Missouri history

Leila's Hair Museum, the most unusual attraction in Independence, Missouri, closed in September. Thanks to the founder’s granddaughter, the massive collection of wreaths made out of human hair is finding new homes at museums across the country.

Eight crew members and 37 passengers — many from the Kansas City area — died in one of the deadliest air crashes in U.S. history. A book explores how, for some residents and families who responded to the disaster, the impacts can be lasting.

The University of Missouri–Kansas City recently restored one of the last remaining murals of a nearly forgotten Spanish painter. Hear the story of Luis Quintanilla and how he ended up in Kansas City.

A new memorial will mark the lynching of 21-year-old John Buckner in St. Louis County. An 1897 news report called it “swift punishment by a county mob.”

Uniting more than 200 sites across eastern Kansas and western Missouri, Freedom's Frontier preserves the story of the border war and the settlement of the western frontier. But the Trump administration has blocked funding for National Heritage Areas.

The Department of the Interior is requiring the National Park Service to post signs nationwide asking visitors for feedback on any information they feel misrepresents American history. One such sign was being installed at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in Missouri, a major Civil War site.

Jim the Wonder Dog gained fame for his alleged ability to predict the future and understand commands in multiple languages. A museum in Marshall, Missouri, dedicated to the arcane canine will host costume, trick, and look-alike contests this weekend to celebrate.

Bond had a major impact on Missouri Republicans, winning back the governorship in 1972 and sowing the seeds for the GOP's current dominance.

Founded by settlers in 1837, Hermann was dedicated as a place where German Americans could preserve their culture. Now its annual Hermann Wurstfest draws crowds with sausage sampling, competitions, and a Wiener Dog Derby.

Artist and researcher Janna Añonuevo Langholz led the effort to establish a marker in Clayton, Missouri, where the 1904 World's Fair put nearly 1,200 Filipino and Indigenous people on display for fair visitors. More than a dozen people died from disease, malnutrition or suicide.

The Kansas City Fire Department has responded to all kinds of emergencies since 1868, but some firefighters who died doing this dangerous work have been forgotten. Ray Elder is making certain all of them are remembered, and their names added to the Firefighters Fountain and Memorial.

Author Frances Levine tells the stories of a mix of women, each with different and very personal reasons for taking America’s first great international commercial highway to the West, in her book "Crossings: Women on the Santa Fe Trail."