Historic Events Archives - Lafayette Square Archives

1860: Lafayette Square on First

A college game moves west

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.

The park becomes Lafayette Field

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.

War intervenes – games cancelled

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.

Still at it today in their wooly uniforms

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!

Cyclones and Perfectos – two home teams!

Resources

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/

Missouri Democrat field layout by Griswold and Bredell; 1860

1861: Judge Leo Rassieur

The advent of civil war was a perilous time to be a state in the middle U.S. There were slave states with deep economic interests in that “peculiar institution,” and free states where slavery wasn’t legal. However, four slave states did not secede from the US in 1861: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. These states walked a tricky line, and it required political and sometimes military maneuvering to prevent their secession.

1899: Petty Crime With Petty Change

Simple requests sometimes lead to weird tales from the past in the Lafayette Square neighborhood. Here is a recent case in point.

While trying to research both 1300 and 1302 South 18th Street, I found an 1899 newspaper article about the homeowner at 1300.

1889: A Streetcar History of Lafayette Square

In the summer of 2016 a road crew working on Lafayette Avenue in front of Lafayette Park exposed a pair of iron streetcar rails. On request, they set them aside, and they lay near Lafayette and Missouri for several weeks. Unable to reach any consensus for display, the neighborhood may have lost track of them, but it set me to wondering…

At the time of the 1904 Worlds Fair, St. Louis had one of the most extensive surface transportation networks in the country. Small wonder that a trolley became a stage for the 1944 film Meet Me In St. Louis.

1934: John A Bryan on Clearing The Air

St. Louis was simultaneously blessed for growth and cursed for livability by its proximity to the rich bituminous coal deposits of Southern Illinois. It made for cheap power, which allowed energy intensive industries like brick works and steel makers to thrive here. Most residents followed suit (or is it soot?) and burned coal to heat their homes. The smoke from soft coal hung heavy in the air of St. Louis every winter, dimming the daylight and causing respiratory issues. City efforts at smoke abatement through legislation reached back to the late 1860s, but the power of the coal business and low cost for home use kept it a perceived necessary evil.

1956: German House Hosts The St. Louis Symphony

Way back in 1902, Columbia and RCA Victor were locked in a struggle to gain recording dominance of opera music. This was the highest prestige market, and recorded works commanded a premium, as the artists were very expensive to sign, and reluctant to put their voices out there for the general masses.

Victor named its offerings Red Seal, and charged twice as much as for other recordings. The product was, perhaps predictably, seldom a best-seller, although Enrico Caruso is credited with history’s first million selling record, again, in 1902. Victor did establish, with Red Seal, a bar for production excellence that lasted for the next century.

1939 To 1956: German House In The St. Louis House Years

In late August of 1939, Germany signed a mutual non-aggression pact with Russia. This pretty much ended any doubt about Hitler’s intentions toward Europe, or the counterbalancing effects of Communism to Fascism. On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland.

1975: A Felonious Bldg. Commissioner

The photo at top, left is of 1926 Hickory Street in April, 1970. It is a ‘before’ example of the kind of property recognized and restored in Lafayette Square back in the brave days. This story is about these empty hulks, and about what you can lose when you trust that your government works always in the public interest.

1874: The Cattle Call From Lafayette Square

In the list of St. Louis City ordinances from 1861, there appears a provision for the handling of dead animal carcasses, and a prohibition on raising hogs within the city limits. There is even an ordinance banning the flying of kites. But is no mention of the movement of cattle through city streets.

1849: The St.Louis Cholera Epidemic

The Coronavirus is a virus, all right, but it’s not the flu. It’s a dangerous situation, among other reasons, because we have no familiarity with it.