“Geography is destiny.” Abraham Verghese. The Missouri and Mississippi Rivers determined our state’s course and marked much of its border. The Rivers determined not only our destiny, but our nation’s as well. The Smithsonian Bureau of American Ethnology notes that the Sioux word Missouri means town of the large canoes, which accurately describes […]
Category: history
Our City’s church spires stand as testaments to historic St. Louis’ remarkable growth, and the Catholic parish system that grew entwined with it. Today, church bells resonate with tales of the Catholic Church’s retrenchment when the St. Louis Archdiocese announced 35 church closures, and yet to be announced school closings. These stark realities converse the […]
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The Hinge of History
Stalingrad. A name and place forever linked with the Red Army’s defeat of Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht, which marked the end of the German advance into Russia. Winston Churchill deemed the denouement of World War II’s epic battle as the ‘hinge of history’. Indeed, the front line of the war that swung east into Russia would […]
Church steeples cast evening shadows across St. Louis highways as retreating commuters sail home to safe suburban harbors. These spires stand as testaments to our historic City’s remarkable growth while their church bells resonate with tales of urban decline. Many city churches have already closed while still more stand on the precipice as the St. […]