Elijah Parish Lovejoy is best known and remembered for his stand against slavery. He was born in 1802 in Albion, Maine; studied at what is now Colby College, became a teacher and moved to St Louis in 1826. After joining the Presbyterian Church in 1831, he decided to become a preacher and religious publisher.
Due to his New England upbringing, Lovejoy was naturally anti-slavery and began espousing his views in his newspaper, The St. Louis Observer. He quickly became unpopular with the locals (Missouri was a slave state) and a mob destroyed his press in 1836 forcing a move to Alton, IL, north of St. Louis on the banks of the Mississippi River.
On the night of November 7, 1837, after three more presses had been distroyed in this supposedly "free" state, a mob confronted Lovejoy and 20 supporters at a warehouse where another press awaited installation. The mob shot Lovejoy to death while he attempted to prevent the burning of the building's roof.
