Forward, Into The Past
The Lafayette Park Conservancy is a group dedicated to the preservation and improvement of the heart of Lafayette Square. In 2007, it set about restoring its 22 foot tall monument to Thomas Hart Benton. 2008 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of its creator, Harriet Hosmer, and the 140th year of the statue in the park. Therefore, a program was devised to coincide those anniversaries with the unveiling of a thoroughly refreshed Benton in the park.
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.
Continue reading “1934: John A Bryan on Clearing The Air”Joseph Schnaider’s late 1880’s were a time of trusts – well capitalized businesses that created monopolies in certain industries. Railroads, steel, oil, tobacco and even beer faced stiff competition, buyouts, and consolidation. Coupled with rapid technological advances in the beer world, a business advantage was created for those who knew how to play it. One of the first breakthroughs was mechanical refrigeration, eliminating the need for caves. Refrigeration enabled year-round production, and when extended to railway boxcars, led ambitious brewers to develop regional and national distribution. Mass production reduced costs all down the line. Large breweries like Lemp and Anheuser-Busch took early advantage, establishing filling depots and rail centers across the country. Pasteurization and improved bottle closures extended shelf life and made global distribution possible.
Continue reading “1910: Schnaider’s Beer Empire – Part 3”St. Louisans love stories about baseball, beer and Germans. Here’s all three, in part 2 of the Schnaider saga.
Part 1 lafayettesquarearchives.com/1881-schnaiders-beer-empire-part-1/ featured Joseph Schnaider and the origins of Schnaider’s Garden in Lafayette Square. In 1887, residents of Benton Place raised the 30-foot limestone wall you see on the 2100 block of Hickory Street. It was a fortification, insulating the prosperous and reclusive above from the hustle and flow of Schnaider’s below. Note the cinderblock-filled doorway in the wall that servants from Benton Place homes used to access the shops along Hickory and Chouteau.
Continue reading “1887: Schnaider’s Beer Empire Part 2”
Joseph Schnaider (1832-1881) was a man with beer in his DNA. Born in the Baden area of what is now Germany, young Joseph was already working as a brewers apprentice at the age of 15. He became foreman of a large brewery in Strasburg three years later. Attracted by the published charms of America, and seized by a travel bug, he toured France and then headed across the Atlantic. He somehow wound up in the friendly Germanic confines of St. Louis.
If John Albury Bryan was the father of the restoration of Lafayette Square, it might be fair to ask who the mother was. The answer is most likely Ruth Kamphoefner, and rightly so. However, there were movers before Ruth moved to the Square in 1972. Consider the fascinating lady that lived about 100 feet from Bryan on Benton Place. She died eight weeks before him, and the passing of these two must have resonated in the neighborhood. Let’s take a time trip back and look in on Henrietta “Retta” Strantz Reed.
Continue reading “1960: Retta Reed – ‘Mayor’ Of Benton Place”
A 1938 Post-Dispatch obituary noted the death of Christian J. Zeitinger – inventor, promotor and hydraulic engineer. He was 73 years old and died from “the infirmities of age.” It recalled his frequent appearances in bankruptcy court, the result of financial scheming in the development of a gravity flour mill invention.
In 1946, Retta Reed, who lived for years at 35 Benton Place in Lafayette Square, bought and razed the abandoned house across from hers. Curious about 40 Benton Place, I began an expedition backward through the newspapers.
St. Louis was once preeminent in the manufacture of shoes and booze, white lead, bricks, and crackers. Less famously, it was home to a coffin trust, with a hammerlock on the funeral supply business. Here is the story of Frederick Gardner and the St. Louis Coffin Company.
Continue reading “1916: Frederick Gardner – Coffin King”It’s not everyone who gets to create the first permanent theater west of the Mississippi River, make out like a bandit on Lafayette Square residential acreage, and keep Missouri in the Union as the Civil War loomed. But Sol Smith did.
A recent essay in this space featured Adelina Patti, opera diva of the late 1800s. As a child phenomenon on nationwide tour at the age of 12, she played dolls with the granddaughter of Sol Smith. He owned the St. Louis Theatre, where she performed. Over the years, many stage luminaries visited with “Old Sol,” who was known as the father of St. Louis theater.
Adelina Patti, the opera diva reminds me that I’ll read nearly anything put in front of me. This includes ingredient lists on food boxes, consumer warnings for everyday products, and clothing labels. I like to steal a glance at anything printed out for someone else to read, or printed on a consumer product to avoid legal action.
Continue reading “1884: The Opera Diva And Lafayette Park”
