does it have a lot of history in their

Yes

(there) Yes. There is a lot of items from old companies that went out of business that were made to build the museum.

I didn't see anything in the way of traditional wall plaques that detail the local history or history of the museum itself.

Yes there is a lot of history of the city in there. A lot of the museum is built from pieces of historical structures from the city of St. Louis. It is a wonderful place to go.