June 7, 1862 – Gen. Franz Sigel’s Union troops entered Waynesville and took over the Courthouse as their headquarters building. They also seized the Old Stagecoach Stop across the street for use as a hospital.
June 8, 1925 – Birthday of Eddie Gaedel the smallest man to ever play professional baseball. (3 ft. 7 in. tall) His St. Louis Browns uniform number was 1/8.
June 9, 1929 – On Hwy 61 near DeSoto, a local man was driving his car when two Festus boys were trying to fly an airplane, lost control and crashed into the car destroying it. No one was seriously injured.
June 10, 1904 – In Chariton County the residents formed a rat-killing club. Each day they would hunt rodents and then congregate for a big dinner. (No, rats were not on the menu!) At Tom Berry’s farm they killed 260.
June 11, 1862 – On this day the Cape Girardeau-built Red Rover accepted its first patient. It was America’s first hospital ship.
June 12, 1889 – Samuel Laws, President of the University of Missouri was fired on this day. After an on-going argument with Curators, he purchased a dead elephant for the College of Agriculture. That was the last straw and they disposed of both Laws and the elephant.
June 13, 1921 – The famous bear pits at the St. Louis Zoo were opened for public view on this day. The “rocks” were actually concrete cast from molds of the cliffs near Herculaneum.
