Forward, Into The Past
Just to the north of the Lafayette Park Hotel stood a small single story building at the corner of Mississippi and Park Avenues. Its address was 1400 Mississippi Avenue. The earliest reference I see was from 1888. A popular corner place, It became a polling station for the 23rd ward, 123rd precinct of St. Louis:
I’ve recently written about the old Lafayette Park Hotel. It dated back to about 1875, and rather mysteriously disappeared from view with the great tornado of 1896. Architectural historian Michael Boyd got me started when he asked if I could find anything related to its demolition. I searched high and low. Nope.
Here’s the first mention I could find of the building on Mississippi Avenue, just south of Park Avenue. It’s from August 29, 1875, a time when building activity was really taking off east of Lafayette Park:
A little known aspect of Lafayette Park history involves its role in expanding our national pastime. In the 1850’s, the mansion of Edward Bredell Sr. stood directly across from the park on Lafayette Avenue. Edward Sr. made his fortune in mining and dry goods wholesaling. He later established the Missouri Glass Company as an enterprise for his son to manage. Edward Jr. attended Brown University, where he likely was introduced to New York rules baseball. Games involving balls and bats in various forms have been described as early as the 1820s, but the New York game was well defined and quickly gained popularity in that area
A second young man, Merritt Griswold, was a baseball enthusiast from Brooklyn. He relocated to St. Louis in early 1859 and took a job at Bredell’s Missouri Glass Company. Soon realizing their shared interest in the new game, Merritt and Edward Jr. founded the Cyclone Base Ball Club that summer. They became local missionaries for the New York game around St. Louis, The two published rules, a field layout and player positions in a Daily Missouri Democrat in 1860 (see below). Within a year, eight other teams formed in the city.
At that time Lafayette Park’s funding came entirely from private citizens through a Board of Improvement. Edward Bredell Sr. and family had settled as original residents, around 1850, on Lafayette Avenue across from the park. He had a seat on the board, and voted his approval for the Cyclone Club, which paid $600.00 for dedicated use of a portion of the park. It happened to be Colonel Grimsley’s old parade grounds, the first developed part of the park, flat and grassy by design.
For his part, Griswold worked with one local team, the Morning Star club which played a variant style of ball. He converted them to the New York version. Game on! The first competitive baseball game played west of the Mississippi under the new rules took place on July, 9th, 1860. It occurred on a field near the St. Louis Fairgrounds. No pitcher’s duel, the final score was Morning Stars 50, Cyclones 24.
Lafayette Park did host games, beginning with a match on March 6.1861. Baseball’s appeal spread fast, and by late that spring, it was hotter than pickleball. Various groups quickly took up the sport, eager to compete on the basepaths.
The original Cyclones enjoyed only a short stint on this home field, lasting no longer than 2 years. The Civil War called men away, and frayed the camaraderie of those who remained. The Union army commandeered Lafayette Park for use as an encampment.
Griswold moved east, joining the Union army. He returned to St. Louis as part of a federalized militia, and figured in the Union capture of Fort Jackson. For their part, the Bredells’ sympathies lay with the Confederacy.
Edward Bredell Jr. was captured at Vicksburg, but later paroled. He subsequently joined John Mosby’s Rangers in a series of skirmishes against the cavalry of Philip Sheridan. He was killed in action in Virginia, buried on the field of battle, and later reinterred on the grounds of his father’s house on Lafayette Avenue. (as St. Louis forbade burial of Confederate soldiers in city cemeteries). Today, his grave is with that of his family at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
The game, however, survived very nicely, thrilling St. Louisans to this day. You can grab a bit of this storied heritage for yourselves in Lafayette Park, which plays host to the St. Louis Cyclones and Perfectos vintage base ball clubs. You’ll find a schedule and much more at https://cyclonebbc.wordpress.com/2017-schedule/ for the Cyclones and https://www.facebook.com/stlouisperfectos/ for the Perfectos. Play ball!
The always reliable Find a Grave website was a useful source of information on Edward Bredell Sr. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14011069/edward-bredell
A wonderful account of the long and eventful burial of Edward Bredell Jr appears in This Game Of Games, an incredible survey of 19th century baseball in St. Louis. Jeff Kittle is a great storyteller and researcher of the game. I recommend that you visit his site. https://www.thisgameofgames.com/home/category/william-faulkner/
Another site, Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifice, recounts the professional players who gave their lives to military service. Among the hundreds listed, the first is Edward Bredell Jr. https://www.baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com/table_of_all_players.html
Edward Bredell’s home was next to that of Charles Gibson, who I call “The Father Of Lafayette Park.” Bredell’s large and comfortable estate was razed and redeveloped by iron magnate William Simpson in 1892. A look at who’s who on Lafayette Avenue in the 1850s appears in my earlier essay; lafayettesquarearchives.com/1858-palmatary-maps-the-square/
