joined others on a

It seems like Almost Yesterday that Andrew Conway Ivy was one of the most well-known and celebrated physicians in the world. Born and raised in Farmington, Missouri, Dr. Ivy graduated from Southeast Missouri State Normal School in 1913, where his father, Henry Ivy, was a member of the science faculty. An excellent student, Andrew Ivy went on to the University of Chicago and in 1918 received his medical degree. From 1926 to 1945 Dr. Ivy served as Chairman of the Division of Physiology and

It seems like Almost Yesterday that Ms. Christine Brewer appeared on the stage of Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale as a featured artist in the Southern Illinois Music Festival of 2008. For Ms. Brewer this was very much a homecoming. Born and raised in Grand Tower, Illinois, Ms. Brewer graduated from Shawnee Community High School near Wolf Lake, Illinois and graduated from McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois. Following her college graduation she taught school in Marissa, Illinois and continues

It seems like Almost Yesterday that Hollywood came to Southeast Missouri. A production company headed by prominent director Roger Corman came to Charleston and East Prairie in 1961 to produce a movie based upon Charles Beaumont’s novel about race relations and school integration in the American South. Filmed one year prior to the classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Intruder was a commercial failure. Corman was unable to secure support for the film from Hollywood Studios, thus this socially

It seems like Almost Yesterday that the University of Missouri football team achieved one of its greatest victories. The date was Saturday, November 18, 1978 and the Missouri Tigers were in Lincoln, Nebraska to play the second-ranked Cornhuskers. Nebraska had won nines in a row, upset number-one ranked Oklahoma, and had their sights set on a national championship. Missouri entered the game with a record of six and four, and had lost two of their previous three games. Nebraska led by three points

It seems like Almost Yesterday that the transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Point in Utah. The year was 1869. Within a few months, Hiram Morgan Hill and his sister Sarah Althea Hill were on the new “Pacific Train” heading to California in search of fame and fortune. At the time, “Morgan” Hill was 22 years of age; Sarah was 20. They were the orphaned children of Samuel Allen Hill, an attorney and Missouri legislator, and Julia Sloan, daughter of Hiram Sloan, who had operated a

It seems like Almost Yesterday that Congress passed the “Hospital Survey and Construction Act” which became Public Law 725. This act provided funds to hospitals, nursing homes, and chronic care facilities, which had declined during the Great Depression and World War II. By 1945 and the end of World War II, many American hospitals were obsolete – and approximately 50% of the nation’s counties had no hospital facilities at all. In early 1946 Senators Lister Hill, a Democrat from Alabama, and

It seems like Almost Yesterday that the legendary origin of the four rivers of St. Francois County was recorded by the writer and historian Allan Hinchey. The four rivers – the Whitewater, Castor, Saline, and Little St. Francois – emerge close together, northeast of Fredericktown, Missouri, near the junction of Perry, Bollinger, Ste. Genevieve, Madison, and St. Francois Counties. Although they emerge close together, the four rivers flow in different directions. The Native American explanation of

It seems like Almost Yesterday that the city of Ironton, Missouri installed a series of historical markers to identify Civil War sites in the community. Of all the important historic sites in the Arcadia Valley, one that has great significance is where Ulysses S. Grant, on August 8, 1861, received notice of his promotion to the rank of brigadier general. Colonel Grant had been ordered to Pilot Knob and Ironton to control the terminus of the Iron Mountain Railroad used to transport essential iron