Missouri Wall of Fame
Encyclopedia
The Missouri Wall of Fame is a 500-foot span of flood wall
in downtown Cape Girardeau, Missouri
, covered with a mural
depicting 45 famous people who were born in the state or achieved fame while living there.
Those depicted on the wall include:
Flood wall
A flood wall is a primarily vertical artificial barrier designed to temporarily contain the waters of a river or other waterway which may rise to unusual levels during seasonal or extreme weather events...
in downtown Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Cape Girardeau is a city located in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in Southeast Missouri in the United States. It is located approximately southeast of St. Louis and north of Memphis. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 37,941. A college town, it is the home of Southeast Missouri...
, covered with a mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
depicting 45 famous people who were born in the state or achieved fame while living there.
Those depicted on the wall include:
| Person | Missouri Connection | Origin of Fame |
|---|---|---|
| Burt Bacharach Burt Bacharach Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick... |
Kansas City | pianist and composer |
| Josephine Baker Josephine Baker Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess".... |
St. Louis | singer and dancer |
| Thomas Hart Benton (painter) Thomas Hart Benton (painter) Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. His fluid, almost sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States... |
Neosho | painter, painted mural at Missouri State Capitol Missouri State Capitol The Missouri State Capitol is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Housing the Missouri General Assembly, it is located in the state capital of Jefferson City at 201 West Capitol Avenue. The domed building was designed by the New York architectural firm of Tracy and Swartwout and completed in 1917... |
| Thomas Hart Benton (senator) Thomas Hart Benton (senator) Thomas Hart Benton , nicknamed "Old Bullion", was a U.S. Senator from Missouri and a staunch advocate of westward expansion of the United States. He served in the Senate from 1821 to 1851, becoming the first member of that body to serve five terms... |
St. Louis | five term (1821-1851) United States Senator |
| Yogi Berra Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career for the New York Yankees... |
St. Louis | Hall of Fame catcher with the New York Yankees New York Yankees The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division... |
| George Caleb Bingham George Caleb Bingham George Caleb Bingham was an American artist whose paintings of American life in the frontier lands along the Missouri River exemplify the Luminist style. Left to languish in obscurity, Bingham's work was rediscovered in the 1930s... |
St. Louis | artist |
| Susan Elizabeth Blow | St. Louis | founder of the first public kindergarten Kindergarten A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school... |
| Omar Bradley Omar Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior U.S. Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army in the United States Army... |
Clark | United States Army United States Army The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services... general in World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... , last person to hold the rank of 5-star general |
| George Brett George Brett (baseball) George Howard Brett , nicknamed "Mullet", is a former Major League Baseball third baseman, designated hitter, and first baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Kansas City Royals. Brett's 3,154 career hits are the most by any third baseman in major league history, and 15th... |
Kansas City | Hall of Fame third baseman with the Kansas City Royals Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium... |
| Lou Brock Lou Brock Louis Clark "Lou" Brock is an American former professional baseball player. He began his Major League Baseball career with the Chicago Cubs but, spent the majority of his career as the left fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. Brock was best known for breaking Ty Cobb's all-time major league... |
St. Louis | Hall of Fame outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to... , former all-time leader in stolen bases |
| Jack Buck Jack Buck John Francis "Jack" Buck was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. Buck received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, and is honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame... |
St. Louis | long-time St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster |
| August Busch, Jr. | St. Louis | developed Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the... into the world's largest brewery, also owned the St. Louis Cardinals |
| Calamity Jane Calamity Jane Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans... |
Princeton | frontierswoman and scout, friend of Wild Bill Hickok Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach... |
| Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegie Dale Breckenridge Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills... |
Maryville | writer and researcher, best known for the book How to Win Friends and Influence People How to Win Friends and Influence People How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the first bestselling self-help books ever published. Written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936, it has sold 15 million copies world-wide.... |
| George Washington Carver George Washington Carver George Washington Carver , was an American scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor. The exact day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born into slavery in Missouri in January 1864.... |
Diamond | inventor and researcher |
| Kate Chopin Kate Chopin Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty , was an American author of short stories and novels. She is now considered by some to have been a forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century.... |
St. Louis | author |
| Walter Cronkite Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll... |
St. Joseph | long-time CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of... evening news anchor |
| T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his... |
St. Louis | poet, dramatist, and literary critic |
| Don Faurot Don Faurot Donald Burrows Faurot was an American football and basketball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, now Truman State University, from 1926 to 1934 and at the University of Missouri from 1935 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1956... |
Columbia | former University of Missouri University of Missouri The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses... head football coach |
| Eugene Field Eugene Field Eugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays.-Biography:... |
St. Louis | author |
| Redd Foxx Redd Foxx John Elroy Sanford , better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, best known for his starring role on the sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life:... |
St. Louis | comedian, star of NBC NBC The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago... hit show Sanford and Son Sanford and Son Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977.... |
| Joe Garagiola | St. Louis | Hall of Fame baseball player and baseball sportscaster |
| Linda M. Godwin Linda M. Godwin Linda Maxine Godwin is an American scientist and a NASA astronaut. Godwin is the Assistant to the Director for Exploration, Flight Crew Operations Directorate at the Johnson Space Center.-Background:... |
Jackson | scientist and NASA NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research... astronaut |
| Betty Grable Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"... |
St. Louis | actress, singer, dancer |
| Jean Harlow Jean Harlow Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute... |
Kansas City | actress |
| Langston Hughes Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance... |
Joplin | poet, novelist, and social activist |
| John Huston John Huston John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge... |
Nevada | actor and film director |
| Jesse and Frank James Frank James Alexander Franklin "Frank" James was a famous American outlaw. He was the older brother of outlaw Jesse James.-Childhood:... |
Kearney | outlaws |
| Scott Joplin Scott Joplin Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas... |
Sedalia | composer and musician |
| Rush Limbaugh Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United... |
Cape Girardeau | radio personality, acknowledged creator of the political radio talk-show format |
| Stan Musial Stan Musial Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals . Nicknamed "Stan the Man", Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection , and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball... |
St. Louis | Hall of Fame outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals |
| Marie Elizabeth Oliver | Cape Girardeau | creator of the Missouri state flag Flag of Missouri The Flag of the State of Missouri was designed and stitched in Jackson, Missouri, by Marie Elizabeth Watkins Oliver , the wife of former State Senator R.B. Oliver. Her design was adopted in 1913 and remains unchanged to this day.... |
| Rose O'Neill Rose O'Neill Rose Cecil O'Neill was an illustrator who created a popular period comic called Kewpie.-Early life:... |
Taney County | illustrator and creator of the Kewpie character |
| James Cash Penney | Hamilton | retailer and founder of J.C. Penney J.C. Penney J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. JCPenney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many... |
| Marlin Perkins Marlin Perkins Richard Marlin Perkins was a zoologist best known as a host of the television program Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom from 1963 to 1985.-Biography:... |
Carthage | host of Wild Kingdom Wild Kingdom Wild Kingdom, sometimes known as Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, is an American television show that features wildlife and nature. It was originally produced from 1963 until 1988, and was revived in 2002... |
| John J. Pershing John J. Pershing John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I... |
Laclede | United States Army general during World War I World War I World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918... |
| Vincent Price Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St... |
St. Louis | actor known for his work in horror films |
| Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911), born Politzer József, was a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. Pulitzer introduced the techniques of "new journalism" to the newspapers he acquired in the 1880s and became a leading... |
St. Louis | newspaper publisher and creator of the Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City... |
| Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century.... |
Independence | dancer |
| Tom Sawyer Tom Sawyer Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Tom Sawyer Abroad , and Tom Sawyer, Detective .Sawyer also appears in at least three unfinished Twain works, Huck and Tom... |
Mississippi River | fictional character portrayed in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the Town of "St... and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
| Dred Scott Dred Scott Dred Scott , was an African-American slave in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v... |
St. Louis | slave, plaintiff in the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford Dred Scott v. Sandford Dred Scott v. Sandford, , also known as the Dred Scott Decision, was a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that people of African descent brought into the United States and held as slaves were not protected by the Constitution and could never be U.S... case |
| Jess Stacy Jess Stacy Jess Stacy was an American jazz pianist who gained prominence during the Swing era.-Early life:Stacy was born Jesse Alexandria Stacy in Bird's Point, Missouri, a small town across the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois. In 1918 Stacy moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri... |
Bird's Point | swing Swing (genre) Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States... pianist Pianist A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:... |
| Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his... |
Independence | 33rd President of the United States President of the United States The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.... and the only Missourian to hold the office |
| Porter Wagoner Porter Wagoner Porter Wayne Wagoner was a popular American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. He introduced the young Dolly Parton near the beginning of her career on his long-running television show, and they were a well-known duet throughout the late 1960s and... |
West Plains | country musician |
| Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family... |
Mansfield | author of the famous Little House Little House -Books, TV, and Song:* "Little House on the Prairie", a series of novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder * Little House on the Prairie , television series based on these novels... series |
| Tennessee Williams Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs... |
Columbus | playwright |