Historical Society of University City

10/06/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended our annual dinner last night! It was a packed night of history and updates on our organization.

It was a wonderful evening in a wonderful space. We are truly grateful for the City for allowing us to hold this event in the newly Renovated Trinity building.

We were proud to present Eleanor Mullin with a City Proclamation honoring her extraordinary dedication and commitment to University City and the Historical Society. As Eleanor steps down as President, we’re grateful she will continue supporting us as Treasurer. We want to welcome Eric Kusnierkiewicz as our new President and Mary Compton as Vice President!

Thank you to Esley Hamilton for a great presentation on lost buildings of St. Louis' past and the insight he brings to all things St. Louis history. Esley is a true wealth of knowledge and we are thankful to have him on our board.

We also presented a new video we created of the University City Searchlight.

https://youtu.be/iNRgWu4icvc?is=ypIEb-q40EK5c1gT

We will plan to post videos as this project continues to progress. Subscribe to our YouTube page to follow along with the restoration efforts.

09/25/2026

Prepping for our digitization project of E.G. Lewis publications.

Learn more about this project at our annual dinner on October 5th. Find out more on our website and register.

http://www.ucityhistory.org/news-events.html

06/25/2026

We have fantastic news to share in regards to our searchlight project. The funding for our elevator repairs will be included in the upcoming City of University City, Missouri (Official) budget that begins in July. St. Louis Magazine wrote an incredible article about our restoration efforts and project. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and supported this project up to this point and thank you to the City for recognizing the historical importance and potential of this light. We are excited to be able to shine this piece of U-City history over the city once again.

At this moment we do not have a timeline on completion but in a perfect world we would love to have it lit again before the end of the year after the elevator repairs are completed.

Stay tuned!

Above the City Council chambers in University City, past the ornamental ceiling and tucked inside a roof that opens to the sky, rests a five-ton searchlight. It was designed to draw eyes—to be impossible to miss. But more than a century after U. City founder Edward Gardner Lewis had it installed t...

06/09/2026

Thank you to St. Louis County Parks and Recreation for putting on this wonderful event! It was great getting to share our history and meet other organizations in the region.

05/31/2026

The Historical Society of University City is updating our memorial database to create an interactive map, and we don't want a single memorial left out.

We have over 60 memorials cataloged, but we need the community to assist.

Is there a memorial, plaque, or dedicated bench in your neighborhood?

1. Take a photo
2. Add it to the comments with location
3. Let us do the rest.

Help us ensure no piece of our community's story is missed! City of University City, Missouri (Official)

05/12/2026

The Historical Society was honored to attend the push-in ceremony for our 1953 Seagrave Fire Truck last Friday. After 72 years and quite a journey, this piece of history has been generously donated back home to the University City Fire Department.

Purchased new by U-City in 1952 for $16,593.50, this truck served our streets for 19 years before embarking on a wild ride. It spent time as a promotional vehicle for KSLQ Radio and was even converted by Coca-Cola to serve soda!

Thanks to the incredible dedication of Mr. John Nau III, who purchased the truck in 1987, it has been meticulously restored to its original 1953 configuration. We are beyond proud to have this piece of history back where it all started.

We are grateful for the love and dedication that has gone into this truck over the years and extremely proud to have this piece of history generously returned to the city of University City.

04/17/2026

We still have an open position on our board for a Treasurer. Do you love University City history? Do you have a background in finance? This would involve managing our Quickbooks account and reporting to the board monthly of our financials. Email us at [email protected] and join us! We meet once a month.

HELP WANTED: TREASURER

Do you have accounting knowledge and would like to give back to your wonderful city?? Well you may be exactly who we are looking for.

We have a need for a treasurer to join our board. If you are interested or have any questions please email us at [email protected].