This week, a new kind of information will be showcased on CoMoHistoricPlaces. The site will feature soon a Spotlight package on Dryer’s Shoe Store with a timeline, photographs, text and a video. These features are a result of a partnership between MU’s School of Journalism class News Content Creation (J4180) and CoMoHistoricPlaces.com Working in a…
Women who wrote Missouri?
That headline is not a typographical or grammar error. Let me explain. I recently returned from visiting Tucson, Arizona and picked up a magazine of the Western Writers of America. It included an article, “Women who wrote the west,” that spotlighted women writers who wrote about going west during the experience — not later when…
The first six women to graduate from MU’s School of Medicine: 1901-1906
Just in time for Women’s History Month here’s a link to an article spotlighting the research of Dr. Elizabeth Garrett about the first women graduates of the MU School of Medicine from 1901-1906. The Columbia Public Library held an online event with Dr. Garrett this week and a YouTube video will be posted soon. Until…
Trivia night: Columbia Public Library is turning 100!
Columbia Public Library is turning 100 and as part of the celebration is holding a trivia night at 7-8:30 p.m. on April 7. Get your teams of two or four together and enjoy a fun night with book nerds and fans of history & the library. Here’s a link to a Facebook notice about the…
Hidden Black History: Calvary Cemetery
One of the reasons I founded this website is I thought history was being forgotten or overlooked. After nearly a decade, I still find myself being surprised — like when I found this information about Calvary Cemetery, an African American Cemetery established in 1929. It’s another example of how recent institutional racism has existed. A…
4713 Brown Station Road – Home and Education
Can a building changes its stripes — or it’s purpose? Keene School is currently a home, but it started out life as a one-room schoolhouse. Take a peek inside via this Zillow link. What buildings do you know that once functioned as something else and are now used for another purpose? Keene School was auctioned…
Podcast: Black history and the Battles
Did your doctor tell you to get more exercise like mine did? Here’s a 30-minute podcast that will give you time to walk and insight into Missouri’s Black history and even some insider information on two educators well known in Columbia, Eliot Battle and Muriel Battle. Full disclosure: Trevor Harris, who created this podcast, is…
Jim Ussary, a founder of one of Columbia’s major employers, dies
Jim Ussary Sr., one of the founders of one of Columbia’s top employers, died on March 10, 2022, according to this March 11, 2022 obituary in the Columbia Daily Tribune. But you could be excused if you didn’t recognize his name today. Ussary was one of the three founders of ABC Laboratories when it was…
Got bricks? Columbia’s past quarries
Did you know that Columbia used to be home to several brickworks and quarries? Not just the one that still operates on Creasy Springs Road, but several others. The Boone County History & Culture Center is looking for old bricks. In 2014, I was privileged to interview the now late Liz Kennedy whose family owned…
Vote – map or list?
History friends, would you rather see a list of historic properties in Columbia or see them on a map? Vote below. Take a peek at a map created by the City of Columbia’s Historic Preservation Commission via this link: https://gocolumbiamo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=94cb16f1ef6b48adbb89c642d023619e&fbclid=IwAR1aEM0EWHzueD0bSq9WK2ASq5x9_4Is0HEKMke8BFHBH49IW9bHB1SpNyg You can find an in-progress list of places on the Places page of CoMoHistoricPlaces.com.