History

The St. Louis Sail and Power Squadron was chartered on 22 May 1955 mainly by three St. Louisans. P/C Wilson Dalzell, JN, President of Premier Studios; P/C Otto McDaniel, AP, an executive with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company; and P/C Fridtjof S. Egilsrud, AP, former Professor of Engineering at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York; and later associated with his brother-in-law General Lief Sverdrup of the Sverdrup and Parcel Engineering firm in St. Louis.

Past Commander Egilsrud was a member of a power squadron unit on Long Island Sound in New York and for many years was an avid yachtsman on the Eastern seaboard. Together these three men felt that the St. Louis recreational boating community had a great deal to gain by the formation of a squadron to promote education in respect to safe boating not only of the members but the St. Louis community of boaters in general. A short time later these men were joined by a former officer of the British Navy, P/R/C Nigel White, N.

For approximately eleven years, meetings and classes were held at Premier Studios, 3033 Locust Street, St. Louis, MO. Members taking advanced courses experienced many fascinating moments in the evening sitting amongst the props and settings of the day’s filming of a wildlife show of the St. Louis Zoo; of which Mr. Moke, the famous ‘talking chimp,’ was the star attraction. Amid these settings, the students were taught the basics of seamanship by dedicated instructors

In the early years the St. Louis Power Squadron was attached to District 50, which extended to Hawaii and beyond. Later St. Louis was assigned to D/20, headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Due to the diligent efforts of two St. Louis Past Commanders, together with others, P/V/C Edward Sanders, JN, and P/R/C White, District 30 was founded in St. Louis in the spring of 1975. St. Louis was the sponsor of a division that later became the Kansas City Power Squadron and, still later, an outgrowth from Kansas City became the Jayhawk Squadron in Topeka, KS, which is no longer in existence. In addition to St. Louis, District 30 currently consists of nine squadrons extending from northern Iowa south to the Lake of the Ozarks and westward to Boulder, Colorado.

The St. Louis squadron has always been proud of its contributions to the United States Power Squadrons. The following St. Louis Commanders went on to become District Commanders: Edward F. Sanders, Nigel N. White, Frank A. Winkler, David A. Smith, Emil E. Fleck, Jr., Robert J. McManimie, Richard B. Zeiss, Edward P. Bialecke, Dennis Teeling, Gregory Dostal, AP, Rosemary Bialecke, P and Gus Elia, AP. Of these district commanders, P/V/C Edward F. Sanders became the National Treasurer of USPS and P/R/C Nigel N. White became a staff officer in the National Education Department.