It began more than 200 years ago: a look back at St. Patrick's Day in St. Louis
On March 17, 1820, a small band of Irish settlers gathered to praise St. Patrick. It was the first recorded observance of St. Patrick’s Day here, although the sparse accounts disagree whether a parade was included. The Irish then were a small part of the city’s 4,400 souls.
Marching came later, when the downtown parade started in 1969.
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Day celebrants marching to St. Patrick's Church in 1937. In the foreground are, from left, deputy St. Louis Fire Chief Lawrence Cornoyer, the Rev. Elmer Koenen, Fire Chief John J. Boyle, the Rev. James P. Johnston, Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann and Marjorie O'Rourke. Johnston replaced Dempsey as parish pastor. Behind them are the drum and bugle corps that Dempsey had organized. (Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Dignitaries inspect their tickets, shaped like shamrocks, to the 1952 St. Patrick's Day dinner of the American-Irish Historical Society at the Hotel Statler, Ninth Street and Washington Avenue. They are, from left, Mark R. Holloran, society treasurer; Bishop Mark Carroll of Wichita, Kan.; auxiliary Bishop John P. Cody of St. Louis; and John J. O'Toole, dinner chairman. For much of the 20th Century, formal Irish festivities for St. Pat's Day frequently were held in hotel ballrooms. (Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
A float rolls down St. Charles Rock Road in St. Ann on March 15, 1956, during the north St. Louis County suburb's annual St. Patrick's Day parade. The event was held for several years during the 1950s. (Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
The Rev. Robert Patrick Slattery, chaplain at the St. Vincent Orphan Home, 7401 Florissant Road in Normandy, accepts gifts from two of the young residents on March 17, 1960. Holding flowers is Christine Piglowski, 6, dressed as an Irish country girl. Also dressed up is Anthony O'Gorman, 9. (Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Bands and marchers head east on Olive Street on March 13, 1971, the second year of the St. Patrick's Day parade that has become a downtown tradition. (Larry Williams/Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Joseph B. McGlynn Jr., founder of the downtown St. Patrick's Day parade, basks in the success of the second-annual parade in 1971. At his left is John Lynch, Ireland's prime minister. The coup of attracting Lynch to the parade created a tradition of inviting Irish officials each year. Lynch pronounced the parade "very impressive. We have parades in Ireland, but not as long or as comprehensive as this." (Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
By its third year, the downtown parade was a must for officeholders. Marching in the 1972 event are, from left, are Erskine Childress, Ireland's deputy prime minister; St. Louis Mayor A.J. Cervantes; Missouri Gov. Warren E. Hearnes; and St. Louis County Supervisor Lawrence K. Roos. (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Connie Dorsey, a first grade teacher at St. Elizabeth of Hungary grade school in Crestwood, helps student Lori Johnson with a shamrock that she will wear in the 1974 St. Patrick's parade. (Marilynn K. Yee/Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
The party at Aloysius McGillicuddy's saloon, 2556 Raymond Drive in St. Charles, on March 17, 1981. (Robert C. Holt Jr./Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Students of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Crestwood snake their way along the parade route downtown on March 13, 1982. Even though the parish school was closed in 2004, kids from St. Elizabeth's church maintain the tradition of marching every year, as they have done since the first parade. (Larry Williams/Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Tommy Rea, 8, shows off his impeccable credentials during the downtown parade on March 17, 1984. Tommy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Stan Rea of Glendale, was born on St. Patrick's Day in 1976. That makes the saint's day a double treat for Tommy. (Larry Williams/Post-Dispatch
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Young members of St. James the Greater Parish in Dogtown march in the Ancient Order of Hibernians parade through their neighborhood on March 17, 1988. They are (from left) Jerry Roland, 6, Crystal Roland, 7, and Michael Alivernia, 6. In 1984, some Hibernians split from the downtown parade committee in a tiff over its refusal to allow an entry by the Irish Northern Aid Committee, which had ties to the Irish Republican Army. They formed their own parade, first in Clayton and then two years later in Dogtown, where it has been held ever since on the saint's day. (Sam Leone/Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Caitlin Kearns, 4, plays an Irish fiddle tune during a St. Patrick's program at the Missouri History Museum on March 16, 1991. The St. Louis Irish Arts School of Music and Dance sponsored the program. (Wayne Crosslin/Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Tony Sperruzza, 2, wears a ski mask as he pokes out of the warmth of a blanket at the downtown parade on March 14, 1993, when the temperature was 23 degrees with blustery winds. Still inside the blanket is Tony's aunt, Elizabeth Barnhart. Understandably, the crowd was thin. Some people watched from parked cars, with engines running. (Larry Wiliams/Post-Dispatch)
St.Patrick's Day
Hardee's employees twirl a dinosaur balloon at 14th and Market streets during the parade on March 14, 1998. (Kevin Manning/Post-Dispatch)
Look Back: St. Patrick's Day
Fans of the Dogtown parade and one mascot line the plastic fence at Clayton and Tamm avenues on St. Patrick's Day 1998 for the annual Hibernian strut. (Jane Rudolph)
The downtown parade is set for March 12, along with parades in Belleville and Cottleville. The parade in Dogtown is set for March 17.