2004: Lafayette Ave- 18th To Grattan

It was the early 21st century. No one had figured a way to overcome community objections to running the North-South Connector (MO State Highway 755) through the city and Lafayette Square. So a new road was created, which just grazed the historic district. This was Truman Parkway, and it subsumed what was formerly Grattan Street. This ‘connector’ didn’t flow directly into either Interstate 44 or 55, but kind of split the difference, providing access to both (in darker blue below.)  

A block of Lafayette Avenue partially spans the highway entrances. It runs from 1600 through 1617; a mix of buildings from long ago, and a roadway where buildings once stood.  

Garage doors, for openers

Beginning on the west side, at 1617 Lafayette, is Zumwalt Corporation, providers and installers of garage and entrance doors. As the distinctive art deco exterior suggests, it dates back to 1924. Founded by Maurice Richard Zumwalt, it was originally in the business of fabricating screen doors, wooden windows and sashes.

The popularity of cars led the company to focus on garage doors, and by 1950, it became their primary emphasis. Today, Tripp Zumwalt leads a third generation of this family enterprise. It employs more than thirty, and operates a fleet of twenty trucks. It’s the longest continually operating commercial business in the Lafayette Square historic district.

A horse for one’s hearse

Next door is an all red two story brick structure at 1615 Lafayette. It is boarded up except for a single garage door, and stubbornly resists change. It has stood since at least 1885, and served for years as a combination livery/undertaker. It had rooms available for funerals.  

These were once the stables of Heier and Wiebusch. By 1909, it also featured a coal yard. The Zumwalt Corporation took over the building for storage around 1936, and it’s remained largely unchanged since.  

At this point, Truman Parkway (formerly Grattan Street) intrudes, having wiped out some local history in its construction. I’m filling in the blanks that would have been there before 2004. 

Ed’s Auto evolved from another livery

Once beside the red painted brick livery, at an incongruous traffic light sat 1611 Lafayette Avenue. Back in 1896, the white brick building was another horse boarder, the Lafayette Park Livery. In the wake of a legendary and fearsome tornado that May, a driver for the firm was buried beneath the collapsed front wall of the stables. Henry Wiebusch was the last person to have seen him. He reported: 

“When the wind began to rise, and just before our building gave way, I saw a horse and wagon coming down the street before the gale. The driver had no control of the horse at all, and the whole rig was blown about like a piece of paper. In front of the stable just then, the building went down. After it was all over, we found poor Bill Crooks in one part of the ruins, the wagon in another, and the horse in a third. All was under tons of wreckage.” 

Only two rigs remained intact and eleven of the stable’s two dozen horses ran away. 

By 1926, cars had taken over the roads, and the former livery made way for the Bond Battery and Electric Company. It was a niche business, providing fully charged rental batteries for cars at $1.50 per two day period. This, to provide the cranking power once generated by hand to start a car. A battery representative cited examples of people getting worn out from cranking and deserting their vehicles rather than continue the exertion. It’s worth noting that $1.50 then would be about $28.00 today. This was a wealthy person’s convenience.  

Can’t tell you much about 1611’s stint as Ed’s Auto Service, other than from the above photo taken a quarter century ago. It claimed that Ed had been at it for 37 years at that point. He must have done good work.  

A theater, a showroom, a men’s store

Adjacent to Ed’s Service, 1603 Lafayette was boarded up by 2000, with ‘No Trespassing-No Loitering’ signs giving the only information for the property. Searching the newspaper record revealed that on Christmas day, 1898, Perry Ash of this address, aged 35 and married, lay in serious condition at nearby City Hospital. He had fallen from a hay loft the day before, and wrenched his shoulder. Given a bottle of liniment, he drank half and reacted poorly.

As the Grattan Theater from 1908 – 1911, the building hosted amateur vaudeville entertainment. Following that, it was home to Ordelhide and Leek Undertaking, demonstrating just how fickle the entertainment world can be. 

In 1937, you could register to vote here. It was one of the 783 precinct headquarters in the City of St. Louis. At the time, 1603 Lafayette was leased to the Winter Motor Car Company that operated from as far back as 1930. It had been a site for commercial car sellers well before that – auto offerings from the address go back to 1912. It was also once home to the Baker Ice Machine Company. As such, in 1928 it placed a self-congratulatory ad trumpeting its placements in the new Hotel Jefferson, “a constant monument to the wisdom of its selection by both architect and owner.” A year later, the location was available for rent as a “double store.” Economic times were getting rough. 

Showing a real talent for diversification, 1603 Lafayette also hosted Charles Dick’s Men’s Clothing Mart in 1940, where a two-trouser suit and a tux sold for the same low price.  

The Saigon Inn/Lafayette Garden

Finally, at what is now the northbound lane of Truman Parkway, was 1601 Lafayette Avenue.  

Above and to the right, you can see the remains of City Hospital and Malcolm Bliss Hospital across Grattan, This is where the grounds of the Georgian Condominiums are today. The bookend of the block in 2000 was the Lafayette Garden restaurant.

1601 Lafayette has a history of eateries. In 1931, this corner housed a confectionary. During Prohibition, ‘confectionary’ was how bars often recast themselves to survive. Sometimes, a soda could be quietly fortified with something from behind the counter. The business was perhaps not completely on the up and up. There was a circuit court indictment in 1943 for possession of (gasp!) pinball machines. 

It matured into a lunchroom and cafe by 1950, and operated as versions of this through 1985, when Vietnamese refugees Kinh and Kim Tran opened the Saigon Inn. It was a rough debut. Within  two months of opening, there occurred three separate incidents of arson. The next year, Kim Tran was pistol-whipped, and robbed. She required treatment at City Hospital. Nevertheless, the Trans toughed it out at this spot, renamed the Lafayette Garden, until 1995, when they moved to a Delmar Boulevard location. 

Lafayette Garden sat empty and desolate, as if awaiting its eventual destruction. A look around the corner demonstrates, along with the scene across Grattan, that expectations were nil for this block. It was just a matter of time before Truman Parkway wiped most of it away. 

A pair of lagniappes

So much cool history goes lost. Buildings, like books in a row, contain engaging stories of lives lived and business conducted. Those same places held experiences worth sharing. Here are three from right here on this corner, by way of example. 

From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat of July 29, 1908: 

At least the hospital was conveniently located, about 300 feet away. 

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of July 14, 1913: 

This speaks to the volume of traffic and pedestrians at this intersection back in 1913. At a penny per glass, it represents over a hundred servings of lemonade! 

Finally, From the Globe-Democrat; February 25, 1926:

This certainly is not what you want to see happen outside your confectionery door. Three small scenes from a play that continues its extended run every day in historic Lafayette Square.

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Resources

More information on Zumwalt Corporation at their website: https://www.zumwaltcorporation.com. Thanks to Tripp Zumwalt for his cooperation.

In a neighborhood so heavily weighted toward pre-20th century architecture, it’s cool to note that you can view some vintage 1920s art deco at Zumwalt Corporation and the Eden Lofts on Chouteau Avenue. Earlier essay on the latter at https://lafayettesquarearchives.com/1936-eden-publishing-and-lofts/

Quote from Henry Wiebusch; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; May 29, 1896

Information on Bond Electric from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat of March 21. 1926)

The account of Perry Ash’s fall is from the Post-Dispatch of Dec 26 1898. 

Baker Ice Company quote from the St. Louis Star and Times of October 31, 1928. Subsequent vacancy from Post-Dispatch; August 18, 1929.

More about the fate of Malcolm Bliss Psychiatric Hospital at this essay: https://lafayettesquarearchives.com/2002-the-fall-of-malcolm-bliss/

The pure milk fund article that ends this essay is related to an earlier one that dealt with providing babies with ice and milk during the stultifying heat of St. Louis summers. A real testimony to good folks doing good works in Lafayette Park. https://lafayettesquarearchives.com/1918-babies-camps-in-lafayette-park/