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The Last Full Moon Fiasco

by Michael R. Allen

Henry Ziegenhein served as mayor of St. Louis from 1897 until 1901. He is best known for his quip to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1900 during his delay in signing a street lighting contract. With the city was dark for weeks, the mayor told the press: “We’ve got a moon yet, ain’t it?”

Such a proclamation was far from one mayor’s provincial mindset. In 1939, St. Louis city government actually turned off street lights early and shut off all park lights to balance the city budget.

No telling if Ziegenhein would approve, but he seems to share a historic lunar conviction with the posse of bicyclists who rode its last Full Moon Fiasco last night. If you don’t know what FBC stands for, think about it. Coincidentally, FBC’s (celebrated) founders included Peat Henry while one-term mayor Ziegenhein was known (derisively) as “Uncle Henry.”

One reply on “The Last Full Moon Fiasco”

A lot of amusing hipster facial hair @ that link 🙂

I think my wife and I may be too square for that crowd (Especially myself, as I not only have no facial hair, having given up that itchy dog 23 years ago, but I shave my head). Looked like fun, though, and this post would explain most of the hundreds of cyclists in FP that night.

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