St Louis seems to be a breeding ground for innovators and inventors to florish--either within the city and county limits or become successful because of the support of the St Louis community.
Lets take a look at some of the innovators who herald from a connection with St Louis. . my hometown.
Ice Cream Cone
The walk-away edible ice cream cone made its American debut at the 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair. Ice cream in a cone was served by several vendors at the Fair--some historians estimate that there may have been as many as 50 vendors selling ice cream cones on the World Fair grounds in Forest Park.
Paper and metal cones with handles were used in Europe for ice cream in the 1800's but it was the innovation of edible cones that transformed the joyful cultural shift in ice cream eating that continues today. And had you been alive in 1904--you would have met the ice cream cone in St Louis--met at the Fair.
Peanut Butter:
Peanut butter was invented and reinvented many times during history. Peanuts were known as early as 950 B.C. and originated in South America. The ancient Incas used peanuts and were known to have made it into a paste-like substance. As a crop peanuts emigrated from South America to Africa by early explorers and then traveled by trade into Spain who then traded the product to the American colonies. The first commercial peanut crop was grown in Virginia in the early to mid 1840's and in North Carolina beginning around 1818. According to the Corn Products Company, Dr. Ambrose Straub of St. Louis patented a peanut butter-making machine in 1903.
Transportation
The steamboat era began in St Louis on July 27, 1817, with the arrival of the Zebulon M. Pike. Replacing the hand-propelled barges and keel boats that were once the choice vehicle of Mississippi River trade, steamboats could travel upriver, and against the current, just as easily as downriver.
Rapids north of the city made St Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large boats. The Pike and her sisters transformed St Louis into a bustling boom town, commercial center and inland port. By the 1830's, it was common to see more than 150 steamboats at the St Louis levee. by the 1850's, St Louis had become the largest U.S. city west of Pittsburgh, and the second-largest port in the country, with a commercial tonnage exceeded only by New York.
Architecture
St Louis is one of several cities claiming the world's first skyscraper. The Wainwright Building, a 10-story structure designed by Louis Sullivan and built in 1892, still stands at Chestnut and Seventh Streets.
Tall buildings were called skyscrapers as early as 1880's. They were built on a steel structure and had central heating, electrical pumps and lifts. In 1890, Louis Sullivan along with Major William Le Baron built The Home Insurance Building in Chicago--which included the basement. The Wainwright Building in St Louis was 10-stories without counting the basement. Frank Lloyd Wright called the Wainwright Building "the first human expression of a tall, steel office building as architecture".
The impact of the skyscraper:
- changed how people live and work
- defined the outline and skyline of our US cities,, including my hometown, St Louis
- gracefully enhanced the photographic memories of tourists and of those who embrace big cities and call them "home".
St Louis is a city of innovation and inventors, ideas and impact. And its my hometown, A - Z.
