St. Louis

The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois. The... bridge is named for its designer and builder, James B. Eads. When completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6,442 feet . The ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material: it was the first such use of true steel in a major bridge project. The Eads Bridge was also the first bridge to be built using cantilever support methods exclusively, and one of the first to make use of pneumatic caissons. The Eads Bridge caissons, still among the deepest ever sunk, were responsible for one of the first major outbreaks of "caisson disease" . Fifteen workers died, two other workers were permanently disabled, and 77 were severely afflicted. On 14 June 1874, John Robinson led a "test elephant" on a stroll across the new Eads Bridge to prove it was safe. A big crowd cheered as the elephant from a traveling circus lumbered towards Illinois.
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Forest Park is a public park located in western part of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It is a prominent civic center and covers 1,371-acre . The... park, which opened in 1876 more than a decade after its proposal, has hosted several significant events, including the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 and the 1904 Summer Olympics. Bounded by Skinker Boulevard, Lindell Boulevard, Kingshighway Boulevard, and Oakland Avenue, the park is known as the "heart of St. Louis" and features a variety of attractions, including the St. Louis Zoo, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, and the St. Louis Science Center. An 1864 plan for a large park in the city limits was rejected by St. Louis voters. In 1872, St. Louis developer Hiram Leffingwell proposed a 1,000-acre park about three miles outside the city limits near land which he owned. After a period of intense lobbying by Leffingwell, the Missouri General Assembly authorized the city to purchase the land; however, city taxpayers challenged the purchase in court, and in 1873, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the authorization.
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The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West, is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. It... was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States. At 630 feet , it is the tallest man-made monument in the United States, Missouri's tallest accessible building, and the largest architectural structure designed as a weighted or flattened catenary arch. The arch is located at the site of St. Louis' foundation, on the west bank of the Mississippi River where Pierre Laclède, just after noon on February 14, 1764, told his aide, Auguste Chouteau, to build a city. The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and German-American structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947. Construction began on February 12, 1963, and ended on October 28, 1965, costing US$13 million at the time . The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967. In late 1933, civic leader Luther Ely Smith, returning to St. Louis from the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Vincennes, Indiana, beheld the crumbling St.
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The Missouri History Museum is located in St. Louis, Missouri in Forest Park. The museum is operated by the Missouri Historical Society and was... founded in 1866. The main galleries of the museum are free through a public subsidy by the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District The Jefferson Memorial Building, built in 1913 with profits from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, is the current home of the museum. In 1988, the Museum joined the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District and began receiving sales tax revenue. In 2000, the Emerson Center, a significant building addition was completed, boosting attendance and exhibition capacity. The Emerson Center, featuring a ground-to-roof southern glass facade, was designed by Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, and included substantially more exhibition space, as well as an auditorium, classrooms, a restaurant and gift shop. The Emerson Center was selected by the American Institute of Architects's Committee on the Environment as an example of architectural design that protects and enhances the environment. It is an example of a green museum.
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The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is an art museum for contemporary art, located in St. Louis, in the U.S. state of Missouri.

City Museum is a museum, consisting largely of repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building in... the Washington Avenue Loft District of St. Louis, Missouri. Popular among residents and tourists, the museum bills itself as an "eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel." Visitors are encouraged to feel, touch, climb on, and play in the various exhibits. The museum attracted over 300,000 visitors in 1999 and over 600,000 in 2007. It has been named one of the "great public spaces" by the Project for Public Spaces, and has won other local and international awards as a must-see destination. City Museum was founded by artist Bob Cassilly, who remained the museum's artistic director until his death, and his then-wife Gail Cassilly. The museum's building was once a shoe factory and warehouse but was mostly vacant when the Cassillys bought it in 1983. Construction began in January 1995 and the building opened to the public on October 25, 1997.
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The Scott Joplin Residence in Saint Louis, Missouri was the home of composer Scott Joplin from 1900 to 1903. The house and its surroundings are... presently designated as Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, a Missouri state park. It was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976.
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Gregory M. Cromer, Jr. is an American actor known as Greg Cromer.

LaWanda Page , born Alberta Peal, was an American actress and comedienne best known for her portrayal of Aunt Esther in the 1970s TV sitcom Sanford... and Son. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Page was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She began her career in show business working small nightclubs, billed as "The Bronze Goddess of Fire," an act which included her eating fire and lighting cigarettes with her fingertips. She performed the cigarette feat on an episode of Sanford and Son, in which Fred held a circus in his front yard. LaWanda Page and Redd Foxx were very close friends from the time they were pre-teen age. They attended school and grew up together in St. Louis. Later on, they both entered the field of comedy separately and performed stage acts. Page later recorded several live comedy albums for the Laff Records label in the late 1960s and early 1970s under the LaWanda stage name. One release, a gold-selling album called Watch it, Sucka!, was titled after one of her Aunt Esther character's catchphrases to capitalize on her newfound TV fame.
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William Seward Burroughs II February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997 was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary... figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century." His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays. Five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, and made many appearances in films. He was born to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri, grandson of the inventor and founder of the Burroughs Corporation, William Seward Burroughs I, and nephew of public relations manager Ivy Lee. Burroughs began writing essays and journals in early adolescence.
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Doris Roberts is an American character actress of film, stage and television. She has received five Emmy Awards during her acting career, which... began in 1952. She is perhaps best known for her role as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996 to 2005. Doris Roberts was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Ann Meltzer, raised Roberts in the Jewish faith in the New York City borough of The Bronx with the assistance of her own parents, after her husband, whose name may have been Larry Meltzer or Larry Green, deserted the family. Doris' stepfather, whose surname she took as her own, was Chester H. Roberts. Chester and Ann Roberts operated the Z.L. Rosenfield Agency, a stenographic service catering to playwrights and actors. Roberts' acting career began in 1952 with a role on the TV series Studio One. She appeared in episodes of The Naked City , Way Out , Ben Casey , and The Defenders . In 1961, she made her film debut in Something Wild.
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Nathaniel Taylor is an American television actor, best known for portraying "Rollo Larson" in the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son, and as Rerun's ... brother-in-law "Ike" in the sitcom What's Happening!!. Taylor's character "Rollo" once referred to Redd Foxx's character "Fred G. Sanford" as, "One cold-blooded old dude.
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David Eric Robertson is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest... Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Robertson was born and raised in Malibu, California, and grew up in a music-loving family. His father was a research scientist at Hughes Laboratory and his mother studied literature, but later had a career as a caterer. In grade school, he played French horn and violin, and first conducted at age 12. He later studied horn, composition, and conducting as a college student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. After his college years, he began to receive conducting offers in Europe and performed often in both symphonic and operatic repertoire. His early career was also given a boost by speaking engagements contracted by the U.S. Information Agency in the Middle East and around the world on the subject of music. In 1985, David Robertson was appointed resident conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Five years later, in October 1990, the Ensemble Intercontemporain of Paris named him Music Director.
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Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic performances in a series of horror films made... in the latter part of his career. Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Marguerite Cobb and Vincent Leonard Price, Sr., who was the president of the National Candy Company. His grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price, invented "Dr. Price's Baking Powder," the first cream of tartar baking powder, and secured the family's fortune. Price attended St. Louis Country Day School. He was further educated at Yale in art history and fine art. He was a member of the Courtauld Institute, London. He became interested in the theatre during the 1930s, appearing professionally on stage for the first time in 1935. He made his film debut in 1938 with Service de Luxe and established himself in the film Laura , opposite Gene Tierney, directed by Otto Preminger. He also played Joseph Smith, Jr. in the movie Brigham Young and William Gibbs McAdoo in Wilson as well as a pretentious priest in The Keys of the Kingdom .
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Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden... Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise. Bakula also guest starred in seasons two and three of NBC's Chuck as the title character's father Stephen Bartowski. Bakula's most recent role was on Desperate Housewives as the lawyer named Trip which happened to be his chief engineer's nickname in Enterprise. Bakula was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Sally and Stewart J. Bakula, a concert pianist/lawyer. He graduated from Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, in 1973. During high school, he was active in soccer, tennis, and theatre. Also during high school, he had the lead roles in Godspell and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at First Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood. He also played Tevye in an Independent Theatre Production of Fiddler on the Roof at Kirkwood High. Bakula attended college at the University of Kansas until his sophomore year.
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Janis Schmitt is an American model and actress. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its February 1978 issue. Her centerfold was... photographed by Ken Marcus. Schmitt worked as a bunny at the Playboy Club in St Louis.
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Jean Bell was one of the first of Playboy magazine's African American Playmates of the Month. When she appeared in the October 1969 issue of... Playboy, Bell was only the second African American woman to grace the centerfold . Her centerfold was photographed by Don Klumpp. A few months later, Bell became the first black person to appear on the magazine's cover. Darine Stern, who is often erroneously credited with this distinction was actually the first black woman to appear on the cover of Playboy on her own in the October 1971 issue. Bell was featured with four other playmates in the January 1970 cover of the magazine. After Bell's appearance in Playboy, she enjoyed a brief acting career, working on such films as Mean Streets and The Klansman . Bell dated Richard Burton and helped him quit drinking and as a result was credited with getting him back together with Elizabeth Taylor afterwards. An Earl Wilson column in September 1975 revealed Bell's three-month friendship with the actor.
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Ola Ray is an American model and actress most notable for co-starring alongside Michael Jackson in his short film for "Thriller" in 1983. She... modeled for Playboy and was the Playmate of the Month for the June 1980 issue. Ray complained in the past about difficulties collecting royalties from her participation in "Thriller". At first, Ray blamed Michael Jackson, but then apologized to him in 1997. However, Ray eventually sued Jackson on May 5, 2009 in a dispute to obtain uncollected royalties. Jackson died less than two months later on June 25 at age 50. In 2012, Jackson's estate settled the lawsuit.
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Kay Thompson was an American author, composer, musician, actress and singer. She is best known as the creator of the Eloise children's books.... Catherine Louise Fink was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1909, the second of the four children of Leo George Fink, an Austrian-born pawnbroker and jeweler, and his wife, the former Hattie A. Tetrick. Her siblings were Blanche, Marian, and Leo. She married twice: Thompson began her career in the 1930s as a singer and choral director for radio. Her first big break was as a regular singer on The Bing Crosby-Woodbury Show . This led to a regular spot on The Fred Waring-Ford Dealers Show and then, with conductor Lennie Hayton, she co-founded The Lucky Strike Hit Parade where she met trombonist Jack Jenney. Kay Thompson and Her Rhythm Singers joined André Kostelanetz and His Orchestra for the hit series The Chesterfield Radio Program , followed by It's Chesterfield Time for which Kay and her large choir were teamed with Hal Kemp and His Orchestra.
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