Missouri Valley Sundays

Mark Twain said there are “bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses – and then there is Sarah Bernhardt.” The legendary French performer made nine tours of the U.S. during her 50-year stage career. Bernhardt first arrived stateside in 1880 to great fanfare, accompanied by a large retinue. B...

The lower Missouri River was a veritable steamboat graveyard in the 19th century as more than 300 vessels ended up at the bottom of the Big Muddy. The steamers were technological marvels of the day with long, wide, flat hulls and high-pressure engines, allowing for greater speeds on the water even when fully loaded...

There are times in life that alter a person’s view of the world. For Ed FitzGerald, it was the summer of 1950 when, as a Catholic boy growing up in a blue-collar Kansas City neighborhood, he got a job working for the hometown Blues baseball organization. A stint as ball boy led to an unlikely promotion t...

The U.S. barbecue capitals of Memphis, Texas, the Carolinas and, of course, Kansas City bring unique techniques, flavors, and traditions to slow-smoking meats. Each claims to produce the best ’cue in the country, and hundreds of teams compete regionally and nationally for preeminence. But often overlooked in our now...

It was inevitable that the bawdy, alcohol-infused culture of 19th-century Kansas City would draw the ire of social reformers and prohibitionists. The West Bottoms and its cluster of saloons near the state line figured prominently in the controversy, with the 1700 block of West Ninth Street drawing particu...

Even among the iconic frontiersmen of the American West, Jim Bridger stands out as larger than life.  Born in 1804 and orphaned at 13, Bridger made his first western foray in 1822, traveling up the Missouri River to trap beaver. As a young man in his early 20s, he was the first mountain man to come up...

In commemoration of the bicentennial anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail, historian Joy L. Poole examines the stories of five wives who traveled the Trail between 1830 and 1870. These women recorded their adventures in memoirs, diaries, or letters sent back home. Drawing from the firsthand accounts, Pool...

While his story is not widely known, Kansas City civil rights leader Leon M. Jordan was among the most influential African Americans in Missouri before being shot to death in 1970. He lent a powerful presence as a co-founder of Freedom Incorporated and three-term state legislator, paving the way for other...

In 1934, brothers Dizzy and Daffy Dean were stars of Major League Baseball’s regular season and World Series. Following their St. Louis Cardinals’ victory over the Detroit Tigers in the Series’ seventh and deciding game, the pair joined a 14-game barnstorming tour in which they competed against the best African Amer...

Women who were pregnant and unmarried in the early 1900s faced limited options and societal scorn. Many chose, or were sent, to deliver their babies and give them up for adoption in special facilities for unwed mothers—among them, The Willows Maternity Sanitarium in Kansas City. Author KelLee Parr...