Richard Compton and Camile Dry rightly deserve credit for their amazingly comprehensive 1875 pictorial map of St Louis. It is the standard by which others are judged, and certainly worth your study if new to the subject. I highly recommend the expandable version on the Library of Congress site: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4164sm.gpm00001/?st=gallery
Continue reading “1858: Palmatary Maps The Square”Tag: Christian Staehlin
1815: The Handwriting On The Wall
In 1983, Gar Allen and Larry Bennett bought what remained of a home at 1815 Lafayette Avenue. The three story shell dated from 1876 and was originally built by Christian Staehlin of the Phoenix Brewery. That brewery was razed in the mid-1960’s while I-44 was under construction. The house itself had a large sub-basement, formerly a tunnel from the brewery, that Allen and Bennett would have turned into a wine cellar, but for the dampness.
Continue reading “1815: The Handwriting On The Wall”1881: Schnaider’s Beer Empire Part 1
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.