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Missouri Historical Review
Floyd C. Shoemaker was the principal speaker on the occasion,
choosing as his subject the objectives that could be undertaken by
a county historical society. He was followed by Marquess Wallace,
who dedicated four historical marker plaques for the Mexico area,
and by President Robert S. Green who summarized the group's
program for the future. Mr. Green's trump card was the announcement of a plan to erect a museum in Mexico. He displayed an
architect's sketch of the proposed building, drawn and contributed
by H. Connely Plunkett, an Audrain Countian of the firm of Hurst
John of Columbia.
Over 100 persons paid membership dues of $1 at the close of
the meeting.
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER NATIONAL MONUMENT DEDICATED
George Washington Carver,
famed Negro scientist who died
in 1943, was honored on July 14
by the dedication of the 210-acre
farm near Diamond, Mo., Newton County, where he was born
a slave during the Civil War, as a
national monument under the
supervision of the National Park
Service. Described as a "memorial to inter-racial peace," the
monument is the first of such
national memorials to an American Negro, first to an American
educator, first to any American
for services to agriculture, and
the first to an American scientist. A crowd of 2,000 persons was present at the ceremonies on
what had been proclaimed as George Washington Carver Day by
Governor Phil M. Donnelly.
Lieutenant Governor James T. Blair, Jr., introduced Secretary
of the Interior Douglas McKay as the principal speaker on the
morning program, which also included short talks by Congressman
Dewey Short, Howard W. Baker of the National Park Service,
Dr. A. J. Phillipe of the St. Louis Vine St. branch of the Y. M. C. A.,
and William Kerstetter, president of Simpson College, Indianola,
la., where Carver enrolled as a student when thirty years of age.
Photo by James V. Lloyd,
National Park Service
Bust of George Washington Carver
