William Greenleaf Eliot (1811-1887), was born in Bedford, Massachusetts, attended Harvard Divinity School, and became a Unitarian minister before arriving in St. Louis in 1834. That same year, he founded the Church of the Messiah in St. Louis at Locust and Garrison Streets. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (1980). In 1840, he and his congregation began a school for the poor and homeless called the Mission Free School. In 1837, Eliot married Abby Adams Cranch.  Of their 14 children, only five lived to adulthood: Thomas Lamb, Henry Ware, Christopher Rhodes, Edward Cranch, and Rose Greenleaf. William Greenleaf Eliot, along with Wayman Crow (a merchant), co-founded Washington University (originally Eliot Seminary) in 1853.

T.S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) (1888-1965), the youngest son of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Stearns Eliot, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1927, Eliot became a British citizen. He was a Nobel Prize-winning poet (Literature, 1948) and playwright. Also in 1948, King George VI bestowed the Order of Merit upon him.  Eliot’s book, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats inspired Cats, one of the longest-running musicals in history. T.S. Eliot died on January 4, 1965 (in London) at age 76.