Edward M. Shepard

Edward M. Shepard did a lot of neat things. He was born in Connecticut on May 15, 1854. He loved learning and worked very hard. In 1873, he worked for the railroad. His job was to draw plans for building railroads. These plans were used to build some of the railroads near New York and Boston.

Mr. Shepard also liked science. He wanted to learn more about plants and rocks. So, he stopped working for the railroad. Then, he went back to school. He took a lot of classes to study plants and rocks. During this time, he went to southeast Missouri. In Missouri, he learned about some very old mounds built by American Indians. He liked Missouri a lot.

In 1881, Mr. Shepard married Harriet Elma Ohlen. They later had two children. It was also during the 1880s that Mr. Shepard came to Springfield. He got a job teaching at Drury College. He was a very good teacher and scientist. He also went to some neat places to learn about rocks and plants. Mr. Shepard went to California, Colorado, and several other places. He also went to countries like Mexico, Australia, Egypt, and China. He wrote several books about what he studied at these places.

Mr. Shepard was a good scientist. In 1893, he became the president of Drury College. Then, the college’s science museum was named after him. Mr. Shepard loved learning about new things in science. His hard work took him to a lot of neat places.

The Shepard Room at the Springfield-Greene County Library is named after him.

Author: Grant Miller
Source: Jonathan Fairbanks and Clyde Edwin Tuck, Past and Present of Greene County, Missouri, 1915
Image, portrait of Shepard, Courtesy of The History Museum for Springfield-Greene County
(For use in conjunction with the SMSU Campus Compact/WorldCom grant project. You must request permission from the History Museum for Springfield-Greene County to print, copy, or download this image for any other use.)