Hometown Matters

By Pauline Masson – Readers of a certain age may remember one of Pacific’s favorite sons, Oliver Steinhaus. He was actually born in Washington, Missouri in 1893 but he almost grew up in Pacific.  Oliver Otto Steinhaus was the second child and oldest son of the vast Steinhaus clan. His father Charles Steinhaus, a telegraph lineman with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and Western Union Telegraph Company, and his first wife Anna had six children – Frances, Oliver, Charles, Wanda, Dewey … Continue reading “Oliver Steinhaus, a Favorite Son Whose Mastery of a Mysterious Machine Made Him a Rare Celebrity”

By Pauline Masson –  He was the longest serving elected official in Pacific history – 26 years as ward one alderman, two years as mayor and eight years on the Pacific Fire District board.  He hired the city’s first city administrator, urged his fellow aldermen to speak up but be willing to listen to the other guy and orchestrated assistance for victims of the city’s greatest flood. Kenneth Quennoz Sr lived his entire life in Pacific. He graduated from Pacific … Continue reading “Kenneth Quennoz Sr, Saw Himself As a Communicator Who Could Talk to Individuals with Differing Ideas “

By Pauline Masson –  An intense ten-minute verbal clash between Mayor Heather Filley and Alderman Scott Lesh at the opening of the Nov. 5 board of aldermen (BOA) set the stage for arguably the most dysfunctional meeting in Pacific history. And veteran meeting observers know that is saying something. The only item on the special meeting agenda was the city budget. Mr. Lesh wanted to amend the agenda to discuss the upcoming board of adjustment meeting, which he wanted to … Continue reading “Chaos at City Hall / Mayor Heather Filley Walks Out of Meeting Following Spat with Alderman Scott Lesh “

By Pauline Masson –  The Missouri Pacific (MoPac) commuter train, the Pacific Local, ran between Pacific and Union Station in downtown St.Louis for 100 years. At its height seven coaches carried 1,000 riders on its daily run. By 1961 the family car, Route 66 and the new Interstate 44 had reduced the number of rail commuters to 250, not enough to cover the cost to operate the train. It is uncertain when the daily commuter train, known locally as the … Continue reading “Forgotten Pacific / Commuter Rail Service to St. Louis Ended Sixty-Three Years Ago This Month”

By Pauline Masson – A twenty-foot tall lighted inflatable witch towers over a jungle of scary companions in Dan McClain’s yard at South Payne Street and Arbor Lane. It is Mr. McClain’s latest symbol of Halloween – his personal passion for celebrating what he thinks is the favorite dress-up holiday for children of all ages.  Halloween, a holiday celebrated around the world each year, will occur on Thursday, October 31. Sx times a year a hodgepodge of lighted inflatable characters … Continue reading “Twenty Foot Tall Witch Joins Bats, Black Cats & Creeping Spiders In Dan McClain’s Halloween Show”

By Pauline Masson – A small-by-any-measure wood building that now stands near the front of the Engelhart Farm flower/pumpkin/produce stand on West Osage was once the busiest structure in Pacific. After two separate lifetimes, it was set to be demolished recently when history buff Harry Engelhart thought it was worth saving. “Historic means old and worth remembering,” Mr. Engelhart said. “I just couldn’t see it demolished. It was part of the history of the town.” So here is the story. … Continue reading “Tiny 150-Year-Old Building that Was Once the Hub of City Life in Pacific Rescued From Demolition”

By Pauline Masson –  I am entering my 27th month of the fatigue syndrome associated  COVID, aka Long COVID. Except for a rare car ride to Liberty Field with my walker for a short trek on the driveway –  and an occasional car ride from my driveway to the driveway next door at the school district office to attend a Safety Net meeting – I have been largely hibernating at home. As an unreconstructed workaholic, my greatest discomfort is guilt … Continue reading “The Worst October, 1946, Pacific Faced An Epidemic More Frightening than COVID”

By Pauline Masson – Parrett’s Restaurant, with its steeply pitched roof and row of awning adorned windows stood on Osage at Fifth Street for more than thirty years. In the early years gasoline pumps stood on the paved front drive. Parking was in the rear. The restaurant opened one year after the Pacific stretch of Route 66 opened and three years before the famous road was paved all the way to California. Known today as the I-44 business loop, Pacific’s … Continue reading “Parrett’s Restaurant, One of Fifteen Eateries On Our Leg of Rt 66 Also Charmed the Home Crowd”

By Pauline Masson – “I don’t know if anybody realizes what a big part Pacific played in the war (WWII) effort,” the late Ed Brundick said in an oral history interview for the 1993 Pacific Pride Day celebration when he was 86 years old.  Mr. Brundick, retired at the time, had been an engineer with St. Louis Material and Supply Company that dredged gravel from the Meramec River. A thirty-year career there enabled him to send his three children to … Continue reading “How Pacific’s Sand and Gravel Helped Pave the Entry to the Nuclear Age “

__________________________________________________________________ By Pauline Masson In the last week of September 1864 Pacific resident William J. Stuhlman faced a serious decision. The Civil War was in its fourth year. Sherman and soldiers from the Pacific area were fighting in Georgia. Most people thought the war in the west was over. But in North Arkansas there was one holdout. Confederate General and former Missouri Governor Sterling Price entered Missouri from Northeast Arkansas, with the contingent of 12,000 cavalry troops and 14 cannons. … Continue reading “Heroes a Plenty – He Gave Up a Small Fortune to Prevent Pacific Property from Damage and Protect Women From a Ravaging Horde “