I grew up reading about St. Louis and it’s rich African American History, during the decade of 1910 and 1920.    I have alway been interested in the stories of the bravest individuals in  this area,  including the role it played in the development of music.  St. Louis was founded in 1764 as a French fur trading village.  St. Louis is an independent city and inland port in the US State of Missouri.   The city developed along the western bank of the Mississippi River, which forms Missouri’s border with Illinois.  It is spread along 19 miles of the Mississippi River shoreline just 12 miles south of the confluences of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.  It is the 60th-most populous us city and the second-largest city in Missouri after Kansas City.

In 1890 St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the US and played a key role in the development of ragtime, jazz and blues.  Rural musicians, including many African Americans who were former slaves, or their descendants, and musicians from other towns and cities, came to St. Louis.   It was here that their music mixed with band music, classical music, parlor songs, music from minstrel shows and vaudeville, and dance music of all kinds.  “St. Louis Blues” is still the most famous blues song ever, by W. C. Handy.  The blues are a feeling, not a format.  Blues songs usually have a feeling of sadness and melancholy, and often help the singer feel better about their situations.

Laclede’s Landing is downtown St. Louis’s oldest district and only riverfront entertainment and dining destination.  It is located on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River and just north of the world’s famous Gateway Arch. This area is part of Clamorgan Alley, was originally called Commercial Alley.  This are was named after fur trader, merchant, and finances Jacques Clamorgan (1730-1814).  He was a nativ of the West Indies, with an estimated ancestry Welch, French, Portuguese, and African.  He was a prolific land buyer, with 850,000 acres of property.  He fathered four children y three mulatto women.  He and his prominent family, wealthy and educated, were The Colored Aristrocracy of St. Louis.  He signed some of his property (to avoid creditors )over to his slave and mistress Ester.  Ester, one of the earliest instances of a female African American property owner.  Clamorgan tried unsuccessfully, through long legal processes,  to reclaim the property.   After her death the courts awarded property rights per her will in 1833.

James Milton Turner, a slave, educator and ambassador, purchased his family’s freedom in 1843.  He was later appointed as Assistant Superintendent of Schools, in charge of establishing schools for freed Blacks throughout Missouri.  He also established Lincoln Institute, the first high school and teacher training institute for Blacks.  In was appointed Ambassador to Liberia (1871-1878), as the first African American diplomat to represent the US in a foreign country.  In 1881, Turner organized the Freeman’s Oklahoma Association and for the 20 years he battled for the rights of Blacks in Indian Territory.

St. James Augustine Healy became the first black Roman Catholic Bishop in the country in 1875. The first paddle steamboat arrived in St. Louis in 1817 with 5,000 steamboats landing each year.  The Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River was the first arched steel truss bridge in the world.  This bridge was built in 1874, and is still in use carrying MetroLink Right rail and car traffic over the river.  The Wainwright Building built in 1897, located on Seventh Street in downtown St. Louis, was the world’s first skyscraper.

Father Dickson Cemetery opened as a burial ground for African Americans in 1903.   Father Dickson, a renowned attorney, linguist teacher, and later reverend, for whom Vashon High School in St. Louis was named.    Reverend Dickson was a Black abolitionist leader who founded the Knights of Liberty, an army of  sympathiziers, and an African American secret society, to fight for freedom from slavery. Their efforts became the Underground Railroad.

St. Louis acted as a haven during the 1917 East St. Louis Riot, as St. Louis police shepherded fleeing blacks across the Eads Bridge to shelter and food provided by the city government and the American Cross.  St. Louis led a congressional investigation into the events and eventually sponsored an anti-lynching bill in response.  The  Great Migration of blacks from the rural south to industrial cities resulted in increase to the black population of St. Louis more rapidly that the whole during the decade of 1910 and 1920.  St. James Augustine Healy University of St. Louis, was the first university west of the Mississippi River founded by the Jesuits.

Mississippi migrants in 1930, J. D. Shelly,  won a U. S. Supreme Court case that challenged the discriminatory policies that ended real estate restrictions based on race in 1948.  This opened the door to equal housing for everyone in America.

A St. Louis McDonnell Douglas Corporation, now part of Boeing, designed and built the space capsule that carried th first men into space in 1960’s.  The Gatewate Arch, designated by President Roosevelt in 1935, the national historical site was not officially authorized until May 17, 1954 and completed in 1965.  It is a 630 foot arch that sits at the site of St. Louis founding on the West Bank of the Mississippi.  It is stainless steel and built in the form of an inverted, weighted gateway arch.  It is the world’s tallest arch, the tallest man made monument in the Western Hemisphere, and Missouri’s tallest accessible building.  It is a tribute to all, including  African Americans, for the significant roles in the founding of the American West.  The Museum of Westward Expansion beneath the Arch, has a display on the Buffalo Soldiers and other black pioneers who settled the western plains.

TheVaughn Cultural Center was established in 1977 to promote an understanding of African Amerrican history and culture.

The  James “Cool Papa” Memorial built in 1991, is a10-foot high memorial that marks the gravesight of the Negro National Major League Baseball player “Cool Papa” Bell.  The memorial is made of african granite.  This Hall of Fame Baseball Player,  a left handed pitcher, is considered to be the fastest man ever to play professional baseball; and also coached professional baseball for 20 years.

Sumner, the first high school west of the Mississippi for black students, boast an impressive roster of graduates; comedian/activist Dick Gregory, Robert Townson of the 5th Dimension, opera stars Grace Bumbry and Robert McFerrin, rock greats Chuck Berry and Tina Turner, and alhtete Arthur Ashe.  Nobel Prize winning autho T..S. Eliot; poet Maya Angelou; rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry; hip-hop superstar Cornell “Nelly” Haynes, Jr.; singer Tina Turner; actor Vincent Price; comedian Redd Foxx; pin up star Betty Grable; entertainer Josephine Baker; and Academy Award- winning actor Kevin Kline are other famous folks from St. Louis.  Famed blues musician, W. C. Handy, wrote the classic “St. Louis Blues,” under the Eads Bridge on the Mississippi Riverfront.  “St. Louis Blues” is the most recorded blues song in history.

We attended the annual Big Muddy Blues Festival, an annual concert celebration that showcases regional acts in the genre.   This is the area’s largest blues festival, with renowned acts from around the nation on the historic Laclede’s Landing in downtown St. Louis.  This festival is a two day musical extravaganza, with continuous performances on three stages.  There are plenty of beer and wine tents; and tents from all of the best professional BBQ Restaurant in the area, smoking and grilling everything imaginable over open flames in downtown St. Louis.

We dined in the entertainment, cultural and restaurant district, Delmar Loop, located in University City, MO,and adjoining western edge of St. Louis.  The loop is home of the St. Louis Walk of Fame; commemorating famous St. Louisans including musicians Chuck Berry, Miles Davis and Tina Turner, actor John Goodman, bridge builder James Eads and sexologist’s Masters and Johnson.  We saw the Chuck Berry Statue, also in the loop, across the street from Blueberry Hill.

We ate at the Sweetie Pie’s Restaurant located in Mangove, a St. Louis landmark and must visit destination.  Sweetie Pie’s, is a Mississippi styled Soul Food Restaurant, that serves delicious soul food with excellent serve!  We stood in line for 2 1/2 hours, met people from around the US, met the restaurant staff and camera crewman, posed for pictures; and ate some of the best soul food ever!!  I have tried the following Sweetie Pie ‘s recipes with amazing results:  Hot Honey Chicken, Candied Yams, Sour Cream &Chives Mashed Potatoes, and Baked Macaroni and Cheese.    This restaurant alone is reason to visit the African American, hIstorically rich St Louis, Mo.

We visited the Casino Queen located in Delmar Loop.  We visited the Lumiere Place Casino (a Tropicana Property) located near the Arch, and connected by tunnel to the Edward Jones Dome, America’s Center and the center business district in Laclede’s Landing. We visited the River City And Hollywood Casinos in St. Louis, MO.  Each visit was cut short due to the excessively smoky environment without proper ventilation.  However, it was an excellent hit and run enening for all.