St. Joseph Anthology: The Little Known Stories Of Our Town

St. Joseph Anthology: The Little Known Stories of Our Town

The picture on the front cover of this book is of the former site of M. Jeff Thompson's (1826-1876) home on Fifth Street in St. Joseph, Missouri. Originally from Virginia, he moved first to Liberty, Missouri and then to St. Joseph in 1848. In St. Joseph, he began as a store clerk before becoming a surveyor and the city engineer. Thompson served as St. Joseph's mayor from 1857 to 1860 and presided over the ceremony initiating the first ride of the Pony Express on April 3, 1860. The following year, in May, he received national notoriety for cutting down the union flag over the St. Joseph post office and tossing it down to a crowd of southern sympathizers who tore it to pieces. In his capacity as a brigadier general of the First Division, Missouri State Guard, during the Civil War, his patrol covered the swampy area in the southeastern part of Missouri. His battalion was referred to as the "Swamp Rats" and Thompson became known as the "Swamp Fox of the Confederacy." Picture taken by Denise Bartles-Tapia. The Origin: In the Spring semester of 2010 I taught a college course that dealt with local cultural history. The class met at various historical locations throughout the City of St. Joseph, Missouri. Frequently, community members that were acquainted with the sites we visited would graciously discuss the historical and cultural significance of their particular place. As the class visited various places our numbers grew. Community people, including some who had discussed their site with the class, joined in our walks about town. As interest developed, I came up with the idea of publishing a book based on student stories about the history and culture of St. Joseph. Not only were students interested in this project but so too were the community members that had joined in our walks about town. In addition, as the word spread about this project, some historians familiar with the history of St. Joseph also wrote stories for inclusion in this book. The Editor: John Tapia received his Associate of Arts generalist degree from Pierce Junior College, California, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication in 1972 from California State University, Northridge, a Master of Arts degree in Speech Communication in 1973 from the University of Massachusetts and a Doctorate of Philosophy degree, Speech Communication emphasis, in 1978 from the University of Arizona with minors in American History and Medical Statistics. He has published seven books including, most recently, Rhetoric and Centers of Power in the Greco-Roman World (University Press of America 2009) and Circuit Chautauqua: From Rural Education to Popular Entertainment (McFarland 1997, 2008). The latter book became the basis of the television documentary "Circuit Chautauqua: A Bridge Between Two Centuries." In addition, he has published twenty papers in scholarly journals and presented over seventy papers at scholarly conferences. He has also served at an editor for the Southern Speech Journal and the Quarterly Journal of Speech. Currently, he is working with the former Chief Diplomatic Interpreter of the White House and State Department on a book discussing various aspects of diplomatic communication. He has also been requested to write a sequel to Rhetoric and Centers of Power.