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Jennings Historical Society
Know the Past
Understand the Present
Build the Future
Welcome to the website of the Jennings Historical Society of Jennings, Missouri!
Founded
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, June 14th, 2011 at 6:30PM. Bring a dish for potluck. (Tharp Civic Center, 8720 Jennings Station Rd. )
News
5/24/2011 Jennings History Book
Our historian, Linda Schmerber, has completed the long-awaited history of Jennings, called
Jennings: The Man, the City and its People. The book will be available in a sturdy hardback edition starting June 1st and will be available for purchase at Jennings City Hall, 2120 Hord Ave., or by sending a check or money order to:
Jennings Historical Society
c/o Linda Schmerber
7028 Idlewild Ave.
Jennings, MO 63136
Cost is $25 plus $5 if shipped.
Please include your name and full address for shipping.
We will also make these available for purchase on this website shortly through Paypal.
2/6/2011 Annual Report
The 2010 JHS Annual Report is available here in pdf form.
7/13/2010 Jennings High Reunion Picnic; History Book
Jennings High Picnic for Classes 1950-1960 will be held, rain or shine, Sunday, Sept 12, 2010 from 11AM-dusk at Blanchette Park, 1900 W. Randolph St., St. Charles, MO 63301.
History of the Jennings School District 1871-1960 for sale, $5.00. Contact Jim ('54) 636-978-0827 or Barbara ('54) 636-458-2503 for more info.
12/6/2006 Ice + 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.
10/5/2006 More 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.
10/4/2006 Target 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.
9/20/2006 Storm Cleanup Completed
Thanks to the Jennings Street Department, the July storm debris cleanup is almost entirely complete.
7/29/2006 Power 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.
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
7/23/2006 Incredibly 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.