page_title: Veiled Prophet Ball
section_title: Veiled Prophet queens
hierarchical_section_title: Veiled Prophet Ball / Veiled Prophet queens
caption_attribution_description: English: Ada Johnson, Veiled Prophet Queen, St. Louis, 1920
context_page_description: The Veiled Prophet Ball is a dance held each December in St. Louis, Missouri, by the "Veiled Prophet Organization", founded by prominent St. Louisans in 1878. Each year, one member of the Veiled Prophet Organization is chosen to serve as the "Veiled Prophet of Khorassan," to preside over the Veiled Prophets Ball. Five of the debutantes are chosen by secret process to make up the "Veiled Prophet's Court of Honor." One is chosen to be crowned the "Queen of Love and Beauty" by the Veiled Prophet.
  The founders' intent was to create an annual local celebration similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, eventually to include pageantry and costuming as well as a parade with floats.
  Events also included the Veiled Prophet Fair. In the face of increasing criticism of using civic resources to support a socially exclusive organization, this was renamed as Fair St. Louis in 1992 and broadened in appeal.
context_section_description: The Veiled Prophet queens have included:
  1878 Susie Slayback
  1885 Virginia Joy
  1886 Louise (Lulu) Scott
  1887 No queen due to visit of President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland
  1888 Louise Galennie
  1889 Miss Wain (from Cleveland)
  1890 Katherine (Kate) Hill
  1891 July Thompson
  1892 Ellen Sturges
  1893 Florence Lucas
  1894 Hester Bates Laughlin 
  1895 Bessie Kingsland
  1896 Mary Louise McCreery
  1897 Jane Dorothy Fordyce
  1898 Marie Theresa Scanlan
  1899 Ellen H. Walsh
  1900 Susan Larkin Thomson
  1901 Emily Catlin Wickham
  1902 Maud Wells
  1903 Lucille Chouteau
  1904 Stella Wade
  1905 Julia Cabanne
  1906 Marguerite Kehlor Tower
  1907 Margaret Cabell
  1908 Dorothy Shapleigh
  1909 Susan Rebecca Carleton
  1910 Lucy Norvell
  1911 Ada Randolph
  1912 Jane Taylor
  1913 Adaline Capen
  1914 Elsa Zeibig
  1915 Jane Shapleigh
  1916 Mary D. Jones
  1917-1918 (No ball because of World War I)
  1919 Marian Franciscus
  1920 Ada R. Johnson
  1921 Eleanor Simmons
  1922 Alice Busch
  1923 Grace Wallace
  1924 Mary Virginia Collins
  1925 Maud Miller Streett
  1926 Martha Love
  1927 Anne Farrar Semple
  1928 Mary Ambrose Smith (disqualified due to secret marriage)
  1929 Jean Wright Ford
  1930 Jane Perry Francis
  1931 Ann Chittenden Ferriss
  1932 Myrtle McGrew Lambert
  1933 Jane Alva Johnson
  1934 Jane Wells
  1935 Lila Marshall Childress
  1936 Susan Elizabeth Thompson
  1937 Nancy Lee Morrill
  1938 Laura Hale Rand
  1939 Jane Howard Smith
  1940 Rosalie McRee
  1941 Barbara Wear
  1942-1945 (No ball because of World War II)
  1946 Anne Kennett Farrar Desloge
  1947 Dorothy Claggett Danforth
  1948 Helen Dozier Conant
  1949 Carol Moon Gardner
  1950 Eleanor Koehler
  1951 Mary Kennard Wallace
  1952 Sally Baker Shepley
  1953 Julia Terry
  1954 Barbara Anne Whittemore
  1955 Audrey Faust Wallace
  1956 Helene Brown Bakewell
  1957 Carol Lammert Culver
  1958 Carolyn Lee Niedringhaus
  1959 Laura Rand Orthwein
  1960 Sally Ford Curby
  1961 Anne Marie Baldwin
  1962 Diane Waring Desloge
  1963 Anne Kennard Newhard
  1964 Alice Busch Condie
  1965 Rebecca Wells Jones
  1966 Jane Howard Shapleigh
  1967 Rosalie McRee Ewing
  1968 Rebecca Dixon Williams
  1969 Josephine Carr Brodhead
  1970 Phoebe Mercer Scott
  1971 Lenita Collins Morrill
  1972 Hope Florence Jones
  1973 Susan Mitchell Conant
  1974 Susan Clark Smith
  1975 Sarah Hitchcock Moore
  1976 Cynthia Gray Danforth
  1977 Gertrude Marie Busch
  1978 Elizabeth Courtney Johnson
  1979 Susan Pierson Smith
  1980 Eleanor Church Hawes
  1981 Talbot Peters MacCarthy
  1982 Alice Maritz
  1983 Elizabeth Ford Johnston
  1984 Mary Genevieve Hyland
  1985 Jennifer Lee Knight
  1986 Stephanie Marie Schnuck
  1987 Emily Shepley Barksdale
  1988 Elizabeth Gray Elliott
  1989 Alice Marie Behan
  1990 Carter Gedge Walker
  1991 Katherine Hall McDonnell
  1992 Kelly Taylor
  1993 McKay Noland Baur
  1994 Margaret Dunne Hager
  1995 Martha Elizabeth Matthews
  1996 Elizabeth Ann Bryan
  1997 Rosalie Ewing Engler
  1998 Josephine Marie Condie
  1999 Elizabeth Claire Kemper
  2000 Carolyn Elizabeth Schnuck
  2001 Julia Ryerson Schlafly
  2002 Lucy Hager Schnuck
  2003 Lauren Morgan Dorsey Thomas
  2004 Elizabeth Garrett Benoist
  2005 Julie Anne Stupp
  2006 Janice Hope Jones
  2007 Katherine Remington Martin
  2008 Elizabeth Bunn Hailand
  2009 Melissa Benton Howe
  2010 Laura Hogan Hollo
  2011 Eleanor Clark Brennan
  2012 Margaret Frances Schnuck
  2013 Katherine Falk Desloge
  2014 Merrill Clark Hermann
  2015 Charlotte Capen Jones
  2016 Eliza Dooley Johnson
  2017 Corinne Marie Condie
  2018 Cecelia Ann Fox
  2019 Lily Shelton Baur
caption: Ada R. Johnson, 1920
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