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Missouri History Museum

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St. Louis deserves a proper introduction. Find it at WeAreStLouis.com.

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November is bringing plenty of ways to explore, learn, and experience history 🍂

From Día de los Muertos celebrations and Veterans Day festivities to thought-provoking conversations, new exhibitions, and behind-the-scenes looks at St. Louis, there’s something for everyone this month.

Save your favorites, make some plans, and spend a little time exploring history with us this November 🧡 by @mohistorymuseum

What started as one St. Louis mechanic’s creative experiment in 1975 grew into a larger-than-life phenomenon 👀

From towering tires to arena-filling stunts 🛞 monster trucks have come a long way in the past 50 years. Swipe through to discover how one big idea became a MONSTER of an industry!

🏛️ Learn more by visiting the "Made in St. Louis" feature gallery in the Missouri History Museum's "Collected" exhibit!

#stlouishistory #monstertrucks #stlouis #missourihistorymuseum by @mohistorymuseum

What do we inherit from the generations before us — and what do we choose to change?

Join us for an unforgettable evening revolving around connections between the Black South and Black St. Louis, tracing back to the histories of Black families and communities that continue to shape America.

You're invited for this powerful and personal conversation featuring @bakarisellers, New York Times–bestselling author, attorney, and CNN political analyst, mediated by Lyah LeFlore-Ituen, Director of the African American History Initiative and a New York Times-bestselling author and producer, on how history lives in us while also shaping how we see the present.

📍 Missouri History Museum
📅 Thursday, November 5
🍝 5-7pm: Food & Drinks
🎤 6:30-8pm: Main event in Lee Auditorium (lower level) by @mohistorymuseum

St. Louis has a rich culture of baseball history, which is showcased in a new exhibit at the Missouri History Museum called “St. Louis At Bat: 100 Moments in Baseball History.” Elaine Cha and the “St. Louis On The Air” team took time to explore this in a discussion with Missouri History’s Adam Kloppe and me.

The episode centered on the museum's fabulous new exhibit as well as my new book on the 1926 World Series. Between Elaine's engaging questions and listeners calling in, we covered so much more beyond the dramatic 1926 World Series and the origins of St. Louis baseball in the 1800s.

We also discussed the intersection of Adam's idea for the museum exhibit and my idea of the book. Even though we had never met, both of us independently realized several years ago that 2026 would be a special milestone -- not just for the @cardinals but also how baseball fundamentally changed the culture of St. Louis.

You can get a link to the full broadcast in the link in my bio. Elaine also has an article posted on the STLNPR.org website.

The museum’s baseball exhibit is free, and it will be open through Labor Day of 2027.

And you can get more information on my book, “The Year St. Louis Became A Baseball Town: The Cardinals, Babe Ruth & The 1926 World Series,” at www.1926baseball.com. It’s available online, by contacting me, and at the History Museum’s gift shop.

@arcadia_publishing @mlb @npr #cardinals @yankees @elainechastl @adamkloppe by @mohistorymuseum

A Missouri crematory changed how people dealt with death ⚱️

Opened in the 1880s just south of Sublette Park in St. Louis, the Missouri Crematory was the first crematory west of the Mississippi River and only the sixth in the entire country. This beautiful historic building reflects how social norms around death were shifting in the late 19th century.

Cremation is an ancient and common practice in many societies, but in Western cultures, earth burial has long been the norm. The Missouri Crematory broke from that tradition, and it was also the first of the modern era to include a columbarium for storing urns (see the second photo).

🎬 Discover its role in the evolution of St. Louis's approach to death and cremation in our History Spotlight. Link in bio! by @mohistorymuseum

🐉 In 1841, St. Louis was home to a creature unlike anything the world had ever seen...at least, that’s what Albert Koch wanted everyone to believe.

A fossil hunter and showman, Koch claimed he’d discovered the "Missouri Leviathan," an enormous aquatic beast with alligator-like armor and tusks that could sweep fallen trees from rivers 🌳 He’d found real prehistoric bones along Missouri’s Pomme de Terre River 🦴 but as he assembled the skeleton, he added extra bones from his collection to create something far more extraordinary.

The creature became a sensation at Koch’s St. Louis Museum, but he had bigger ambitions 👀

He took his creation to London, where skeptical scientists questioned his claims even as public curiosity soared. In 1843, he sold the skeleton to the British Museum for $2,000, plus an annual stipend for the rest of his life.

So what was the "Missouri Leviathan?"

A prehistoric mastodon dressed up as a river monster. Today, its skeleton stands in London’s Natural History Museum 🏛️ a lasting reminder of one St. Louis showman’s spectacular imagination.

🔗 Find this story and more in our "I Am St. Louis" book, now available to preorder using the link in our bio! by @mohistorymuseum

Happy Halloween from the Missouri Historical Society 🎃

From St. Louis legends to spooky stories of the past, history has its share of tricks, treats, and mysteries. We hope your Halloween is filled with plenty of fun and just the right amount of fright 👻

Looking for a little Halloween fun 👀 Stop by the Missouri History Museum to explore our "Haunted History Clubhouse," take in the spooky decorations, and get into the Halloween spirit with us!

#MissouriHistoryMuseum #MissouriHistoricalSociety by @mohistorymuseum

At Día de los Muertos, you can:

🌼 Explore ofrendas + art
🎶 Listen to live music
💃 Experience dance performances
🌮 Grab food from local vendors
🎨 Make crafts with the family
📖 Hear bilingual stories
💀 Catch the Catrina Contest
🌳 Join Saturday’s procession through Forest Park

Join us for two days of remembrance, tradition, food, music and community!

📅 November 7–8
⏰ 10am–5pm
📍 Missouri History Museum
🔗 See the full schedule using the "Events" link in our bio

Presented in collaboration with @hispanic_festival_stl, @mexicanos_en_st_louis, and @latinxartsstl. by @mohistorymuseum

⚾ PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Moses Fleetwood Walker

On May 6, 1884, hundreds of Black baseball fans gathered at St. Louis’s Sportsman’s Park to witness history: Moses Fleetwood Walker, catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings, taking the field in a predominantly white professional league.

Walker collected two hits and scored a run that day, but his major league career lasted just 42 games, cut short by injuries and the racism he faced from opposing players and fans.

Afterward, Walker continued playing baseball before becoming a theater owner, civil rights activist, and author.

Learn more about Walker's story by visiting the Missouri History Museum's "St. Louis at Bat: 100 Moments in Baseball History" exhibit, presented by the William R. Orthwein, Jr. and Laura Rand Orthwein Foundation, with additional support provided by Bank of America, Edward Jones, St. Louis Cardinals and Cardinals Care, and Larry and Hannah Langsam.

#stlouishistory #baseballhistory by @mohistorymuseum

Our Zoo Museum District Green Team is on fire! Our members had the opportunity to visit the Missouri Botanical Garden to connect, collaborate, and share best practices for waste management.

These “field trips” are VALUABLE opportunities to learn about one another’s successes, challenges, and innovative solutions. Teams from the Saint Louis Zoo, Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum, and the Saint Louis Science Center are actively working alongside the Garden to develop stronger sustainable operations at all of these sites.

Learn more about the Garden’s sustainability efforts by visiting the link in our bio! 🎉🌎 by @mohistorymuseum

A little trick-or-treating, games, tarot cards, and Halloween rock 🎃👻🎸

We checked out Ghost Stories & Guitars at the Missouri History Museum, and it was such a fun way to spend the evening! Between trick-or-treating through the galleries, playing games for prizes, and listening to Halloween classics, there was so much to do. And of course, one of my favorite little moments was watching Alara take it all in while the band played. 🥹❤️

I love finding fun events like this around St. Louis that let us make memories together while exploring something new!

@mohistorymuseum @forestparkforever @build_parenting

#STLFamilyFun #STLKids #StLouisMoms #ExploreStLouis #HalloweenInSTL by @mohistorymuseum

What if a toy could tell a story that words couldn't?

On November 11, “War Toys: Ukraine” opens at @soldiersstlouis.

The traveling exhibition brings together photographs by Brian McCarty and drawings created by Ukrainian children who experienced the war in 2022. Through expressive art therapy, children used drawings and play to communicate their experiences, fears and hopes. McCarty then recreated scenes from their drawings using toys, photographing them in locations throughout Ukraine.

Look closely and you'll see two stories at once: the world a child drew, and the world they were living in.

⚠️ The exhibition includes difficult subject matter related to war and children’s experiences of conflict.

Plan your visit using the "Exhibits" link in our bio.

Organized by @exhibits_usa, a national program of @midamericaartsalliance. by @mohistorymuseum