On January 18, 1884, an elaborate opera house opened at the northeast corner of 9th and Broadway. Called the Haden’s Opera House after its owner Joel H. Haden it was on the second and third stories of a ornate three story building. The building was constructed around 1878 and had been known as Garth Hall. Haden remodeled the building to seat 1,246 with two balconies and four private boxes. African Americans were limited to the upper balcony. Although the Haden Opera House lasted for less than twenty years, burning in a fire in 1901, it was the center of social life for Columbia. It hosted traveling actors, minstrel shows, lectures, and local musicians.

On January 17, 1929 Slater Ensor Lenoir died at his home of Maplewood, he was 95. He had come to Missouri when less than a year old, with his family, in 1834, he grew up and lived at Greenwood (see January 15th entry), which was built for his father Walter Raleigh Lenoir. Slater Lenoir would attend the University of Missouri and participate in the California Gold Rush of 1850. He returned to Columbia in 1851 by sea, crossing the isthmus of Panama. After marrying Margaret A. Bradford in 1864 they continued to live at Greenwood until 1877, at which point they constructed a home and 427 acre farm south of the City of Columbia on the gravel road to Ashland. This home, named Maplewood, was located in a large grove of sugar maple tress. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 13, 1979.

On January 16, 1970, the Columbia Missourian reported that 120 Hickman High School students received special permission to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Russell Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Less than two years earlier the civil rights leader and champion of non-violence had been assassinated in Montgomery, Alabama. James Earl Ray, who was convicted of the murder, escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City by hiding in a bread truck in 1967 before assassinating King in 1968.

On January 15, 1979, Greenwood, one of Columbia’s oldest surviving brick structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The home, is “a remarkable example of the Federal style as interpreted locally and exhibits a high degree of preservation of original features.” It was the home of Walter Raleigh Lenoir, a member of a wealthy and influential family. There is some debate over when the oldest part of Greenwood was built, but at earliest it was 1827 and at latest 1839; Columbia was founded in 1821. The house is still occupied and used as a family home today. It is very likely the oldest brick structure in Columbia.

On January 14, 1911, Ulysses S. Grant Elementary School held its first day of classes welcoming students from 1st to 6th grade. It is named after the 18th President of the United States who, prior to being elected, was Commanding General of the Union Army during the American Civil War. Grant School was built to relieve overcrowding in the Columbia Public School District. Its architect was St. Louis based William B. Ittner, who has been called the most influential man in school architecture in the United States. Construction took only 10 months, beginning in March 1910, and was completed in time for the buildings opening on January, 14, 1911.

On January 13, 1816 the Missouri Territory General Assembly passed a a law creating Howard County. Larger than Switzerland in area, it included all of the land that is now Columbia and even parts of the future state of Iowa. It was still five years before the Missouri Territory would gain statehood in 1821, but in the 1810s, settlers from Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee had settled in mass over an area of Mid-Missouri they called the Boonslick. The area was named after a salty natural spring that was used, beginning in 1805, by the sons of Kentuckian-Missourian frontiersman Daniel Boone to manufacture salt, a vital resource on the frontier.

On January 12, 1975, the Columbia Missourian reported on the controversy surrounding the announcement of Arland F. Christ-Janer as the new President of Stephens College. Stephens College, still described as a women’s college today, was founded as the Columbia Female Academy in 1833. The original Columbia College (see yesterday’s entry) was chartered that same year for the education of men.

On January 11, 1839, the Geyer Act was introduced and passed the Missouri House of Representatives. After then passing the Missouri Senate, it was signed by the Governor on February 11, 1939, creating the University of Missouri and the state’s first system of public education.

On January 10, 1910, the University Missourian reported Columbia citizens had experienced a lack of electricity for parts of the previous three nights due to a broken value and demand for electricity outstripping the power plant’s capacity. The city’s first power plant was built less than twenty years earlier in 1892 by the private company Columbia Water and Light. The company was founded after a massive fire (see yesterday’s post)

On January 9th, 1892, the greatest catastrophe to ever transpire in Columbia occurred when an extraordinary fire at the University of Missouri consumed Academic Hall. Far more than a building was lost, but through heroic effort, a few artifacts were saved. The disaster nearly resulted in the university moving from Columbia. Instead, a renaissance occurred through the leadership of a few men, and an act of profound historic preservation gifted the school and city their most iconic symbol.