The Lost Neighborhood of St. Louis’ Gilded Age

“At Fourteenth Street begins one of the beauty spots of St. Louis, commonly known as Lucas Place. For full three blocks not a shanty rears its head. All the houses are large and handsome, and the shade trees the best the city can show. The street is paved with large blocks of limestone, and is, consequently, very clean. It is an intensely quiet spot, and if children live there they are kept within doors, and are never allowed to make mud pies in the gutter…”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 October 1880

Lucas Place between 15 and 16 streets, photographed circa 1880

For only 40 years Lucas Place was the showplace street for St. Louis’ rich and powerful. Populated by successful merchants, politicians, military officers and physicians, Lucas Place was surrounded by some of the city’s finest institutions, including Washington University, Mary Institute, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the first public high school west of the Mississippi.

Map of Lucas Place, 1883. The pink shapes show the footprints of the original mansions.

But today a visitor to downtown St. Louis would never know such a place existed. Even the name Lucas Place has disappeared. Today we call it Locust Street. It is truly a lost neighborhood that exists only in photos and newspaper stories. Campbell House is of course the exception to this statement. Beginning in 1851 it was at the heart of the neighborhood and today it all the is left.

The corner of 16th and Locust Street in 1910.

The same corner today.

For decades the Campbell House Museum has been collecting an archive of material about Lucas Place and now you have a chance to see the buildings and read the stories that made this street the heart of Gilded Age St. Louis in a new exhibit.

Lucas Place: The Lost Neighborhood of St. Louis’ Gilded Age opens with a reception this Friday, March 22 between 5:30 and 8 p.m. at Architecture St. Louis, the office of Landmarks Association, 911 Washington Avenue, Suite 170. Free and open to the public. The exhibit will be open through July and can be viewed 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

There is also a coordinating series of lectures about Lost Neighborhoods in St. Louis which is listed below.

Lucas Place on parade, 1895

Landmarks Association and Campbell House Museum are sponsoring this program in partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Lecture Series: Lost Neighborhoods of St. Louis 

Monday, April 1: Bob Moore, Chief Historian at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial – Bob will discuss Colonial St. Louis and lead a digital tour of his 3D model of the town. 12:00-1:15. (Kranzberg Arts Center).

Thursday, April 4: Bob Moore – Bob will follow his discussion of Colonial St. Louis with an examination of Early American St. Louis. 12:00-1:15. (Kranzberg Arts Center).

Thursday, April 11: Ron “Johnny Rabbit” Elz – Gaslight Square. Ron will discuss the people, buildings, and venues that defined one of St. Louis’ greatest entertainment districts. (Gaslight Theater, 358 N. Boyle. Doors at 7:00, presentation 7:30-9:00). * This is an evening lecture. 

Thursday, April 18: Dr. Huping Ling, Professor of History and founder of the Asian Studies Program at Truman State University – Professor Ling will discuss the 19th and 20th century Chinese enclave that once thrived in downtown St. Louis. 6:30-8:00. Kranzberg Arts Center. * This is an evening lecture. 

Thursday, April 25: Michael Allen, architectural historian and director of the Preservation Research Office, – Michael will discuss the DeSoto-Carr Neighborhood and its successor, the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Complex. 12:00-1:15. (Kranzberg Arts Center).

Thursday, May 2: Andy Hahn, Director, Campbell House Museum, and historian Tom Gronski- Andy and Tom will discuss the buildings and residents of Lucas Place. 12:00-1:15. (Kranzberg Arts Center).

Thursday, May 9: Thomas Danisi, local historian and author of the critically acclaimed book Discovering Meriwether Lewis – Thomas will discuss his new research into early settlement of the St. Louis Common Fields. 12:00-1:15. (Kranzberg Arts Center).

The Kranzberg Arts Center is located at 501 N. Grand in Grand Center. Street parking or at the Scottish Rite Garage, 3634 Olive. Feel free to bring lunch to the daytime talks. Talks are free and open to the public.

For more information please call 314-421-0325.

Campbell House First Opens 70 Years Ago!

Seventy years ago today the opening of the Campbell House Museum was reported with lavish full-color (it was 1943) photo story in the Post-Dispatch. Here it is:

THE COLOR CAMERA AT THE CAMPBELL HOUSE,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sunday, February 28, 1943

“A picture of life as it was lived in St. Louis a century ago is afforded visitors to the Campbell House, situated at 1508 Locust street, which through the efforts of the Campbell House Foundation, has been restored to its original elegance and opened to the public. The house was built in 1851 by Robert Campbell, who made  a fortune as a fur trader, and in it were entertained many visiting celebrities of the day, including General Grant.

After the death of the last of the three Campbell sons, none of whom  married, the house was inherited by Yale University. The Campbell House Foundation, a group of interested citizens who wanted to preserve the house as a landmark, started raising funds for the purpose. Stix, Baer and Fuller Company purchased the house for the Foundation, and funds contributed were used to restore it. The original furnishings and authentic decorations have served completely to restore both the appearance and the character of the house.”

Today of course 70 years of research has revealed that Robert Campbell did not build the house (he and his family moved in three years later) and the “original elegance” referred to in the article was really just a 2oth century conception of a mid-19th century interior (just as an example, all that bright white woodwork would have never worked in a coal soot filled house). Click the images to read the original captions and enjoy a look back at the first revelation of a real St. Louis treasure.

Make 2013 your date to visit Campbell House, be it for the first or the tenth time, there is always something new and interesting to learn from our superlative docents and students. Find our hours and more info here http://www.campbellhousemuseum.org/

Missouri Park and Lucas Place

The small park behind the St. Louis Public Library is called Lucas Park in honor of the family that once owned the land.  In about 1810 Judge J.B.C. Lucas purchased a large parcel of land that includes today’s Lucas Park.

In 1850 the Lucas family developed a new residential neighborhood on their land, which they not surprisingly named Lucas Place. From its conception this neighborhood was intended to be very different with wide building setbacks and deed restrictions banning commercial activities. The new street Lucas Place was also offset 50-feet from the city street grid.

Missouri Park and Lucas Place, from “Pictorial St. Louis”, 1875

A defining feature of Lucas Place was a new green space called Missouri Park, which the Lucas family had deeded to the city in 1854. Missouri Park was bounded by 13^th, Olive, 14^th and St. Charles streets. The park stretched across Lucas Place preventing through traffic into the neighborhood and was a key element in defining the neighborhood as “a place apart”. By 1875 Missouri Park boasted, “an iron fountain, 116 benches, 368 shade trees, 277 shrubs, and was surrounded by a wooden picket fence.”  It was also the first park in St. Louis to have gas lighting along its pathways.

As commercial development began to encroach on Lucas Place in the early 1880s, Missouri Park was selected as the site for St. Louis’ grandest building of the period, the Music and Exposition Hall. Completed in 1884, this massive building was St. Louis’ first convention center and encompassed the entire 4-acre footprint of the old Missouri Park.  Measuring 146,000 square feet the Exhibition Hall hosted the 1888 and 1904 Democratic National Conventions and the 1896 Republican National Convention. The Music Hall sat 4,000 and was the first permanent home to the Saint Louis Symphony.

Music and Exposition Hall, circa 1890

The Music and Exposition Hall was demolished in 1907 having been replaced by a larger and newer St. Louis Coliseum. The site was then selected for the new St. Louis Public Library, built with a $1 million gift from Andrew Carnegie. Because the Library was designed to use only two-thirds of the old exposition site the northern part of the old Missouri Park was restored to green space and renamed Lucas Park. At the same time Locust Street was cut through the space between the new Library and the restored park. When the street was cut through it resulted in the unusual curve at 13 and Locust streets, which can still be seen today.  By 1918 Lucas Park had been planted with “forty-five thousands shrubs and flower plants…set out in artistically designed beds” and was one of the finest parks in St. Louis.  After 1950, all the old residential buildings in the vicinity of Lucas Park had vanished (except for the Campbell House) as downtown was transforming into an exclusively commercial district.

Like this post? Look for the new exhibit Lucas Place: The Lost Neighborhood of St. Louis’ Golden Age opening March 22 at the Landmarks Association of St. Louis. Exhibit made possible through a grant from the Missouri Humanities Council.

Lucas Park and the St. Louis Public Library, from a circa 1920 postcard.

A quiet snowy afternoon.

An unexpected snowy afternoon made for some nice photos to share. The beautiful black wrought iron of the Campbell House fence always looks good in the against the snow. The photos highlight the three unique finials on the fence.

Restored Glass Installed!

Regular readers and followers will recall that last summer the Campbell House was vandalized and a historic piece of etched glass in our entry doors was smashed. Read more about that here and here.

Thanks to our generous supporters on Twitter and friends on Facebook, we raised almost enough funds to restore the broken piece.  It proved to be a difficult task to find an artisan who was willing to take on this complicated project. Thankfully we hired  local artist Lea Koesterer who carefully worked through the many challenges this project presented.

A few days ago the restored glass was installed and the results are magnificent. Check out the photos below.

Campbell House front doors: original etched glass on the right and space left by the broken glass on the left.

The new piece of glass is carefully unwrapped after travelling from the artist’s studio.

Lea Koesterer does some last-minute touch-up.

Can you tell which one is the new piece of glass? It is the one on the left.

Lea Koesterer proudly stands by the finished product.

Thank you Lea and all the donors who helped us complete this project. We still have a little more fundraising to do the complete this project. Please consider making a donation below.

Merry Christmas from the Campbell House

Campbell House has a very special Christmas story
that comes with an unusual decoration.

Campbell Christmas table, circa 1895.

About 1895 the Campbell family hosted a small Christmas party for their close friends. In true Gilded Age style the dining room table was set spectacularly for the event. The table itself was completely wrapped in fresh flowers–red and white carnations with greens.  The centerpiece of the table was a figure of Santa Claus complete with his sleigh holding toys and a decorated Christmas tree all pulled by 8 reindeer. This unusual table decoration was also the party favor. Every family in attendance was invited to take part of the display home.

The reindeer Vixen was taken home by the Hugh Scott family of St. Louis. Vixen decorated their dining room Christmas table for almost 80 years. About 25 years ago the Scott family was persuaded by Campbell House supporter Zoe Desloge Lippman to donate Vixen to the Campbell House Museum for all our Christmas callers to enjoy.

Come and visit Vixen and experience the splendor of Christmases past. Campbell House is open Wednesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. through December 30. During January we are open most days by appointment. Call us to make and appointment, 314-421-0325.

Vixen adorns the Morning Room mantle today.

Happy Thanksgiving from CHM

A big thank you and a recipe:

2012 has been an extraordinary year for us at Campbell House, and we have lots to be thankful for:

• Our guests. More of you have come through the house this year than ever before, and we’re glad you let us share our story with you. We appreciate your support, and please keep coming. We try to have something new and exciting to appeal to just about everyone, and your continued interest and attendance helps us keep the doors open. It’s our esteemed pleasure to be here for you.
• All of our volunteers, including docents, board members, researchers, garden help and gift shop staff. Much of the work around here is done by people who like Campbell House so darn much they come here unpaid just to lend a hand. We couldn’t keep this place in tip-top shape without your help, and we’re lucky to have you.
• St. Louis. Robert and Virginia liked St. Louis enough to call it home, and we’re proud to maintain and share their house in such a wonderful city. We’re still humbled by the outpouring of encouragement after our burglary over the summer. This really is the best city on earth. (The Campbells were on to something when they bought this place.)

In case you need a recipe for your turkey tomorrow, here’s one of Virginia’s specialties: Boiled Turkey.

Transcribed:

Take grated bread, 1/4 lb butter, cream, chopped oysters, sweet marjoram
pepper & salt & nutmeg mixed up the yolks of 3 eggs. Stuff it, flour it
& tie it up in a cloth, boil it an hour and a quarter.

[If you're brave enough to try it, send pictures. And a review....]

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Campbell House!

 

 

Campbell Cuisine » Cook (and eat) Like a Campbell at Dierbergs

A place setting of Virginia’s china, crystal and napkin.

It’s no secret the Campbells liked their food.

We have Virginia’s cookbook from the 1840s, Campbell letters are littered with references to food (and drink), and we have records of  payments to St. Louis’ finest restaurants. On top of the documents, this house has an impressive collection of original cooking equipment and china.

This holiday season, if you want to get a taste of history and the Campbell lifestyle, you have the chance to take a class at Dierbergs School of Cooking featuring a menu inspired by Virginia’s recipes. Here’s the official description with links to register immediately following:

Christmas Dinner at Campbell House
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a designated City of St. Louis Landmark, the Campbell House Museum is “Downton Abbey” St. Louis style! Our favorite food historian recreates a sumptuous menu based on the 19th century recipes from the Campbell House Museum’s culinary collections. It’s perfect for a holiday celebration! All classes will be taught by Suzanne Corbett, Certified Culinary Professional.

Roman Punch (Slushy Champagne Punch) • Cream of Onion Soup • Beef Tenderloin Medallions with Mushroom Sauce Chausseur • Queen of Sheba Cake (French Chocolate Almond Cake) with Cream Chantilly  

Christmas Dinner at Campbell House will be offered on two dates, each at a different Dierbergs location:

Southroads (SR): November 14th, Wednesday, 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Register here.
Clarkson (CL): December 17th, Monday, 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Register here.

Campbell House staff will stop by all the classes to say hello, and maybe even join the class with you! We hope to see you there.

Holiday Historic House Tour

Our house is a sight to see, but the best time of year to visit is during the holidays when we’ve decked the halls. The same is true for many of St. Louis’ other fine historic homes, and here’s your chance to see six spectacular old buildings when they are at their festive best.

For one night only on November 29th, 2012 from 3-8 PM, you will have a chance to see Campbell House Museum, The Eugene Field House, The Chatillon-DeMenil House, The Old Courthouse, and the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Tower Grove House and their hardly-ever-open-to-the-public Museum Building, each decked out in their seasonal finery. We usually do this every other year, but we had so much fun last year we’ve decided to try it on an annual basis. This really is one of Campbell House’s favorite events.

The tree and crèche in the Parlor.

Each stop along the tour will feature holiday treats, warm drinks and regular performances of scenes from “A Christmas Carol” by actors from ETC Senior Theatre Company. Many of the locations have gift shops, so you can get a head start on holiday shopping. To round out the evening, a buffet dinner will be offered at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Sassafras Café, which will feature a selection of comfort foods, including Homestyle Meatloaf with Wild Missouri Mushroom Gravy, Chicken Paprikash with Rustic Dumplings, Baked Ziti with Spinach, Basil & Fresh Local Mozzarella, side dishes, and an assortment of mini desserts and cookies.

Participants can tour the locations on chartered buses that will shuttle them to the next stop, or they may opt to take a self-guided tour. To purchase tour tickets, call us at 314/421-0325, or click here to buy tickets online.

Mantle in the Parlor.

Guided Bus Transportation tickets: $30.00 in advance, $40.00 the day of the event. Price includes admission to all six locations, bus transportation and free parking.

Self-Guided tickets: $20.00 in advance, $30.00 the day of the event. Price includes admission to all six locations and limited free parking.

If you would like to make reservations for dinner at Sassafras Café at the Missouri Botanical Garden, please call the café directly at 314/577-0200. The buffet is $14.95 per person, and beer, wine and cocktails will be available for purchase.

So how does the tour work? 

• Buy your ticket online or purchase over the phone by calling us at 314/421-0325.
• On the day of the event, start at whichever venue you would like. All sites have the reservation list. If you opted for the bus ticket, we recommend you start at Campbell House, Eugene Field House or the Missouri Botanical Garden because those sites have the largest parking lots.
• 

  The dining table.

  Check in at your first stop, and you’ll be given a lanyard that serves as admission to each site and, for bus riders, it serves as your bus pass. For guests doing the self-guided tour, you will be given a map to each location at check-in.

• The event is from 3-8 PM, but there isn’t a rigorous schedule. The buses are running in a loop, constantly shuttling guests from one stop to the next. You should only have to wait a few minutes (if at all) to catch a bus to get to the next stop along the way. You can spend as much or as little time at each venue as you would like.
• If the weather’s lousy on November 29th, we will postpone the tour to the following Wednesday, December 5, 2012.
• More questions? Don’t hesitate to call us at 314/421-0325, or email Shelley at shelley@campbellhousemuseum.org.

The Holiday Historic House Tour is a fantastic way to kick off the holiday season — we hope you can join us!

Meet the interns » Lauren

Lauren

If you come by on Saturdays, you’re more than likely going to meet Lauren, our new Fall intern. She’s a busy bee, holding down 18 hours of classes, a part-time job and working here several days a week. We’re lucky to have her! If she’s your tour guide, make sure you ask her what she thinks of Vegemite……

What are you studying and where? History at UMSL.

Why Campbell House? I wanted to get experience working in a museum, and I thought I would be able to get a more valuable and hands-on experience in a smaller organization where I could feel I was more involved. I think the Campbell House is a really unique and special place, and I thought it would be a very enjoyable place to gain some knowledge about working in museums.

What are you going to do at Campbell House? I am going through tons of letters and documents trying to uncover quotes or first-hand accounts of each of the Campbells, as well as various facts regarding their story and the house, and creating cards to put in each of the rooms. I want to be able to provide people with a more intimate knowledge of the family aside from what our docents can tell them, and help to serve as a talking point or reference on tours.

When you aren’t slaving away at Campbell House, what are you doing? I am busy with a full-time school schedule and working at a cafe! When I do have time for a life, I love traveling and just spending time with family and friends.

What’s your favorite thing about Campbell House so far? I love researching and learning new things everyday about the family and the time period, and It’s also just a beautiful environment to be working in, surrounded by this opulent Victorian home. But of course, I love the people I work with and am grateful to have so many knowledgeable, helpful and positive people around!

PC or Mac? PC

Little known fact about me: I am an Australian citizen (I have dual-citizenship because my father was Australian) and lived in Melbourne for a year!

Favorite book: It’s a tie between Slaughter House Five and Angela’s Ashes…I have read both at least five times!