Missouri Day Celebration Honors Famous Missourians

This year’s Missouri Day packed the First Missouri State Capitol Historic Site with displays about almost every famous Missourian imaginable.

From artists such as Thomas Hart Benton to businessmen such as John Adam Lemp.

Because of rain, volunteers moved the displays inside three buildings: one for pioneers, one for entrepreneurs and one for writers and artists.

Picking up a small jar of herbs, volunteer Ken Porter explained to kids how Missouri became a melting pot for different medicines.

“A lot of it (medicine) has changed, but some of the old-fashioned (herbal) stuff still works,” Porter said.

Porter said teaching kids about history is a lot of fun. Porter and his brother, Jim Duncan, travel across the state to talk about life in the time of the pioneers.

Interpreters and volunteers from historical sites all over Missouri came to participate in the event as well as some local volunteers.

Mary Glenn is a retired teacher from the Academy of the Sacred Heart. Glenn and retired librarian Theresa Grass describe the life of the academy’s patron St. Philippine Duchesne at the event.

Glenn holds up a fur-lined foot warmer and tries to get children to guess what it is.

“I try to find things to get a conversation going with the kids,” Glenn said.

In 1915, the Missouri legislature founded Missouri Day to commemorate the state and the achievements of Missourians. Missouri Day is held every third Wednesday in October.