By Laura Huffman As any soldier, sailor, airman, or marine will relate, a USO sign is a welcome sight. Pulaski County historian Terry Primas summarizes in his 2005 Old Settlers Gazette article that the familiar logo is a “beacon of comfort” for service members and their families and it continues to “signal support for men… Read more »
Frank H. Wielandy, the “Father of Missouri State Parks,” owned and named Blue Jay Farm, now a rustic resort, near Dixon in Pulaski County, Missouri. 1. In 1928 Wielandy conducted an unsuccessful Republican primary campaign for Missouri Governor. 2. Wielandy was Missouri Fish & Game Commissioner under Governor Arthur M. Hyde. 3. Wielandy was known… Read more »
Chester West (C.W.) Parker is the namesake of Waynesville R-VI School District’s Parker Fine Arts building located on the Middle School campus. 1. In 1921, at the age of 19, Parker was the principal of an elementary school in the Picher, Oklahoma mining district. He also served as principal at Licking, MO High School. Parker… Read more »
Samuel Albert Countee was an American painter. While stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, during World War II, in 1945, Countee, an African-American Staff Sergeant, was enlisted to paint a 4-foot by 10.5-foot mural above the fireplace of the Black Officers Club housed in Building 2101. The Black Officers Club building at Fort Leonard Wood,… Read more »
Charles Milton Santee was a surveyor and land agent based in Rolla, Missouri for South Pacific Railroad Lands. 150 years ago, in 1869 he surveyed the villages of Dixon, Hancock, Crocker, and Richland as the railroad reached those points in its westward journey across Pulaski County, Missouri. 1. Santee surveyed the village of Prairieville, Illinois… Read more »