There’s a soft spot in my heart for the old German House. It occupies the corner of Lafayette and Jefferson Avenues in St. Louis. Standing there for nearly a century, it sports a long record of bringing people together. There are at least six essays dealing with specific aspects of German House history in this website. Due to prevailing sentiment leading up to World War II, its name changed to the St. Louis House in 1940.
That is the date stamp for this piece. Sometime in the late 1930s. The Germanic influence is strong here, as seen in the song lyrics. There is also a lot of history in this old brochure. The choices, the prices (braunschweiger sandwich for a dime!) and the community were all part of the age. I hope you enjoy this program. There were several more pages of songs, but I’ve chosen just a representative couple.
A rathskeller was originally a bar or restaurant located in the cellar of a town hall. Rathskeller (also in its original German form ‘ratskeller’) means ‘council’s cellar.’ The word and its usage date back at least to 1220 in Lubeck, Germany. In 1950s St. Louis, it was chi-chi to have a rathskeller built into the basement of one’s swingin’ home pad. Floor shows were optional.
The grand old dame holding down the corner was built to last. It is in a national historic district and deserves its place, given the history and importance to Lafayette Square and Germanic St. Louis. Always optimistic it might find a visionary buyer with a traditionalist nature.
