Jennings.

Jennings Historical Society


Know the Past
Understand the Present
Build the Future

Welcome to the website of the Jennings Historical Society of Jennings, Missouri!

James Jennings HouseFounded in 1980, the Jennings Historical Society is dedicated to keeping local history alive.

The JHS is a non-profit organization, created to collect, preserve and maintain the history of the City of Jennings, Missouri and to educate the public.

Check out the story of Jennings here.

Next meeting is Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 6:30PM. (Tharp Civic Center, 8720 Jennings Station Rd. Bring a dish for the potluck, a $1 wrapped gift for the gift exchange, and your dues [$7 senior/student, $12 under 62]. Business meeting to follow.)

News

7/27/2009Jenningsfest returns again!

We had another successful Jenningsfest at the newly renovated Koeneman Park. Unfortunately, we had the hottest weather of the summer (so far) on the same day. Hopefully we'll have better weather next year!

12/6/2006Ice + Trees = No Power

Jennings endured yet another round of power outages caused by an icy winter storm last week. Now, almost a week later, for most of the city, the lights (and heat) are back on.

Many tree limbs have come down, and many more were removed by Ameren's tree trimmers.

In other news, progress is being made in the demolition of older homes along Jennings Station Road, making way for new development in Ward 4. You'll see this positive path of destruction from Interstate 70 up to the Police Station at Emma.

- Greg

10/5/2006More about The Plaza

Here's a link to a PDF map of Sansone Group's new Buzz Westfall Plaza on the Boulevard (formerly Northland Shopping Center).

In addition to the Target and the Schnucks, we'll see a Sonic (fast food), Starbucks, Mobil On-the-Run, Simply Fashions, MJP Clothing, Payless Shoes, Foot Locker, King's Beauty Supply, US Cellular, H&R Block, and a number of other yet-to-be-determined shops.

We visited the new Target last night, and I must say, it's a large, well-stocked store with friendly employees, and you can get Starbucks and Pizza Hut goodies there.

I've added a new link to a blog on the River Roads Mall demolition, with plenty of photos, on the Links page.

- Greg

10/4/2006Target Open at Plaza

According to stltoday.com, the new 124,000-square-foot Target at the Buzz Westfall Plaza on the Boulevard (W. Florissant and Lucas-Hunt) opened yesterday, October 3rd. I've heard elsewhere that the new Schnucks will open on October 10th.

- Greg

9/20/2006Storm Cleanup Completed

Thanks to the Jennings Street Department, the July storm debris cleanup is almost entirely complete.

7/29/2006Power is out again in Jennings

About 75% of Jennings lost power again Friday night at about 8:50 PM. Ameren says there are some circuits that have shorted and that this outage is unrelated to the storms of last week.

The outage appears to have affected Jennings from about Goodfellow (west) to Lucas & Hunt (east), and from Theodore (south) to Ada Wortley (north). Ameren's outage map currently is showing the area of Jennings, Dellwood, Normandy, and possibly Ferguson or Florissant is without electricity at the present. Parts of Chesterfield in West County also appear to be without power.

So it's dj vu - all over again.

- Greg

7/28/2006"We were not prepared for this."

At the Jennings city council meeting on Monday, Jennings mayor Ben Sutphin stated that the city council is discussing ways to help prepare the city for future emergencies like the massive outage. He also explained that any limbs that have fallen will be picked up by the city's street department if placed on the curb and cut to lengths of 6-8 feet.

Jennings was greatly affected by the storms of last week:

KMOX: Jennings Waits

stltoday.com: New storm complicates recovery effort

- Greg

7/23/2006Incredibly powerful storm devastates Jennings

The city of Jennings was hit especially hard when the St. Louis metropolitan area experienced a devastating storm on the evening of July 19, 2006. Most (if not all) of Jennings was without electricity for at least 3 days.

The highly unusual storm approached from the Northeast, while most all metro St. Louis weather approaches from the West. Winds up to around 90 MPH were reported, along with heavy rain and hail.

Fallen trees and limbs have been a common sight in the city. Ameren brought in crews from out of town to assist with the repairs to power lines.

Photos here.

- Greg

©2006 Jennings Historical Society