Hometown Matters

By Pauline Masson – Joe McHugh, the artist, turned a childhood tendency to sketch faces into a lifetime compulsion. He never saw a face that he couldn’t draw, paint, or sculpt.  From early childhood in the three story McHugh-Dailey building on South First Street – before he entered St. Bridget Elementary School – Joe was a compulsive sketcher. I have a handful of paper restaurant napkins that he sketched for someone as they dined. I don’t even remember who gave … Continue reading “Niece Says 70-Year-Old Mystery Sketch is Work of Joe McHugh / Crucifix in Cell 8 / An Act of Devotion”

By Pauline Masson – Six months after offering to stay for a year to help the City through the search for replacement of the city administrator who resigned in August 2023, Interim City Administrator Harold Selby resigned the post April 2.  Selby is now the fourth city official to exit City Hall in eight months.  Previous city administrator Steve Roth resigned August 11, 2023. Former Economic Development Director Steve Myers left October 13, 2023. Former. And Police Chief Scott Melies … Continue reading “Fourth Departure at City Hall / Selby Resigns Saying Board Is Going In a Different Direction”

By Pauline Masson – Fascination with rocks, minerals and fossils makes rockhounds and hoarders of an eclectic group of collectors.  Some impulse picker-uppers set the souvenir rock on a table or night stand with no realization of why they like it, or, even what it is.  Resident Geologist Jo Schaper and her scientist friends say they can help.  On April 13, from noon to 3:00 p.m., Jo, and her associate Alfred (Fred) Schovanez and a fellow who goes by the Facebook … Continue reading “That Pretty Rock You Picked Up on Impulse May Have a Story to Tell / Ask Jo Schaper  “

By Pauline Masson –  The Knobel Building, the two-story mixed use brick building at 146 West St. Louis, carries the traces of 185 years of Pacific history.  This building was the second structure that held the name of the builder.  According to the anonymous historian who recorded Pacific’s early years, Joseph Knobel, one of the town’s earliest settlers, established a general store and family home west of the Keathley farm in about 1839, arguably on the promise that a railroad … Continue reading “Historic Knobel Building / Nine Lives of the Corner Grocery Store”

_______________________________________________________________________________ By Pauline Masson – My first story on Black history in Pacific, published in the Missourian newspaper in February 1999, was an eye opener for me and for Missourian publisher Bill Miller Sr. The story on Ella Miller, 97-year old granddaughter of a slave and then a resident of Pacific Care Company, was influenced by the late Barbara Bruns and the late Neil Brennan. Both suggested that since I liked history I should get to know some of the … Continue reading “Resurrection Hill Cemetery Tells the Story of Interracial History in Pacific”

By Pauline Masson –  Focusing on State and City requirements for how tourism tax funds can be spent, the City Tourism Commission asked Pacific Partnership officials to redraft a proposed contract between the City and the Partnership. The discussion took place at the March 12 Tourism Commission meeting. A draft of the contract that Partnership officials said would meet their needs was submitted to the Tourism Commission for review prior to the meeting. The call for a new agreement with … Continue reading “The Tourism Commission Calls for Redraft in Proposed Pacific-City Partnership Contract”

By Pauline Masson – When the St. Patrick’s Day Parade proceeds down Union and St. Louis streets on Saturday, March 16, the marchers and the green-clad spectators will be tapping into the large Irish community that helped build Pacific and preserved one of the most unspoiled rural communities in Missouri, the La Barque Hills, known locally as Little Ireland.  Today the LaBarque Hills community is unique for its pristine creeks, vast untamed conservation areas, historic landmarks and handsome estate-style homes. … Continue reading “The Legacy of the LaBarque Hills aka Little Ireland”

By Pauline Masson – In the recent decades at given times Pacific residents have been able to stroll among hundreds of antique autos on St. Louis Street, hear two-days of Bluegrass music in the park, watch St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras, and Christmas parades, witness one of the biggest chainsaw carving competitions in the U.S., stroll along the Moving Wall (Vietnam Veterans Memorial), take a chance on a $10,000 lottery, and cook in a in a Kansas City Barbecue competition. … Continue reading “Popular Big Crowd Events Follow an Era of Weekend Cookouts That Got People Off the Couch “

By Pauline Masson – It’s not a very big building, sitting in the lower left corner of a 1919 panorama of downtown Pacific that is known locally as the “boy on the bluff,” picture.  We’ve all looked at the much printed picture hundreds of times. After Brenda Wiesehan enhanced it to be used as 11 x 17 end sheets in the Pacific Sesquicentennial book we can see a lot more detail than we could before. I had previously noticed the … Continue reading “Snippet of Black History Hidden in Familiar Panorama, Known as “The Boy on the Bluff” Picture”

By Pauline Masson –  Social media pundit and political candidate Karla Stewart continued her Facebook page Believe in a Better Pacific claims against City Administrator Harold Selby, condemning him for his strong campaign for pay raises for all city employees. In posts this week, Ms. Stewart, candidate for Pacific Ward 1 seat on board of aldermen, said Mr. Selby was hostile to her fellow candidates James Cleeve and Scott Lesh – and to her. Her unhappiness with Mr. Selby fouses … Continue reading “City Employee Pay Raise Dispute Continues to Shape Election Campaigns / Hijinx on Social Media”