The State legislature awarded $6,000 to the State Historical Society in Columbia in 1915 to collect the history of the 114 counties in Missouri for the State Centennial anniversary. In June 1916, the Chillicothe Chamber of Commerce elected five…

Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Iowa (1880-1960), also known as the “Father of Sliced Bread”, was an American inventor, engineer, and businessman who developed the first commercial automatic bread-slicing machine. His father, Claus Rohwedder was born on…

In 1833 and 1834, beginning with the New England states, the first African American Garrison schools, named after white abolitionist leader, William Lloyd Garrison, opened. The first Garrison school in Missouri opened around 1850. Chillicothe,…

James Graham was born on September 27, 1828, in White County, Illinois to John H. Graham from Pennsylvania and Rebecca Graham of Virginia, who died when James was only eight years old. The couple later moved to Illinois where James took up…

Spencer A. Stone was born on April 1, 1853 in Connorsville, Wabash County, Indiana to Kentucky native Spencer A. Stone Sr. and his wife Miss Ellen Daily. The death of his parents at an early age, left him an orphan. When he was fifteen years old, he…

The State Industrial Home For Girls was approved by the Thirty-Fourth General Assembly of Missouri on March 30, 1887. Based on a cottage management plan and a domestic industry instruction program required by law, $50,000 was appropriated and the…

The Luella Theatre was the first opera house in Chillicothe, Missouri, to serve the patrons of the city for not only entertainment but as a place for social organization gatherings for important events in the late nineteenth century. In January…

The Federal Building and Post Office jointly located in one building on the corner of Locust and Clay streets in Chillicothe, Missouri, was constructed in a grand rectangular size, with three-floor levels in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, which…