St. Louis has come a long way since the city’s first recorded soccer game on May 29, 1875: a group of mostly lawyers, playing as Blondes vs. Brunettes, at Grand Avenue Baseball Park, later known as Sportsman’s Park.
A St. Louis Globe-Democrat article reported that some players went on a cornmeal diet for energy. The Blondes won — the score wasn’t noted — and agreed to call it a draw.
Fast-forward: St. Louis City SC made history March 18 when it became the first MLS expansion team to win its first four games. That fact is on a sticker fastened at the last minute for “Soccer City,” which opens April 8 at the Missouri History Museum. The exhibition makes the case that St. Louis is a national soccer capital.
“Soccer City” was a tall order for Sharon Smith, the museum’s curator of civic and personal identity. She admittedly didn’t know much about soccer when City SC’s director of team operations, Vin Ko, approached the museum in 2019 about presenting a smaller display.
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The Missouri History Museum already had its exhibition space planned for the next several years, but curators thought they could squeeze a soccer exhibit into the atrium.
Then the pandemic hit, and City SC’s inaugural season was delayed. Plans for the museum’s larger spaces changed, and finally, the soccer stars aligned for an opening just a couple of months into the team’s first season.
“While we were in lockdown, it was an opportunity for me to learn everything I needed to know about soccer,” Smith says. “We wanted to do more than just an exhibit about St. Louis City SC because it is a soccer city, and it is amazingly steeped” in soccer history.
The Missouri History Museum isn’t the only institution giving soccer the spotlight. In March, the Magic House debuted “St. Louis City SC Soccer Training Center,” an interactive exhibition that aims to teach children more about the sport and wellness.
It includes a simulator that allows visitors to kick a real soccer ball into a virtual net; a team locker room and dress-up station; and equipment to test strength, endurance and agility.
The story of soccer in St. Louis is a story of neighborhoods and immigrants, the history museum exhibition explains. When people came to live here, they brought the sport to their neighborhoods and often formed teams. Italians from the Hill, for example, played Irish from Kerry Patch, and sometimes those teams were affiliated with churches or businesses, forming loosely organized leagues.
An oversized map plots the locations of past and present-day soccer fields, from the North Side Sports Arena near Hyde Park to Berra Park on the Hill to Mullally Field at Chippewa Street and Kingshighway. Footage from the 1950s shows players at a game, with the old Southtown Famous-Barr rising in the background.
“What was really lovely, though, was to see it was all across the city,” Smith says, looking at the map. “It just wasn’t concentrated in one place, which again speaks to that notion of neighborhoods and immigrants. You’re going to find these groups of people, and wherever there’s a group of people that knows soccer, it’s going to be played.”
At the same time, older players who taught younger players didn’t realize they were creating an incubator for professionals.
Since 1916, 76 St. Louisans have played for U.S. men’s and women’s national teams. St. Louis has hosted 116 international matches between 1884 and 2022. And 25 St. Louisans are in the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
While the museum already had soccer-related photos in its collection, it had few artifacts. Dave Lange, author of “Soccer Made in St. Louis: A History of the Game in America’s First Soccer Capital,” and Jim Leeker, president of the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame, loaned objects and photos and connected the museum with others who could contribute.
Several jerseys on display help tell the success stories of players who started out on home turf: There’s a San Diego Sockers jersey that belonged to Ty Keough, a New England Revolution jersey from Taylor Twellman, a Bosnia-Herzegovina men’s national team jersey from Vedad Ibisevic, a Lori Chalupny jersey from the U.S. women’s national team and several others.
Chalupny, now Lori Chalupny Lawson, will cut the ribbon at an opening celebration April 8. A pep rally will include live music, Spanish-English soccer storytime, a soccer workshop and crafts.
Other items tell the story of growing up with soccer or going on to play for a college or amateur team: a green, youth CYC jacket from the 1970s; a soccer ball-shaped Hermann Trophy awarded to then-St. Louis University player Al Trost; and a patch from the early-1960s White Star club, which motivated players to improve by ranking them after each match.
“Soccer City” includes a number of interactive elements. Visitors can feel a smooth, leather soccer ball from the 1950s and compare it to a textured, synthetic ball used by MLS players today. There’s a game room with foosball; a game called Subbuteo in which players flick tiny, rocking player pieces to hit a tiny ball; and a large-screen version of the Japanese video game Premier Soccer.
Smith has enjoyed meeting and working with the city’s many soccer greats. And she hopes visitors will see themselves in the exhibition, whether they played on a municipal or college team. Maybe visitors will even learn a few soccer terms, such as a “friendly” (an exhibition game) or a “cap” (awarded when a player participates in a big international match).
Smith herself is now a soccer fan. She’s downloaded the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, so she can watch history being made in her own soccer city.
“I watch every game,” she says. “It’s pretty fantastic.”
What “Soccer City” • When Opening celebration 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 8, on view through Feb. 18; hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday (closed Monday) • Where Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Boulevard, Forest Park • How much Free • More info mohistory.org/museum
What “St. Louis City SC Soccer Training Center” • When Hours are 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday (closed Monday) • Where The Magic House, 516 South Kirkwood Road, Kirkwood • How much Free with admission • More info magichouse.org