- Fall of 1939. St Louis in a pall. Day turned night by pollutants trapped by inversion.
- Committee formed consisting of Banker, Chemist, Businessman, Physician, and Realtor.
- Smoke Ordinance passed. Coal burning restrictions.
- St. Louis Mayor Dickmann proclaims 'We must learn to rebuild our cities rather than expand them.'
KC Journal - St. Louis, until a few years ago regarded as a city in decay, has set an example in rebuilding which Kansas City can study to its profit."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - "A great city has washed its face, and neck, and its ears, too. St. Louis is no longer the grimy old man of American municipalities. The plague of smoke and soot has been so well wiped off, if not completely removed, that the shining countenance of Missouri metropolises is now the envy of other cities still subject to the winter's outpouring of dirt and fumes from thousands of chimneys.
Omaha Morning World-Herald - "Advices from St. Louis indicate that city at long last has licked the smoke problem. The licking was simple, but not easy. It consisted of adopting an Ordinance with teeth in it, and then enforcing it. It took what is undoubtedly drastic legislation to do the business. The anti-smoke Ordinance not only told fuel users they must cease producing smoke, but how they must do it.
