News 11 Remembers: St. Louis History

In 1870 the city of St. Louis passed a law which allowed prostitution. The ordinance also created something else, the social evil hospital.

Though he would be known for many things as the chairman of the federal reserve. He was known as a staunch guardian against inflation. Calling himself "the host who removes the punchbowl just as the party starts."

His 45 room Victorian mansion was his. But, he is not the man who built it.

While those battles were small and brief. They did leave their mark on local history.

A damaged sword carried in a famous St. Louis battle tells the story of a defeat felt deeply by the man who carried it.

A little more than a century ago St. Louis water was the color of the river it came from. Until something came to town that changed everything.

It was terrifying. Before the polio vaccine, the virus would leave a healthy person weak or paralyzed and in excruciating pain in a matter of hours.

Thomas Jefferson called the national debate about slavery in Missouri, "A fire bell in the night."

It began as a beer garden in 1896 but did so poorly it was hastily reborn as an amusement park called the Forest Park Highlands.

When General Ulysses S. Grant became president he and the first lady brought their four children with them to the White House. Their daughter Nellie quickly became the toast of Washington high society.