Green City Chamber To Celebrate Restoration Of 1931 Shell Filling Station Where Fred Burke Was Identified
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By: Kathleen Hauser
SAVE THE DATE: July 3rd and 4th, 2024
As part of the Green City Chamber of Commerce July 4th Celebration and Fireworks Display, we welcome you to join us on July 3rd and July 4th, 2024 to celebrate the restoration of the 1931 Shell Filling Station off the southeast corner of the square where Fred (Killer) Burke was first identified and was later captured at Green City, Missouri on March 26, 1931. We will also have two authors and historians coming to the Green City Museum.
“Bloody Chicago” was the name given to America’s most corrupt city after the grotesque scene that left seven humans embedded into masonry walls and oil-slickened concrete. Two Thompson submachine guns did most of the damage but the masterminds behind the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre escaped. Ten months later, on December 14, 1929, in St. Joseph, Michigan while working a routine traffic crash Police Officer Charles Skelly came face to face with a killer. Shots were fired, the assailant escaped, and the dying Officer Skelly identified his murderer before taking his last breath. The trail led to a home in Stevensville, Michigan where authorities found an arsenal of weaponry, over $300,000 worth of stolen bonds, bulletproof vests, and two Thompson submachine guns. The hideout belonged to Fred Burke, a highly sought suspect in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and now the most wanted man in the nation.
Chriss Lyon is a retired public safety professional and historian, who has not only walked the beat, but shot the most famous Thompson submachine guns in the world, all while documenting and researching the historic era of the “The Roaring Twenties.” Using techniques of forensic genealogy combined with investigative research, she has been able to uncover little known facts about the people and events surrounding the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre using police reports that had never been published, interviews with family members of key witnesses, and leading experts. Historian Chriss Lyon established the foundation for what would develop as a haven for gangsters from the onset of the Prohibition Era through to the mid-twentieth century, while revealing new information about the eventual capture of notorious gangster Fred “Killer” Burke on a farm northwest of Green City. Chriss is the author of “A killing in CAPONE’S PLAYGROUND, The Story of the Hunt for the Most Dangerous Man Alive.”
Enfys (ENvis) McMurry, author of “Centerville, The Mid-America Saga and Disaster at 39,000 Feet” is a Welsh American writer and public speaker.
The authors and the Green City Historical Museum are looking for previously untold or lost stories and artifacts from families and area citizens about the capture of Fred (Killer) Burke and stories about Harve Bailey and other gangsters. Help us save that intriguing part of Green City history for the generations to come. Please visit and share your story with the authors before it is lost forever.
Wednesday, July 3rd 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Meet and greet with Chriss Lyon and Enfys McMurry, at the Book Nook (Green City Library) housed on the first floor of the Green City Museum.
‘The Capture of Fred Burke’ the movie filmed on location in Green City in 1931, will be shown every hour on the hour starting at 1:00 pm. The cast of the film are all the original people involved with the capture and local area citizens, except for Fred Burke.
Thursday July 4 at City Hall 2:00 pm and repeated at 6:00 pm:
The authors and historians will have historical displays about Fred (Killer) Burke and Chriss Lyon will have presentations about her findings regarding the history of Fred (Killer) Burke.
The Famous Shell Filling Station and Historic Depot:
Open to public July 4, 2024,1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Green City Museum special display: Harvey Bailey (Dean of American Bank Robbers)
Open to public July 3, 2024, 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Open to public July 4, 2024, 1:00 – 4:00 pm.
To help celebrate this historical event, anyone who has a gangster era car or truck, moonshine still, or gangster related history we would love to have you join us in our July 4th parade.
Line up at 10:30 am at Green City School.
Enter the Car Show following the parade in front of the museum.
If you have any questions, please contact David Hauser at 660-342-2781 or
660-874-4455.
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