Guest Author - Beth Green

Every state has as contributed something to United States history. Here is a list of some noteworthy dates and events that occurred in March, either in the Midwest region, or by people with ties to the Midwest.

March is Women’s History Month.

Big Band leader Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda Iowa on March 1, 1904.

St. Louis Missouri became the seat of the Louisiana Purchase on March 3, 1805.

Harlean Harlow Carpenter, better known as actress Jean Harlow, was born in Kansas City Missouri on March 3, 1911.

Actor William Frawley of I Love Lucy fame, who was born in Burlington Iowa, died on March 3, 1966 in Hollywood California.

It’s often said that on March 4, 1849, a US Senator from Missouri, David Rice Atchison, was President for a day.

Abraham Lincoln, born in Hardin County, Kentucky, was inaugurated as President twice, both times in March. He began his first term as President on March 4, 1861. His second inauguration was on March 4, 1865.

On March 5, 1946, less than a year after the end of World War II, Winston Churchill traveled by train with President Harry S Truman to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. There he gave his famous “Iron Curtain” speech to a crowd of 40,000.

The Dred Scott decision was handed down on March 6, 1857. Dred Scott was a slave owned by an officer in the US Army. The officer took Scott with him when he left the slave state of Missouri and relocated first to Illinois, and then to the Wisconsin territory. Both Illinois and the Wisconsin territory were free territory. After returning with the Army officer to Missouri, Scott sued for his freedom, claiming that because he lived for a period of years in free territory, that he and his wife should now be free. After a ten-year court battle, the US Supreme Court declared that a slave was not considered a citizen, and therefore had no rights to sue in a Federal Court. Dred Scott died 9 months after the decision, still a slave.

The Missouri State Penitentiary received its first prisoner on March 8, 1836.

Kansas City Jazz figure Charlie “Bird” Parker died in New York on March 12, 1955.

On March 22, 1913, the Missouri State Flag was adopted.

Silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was born in Smith Center Kansas on March 24, 1887.

The King of Rock ‘n Roll became Private Elvis Presley on March 24, 1958 when he enlisted in the United States Army.

August Busch, Jr., son of the founder of Anheuser-Busch Brewery, was born on March 28, 1899 in St. Louis Missouri.

Wild Kingdom’s Marlin Perkins was born in Carthage Missouri on March 28, 1905.

Famed clown Emmett Kelly, who was born in Sedan Kansas, died on March 28, 1979 in Sarasota Florida.

This is not a complete listing of events from the Midwest USA that have occurred in March. If you know of something that should be on the list, please send me an email.