Amazing St. Louis
Subtitle: 250 years of great tales and curiosities : featuring stories about Mark Twain, the exorcist, Darth Vader, the CIA, and Jack the Ripper
By: Charlie Brennan
Publisher: Reedy Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: St. Louis, Missouri
Language: eng
Number of pages: 262
ISBN-13: 9781935806561
Subjects: Curiosities and wonders; Miscellanea; Anecdotes; History
Other titles: Amazing Saint Louis
Description: "Did you know the first mobile phone was used in St. Louis? Or that a St. Louis businessman changed the course of war in the Pacific during World War II? Or that a St. Louisan ended the Cold War? After talking about St. Louis and its people every weekday for the past 25 years, Charlie Brennan has gathered the greatest and most incredible St. Louis stories in celebration of the city's 250th birthday. Brennan divulges how St. Louisans gave the world rock and roll, the cocktail party, the city of Chicago, the musical Cats, and more! Amazing St. Louis even explains how St. Louis is home to the first city in America. Brennan also shares some of the world's strangest oddities and curiosities that just happened to take place in the Gateway to the West. Packed with hundreds of almost unknown facts about the people and events of St. Louis, this book is ideal for lovers of this great American city and its rich history"--Barnesandnoble.com.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 234-258) and index.
Table of contents: title: Section 1. St. Louis firsts and foremosts. America's first city ; The first mobile phone ; The first gas station ; Braille: children's classroom mischief led to a national trend ; The first index fund ; The first director of central intelligence ; The first cocktail party ; A football first ; The first reports of the Titanic were written on toilet paper ; The first public school system to offer kindergarten ; The first desktop computer ; The first German-American U.S. senator ; The first African-American U.S. senator ; The first tweet ; McDonnell built first plane designed to land on carriers ; Reaching the stars with Mercury and Gemini ; The first skyscraper ; The world's tallest human ; Wally Moon: the cardinal who gave us the term "flake" ; Gordon Jenkins wrote "Folsom Prison Blues" ; Charles Lindbergh ; Gert Cori: first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in medicine ; First Vice President to get married while in office ; 7Up: a native St. Louisan ; The birthplace of puffed rice ; John Colter: first to see Yellowstone, and much more ; The first interstate ; Lyon: a military first ; A first U.S. Summer Olympics ; The first African-American Olympian(s) ; The first Jewish justice; title: Section 2. St. Louisans who changed the world:  Chuck Berry invented rock and roll ; U.S. Grant saves the Union ... twice ; Dred Scott: the lawsuit that led to the Civil War ; Harry Blackmun: from hot sauna to hot decisions ; The kid from Webster Groves who ended the Cold War ; C. V. Riley saves the French wine industry ; sAVE MARIA ; Du Sable: founder of Chicago ; A man buried in St. Louis sparked the American Revolution ; Earl Weaver pioneers the radar gun ; From baby teeth to nuclear test ban: the St. Louis baby tooth survey ; Did the Mexican Revolution have roots in St. Louis? ; A St. Louisan burns Atlanta and shapes the future of war ; Jimmy Doolittle: changed the direction of the war in the pacific ; The United States was the first nation to recognize Israel ... thanks to a St. Louisan ; Larry Conners and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ; The Walker and Davis Cups ; Ead's ironclad ships secure first victories for the Union ; Quid pro quo: a St. Louis favor is returned; title: Section 3. They didn't teach me that in school: Toussaint L'Ouverture ; St. Louis: a French village that never had a French governor ; One city, one day, three flags ; When Cuba rules St. Louis ; Mark Twain fought in the Civil War, but for which side? ; Jesuits built SLU with slaves ; The Grants had slave ... during the Civil War! ; Forest Park honors both sides of one war ; The American Revolution hits St. Louis ; POWs in St. Louis ; Why Roswell field moved to St. Louis ; The mystery of Lloyd Gaines ; St. Louis's communist auditor ; The lie that snagged the Republican National Convention ; If the school was chartered on February 2, would it now be "Groundhog U?" ; St. Louis: the city founded by an eight grader! ; St. Louis can't agree on a founding date; title: Section 4. Strange St. Louis pairings: Dream team roommates ; Two favorite sons in the same Presidential election ; The St. Louis connection that secured the surrender ; Clark Clifford and William McChesney Martin Jr. ; The "St. Louis Blues" and W. C. Handy ; The strange fate of Joseph E. Johnston ; How St. Louis almost became Disney World ; How the U.N. almost came to Weldon Spring ; Alton was considered a site for the Air Force Academy ; Elizabeth Keckley and Mary Todd Lincoln; title: Section 5. They overcame hardship: Josephine Baker ; From orphanage to the Governor's Mansion ; The Spinks brothers ; The "ignominious" start of Tennessee Williams ; Joseph Conway's story; or, Why I will never complain about anything again ; Ulysses S. Grant: the greatest comeback ; Caray and Hotchner; title: Section 6. I didn't know there was a St. Louis connection: Cats ; Francesca Simon ; A Chorus Line ; How a jerk from St. Louis made sure we got beautiful music ; Colin Firth and St. Louis ; Tom Cruise and St. Louis ; Darth Vader got his start in St. Louis ; Jean Lafitte: the pirate who saved St. Louis ; The serenity prayer ; Oldest surviving recording of a human voice ; The Allman brothers ; The St. Louis connection to "Double Vision" ; Guess who saved St. Louis's harbor ; Reddi-wip ; The birthplace of peanut butter ; O'Hare Airport ; A St. Louis tomb that inspired one of the nation's most famous homes ; The world leader who operated a St. Louis forklift ; Angels in America ; Birthplace of halitosis ; Animal House ; St. Louis's frequent visitor: Ray Charles ; Buzz Bissinger ; Southern Comfort ; Samuel Adams beer ; Kurt von Schuschnigg: the world leader who moved to St. Louis after World War II ; Marshall McLuhan (The medium is the message) taught at SLU; title: Section 7. Dark St. Louis: Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell ; The Exorcist ; An author who wrote from the grave ; The Blues player who hired a hit man ; Jack the Ripper ; Escape from St. Louis ; Before there was Estee Lauder, there was arsenic ; Look out for the cheater ; John Vincent: the Arch jumper ; The dueling senator ; The little-known Lincoln duel ; Saddam Hussein and TUMS; title: Section 8. The ten amazing and often overlooked St. Louis sports stories: When World Series champs moonlighted ; Buck and Borghi: together on two continents ; Jo Jo Whit's amazing offers ; Full house for the World Series ; The greatest baseball promotion ; Pennant race romance and Leo Durocher's furniture ; An NBA final fight: but not between players ; Bill White: a commitment is a commitment ; Denny McLain's game prep ; Wimbledon 1975: St. Louis versus St. Louis.