211 Years of Robert Campbell #happybirthdaybob

It’s birthday time! (and also an excuse to photoshop a hat on Robert. It never gets old.)

This Thursday, February 12 marks the 211th birthday of our main man Robert Campbell. Born in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland in 1804, Robert rose from obscurity as one of millions of Irish immigrants to this country in the early 19th century to become one of the major players in the history of the American West as a mountain man, fur trader and entrepreneur. The City of St. Louis would  look much different today without his influence (heck, he was also a founding landowner in Kansas City, MO and El Paso, TX. This guy was all over the place).

This weekend we’re celebrating Robert’s big day with a half-price birthday bonanza at the Campbell House Museum. Adults are just $4 each. Seriously, folks. Four dollars. Still looking for a cheap, unique experience for you and your special someone on Valentine’s Day weekend? We’ve got you covered. We’ll be here from 10am-4pm on Friday and Saturday and 12-4pm on Sunday, February 13-15.

We’re looking forward to a fun, historically-inclined weekend and we hope you’ll join us to celebrate the life and legacy of one of St. Louis’ most important figures. Click here to join our event on Facebook… it’s going to be a blast!

Did you know…

Robert shares a birthday with Abraham Lincoln (born five years later in 1809), Charles Darwin (also 1809) and Judy Blume (1939)?

110 years after Robert was born, on February 12, 1914, the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was put into place.

138 years and 359 days after Robert was born, on February 6, 1943, the Campbell House Museum officially opened to the public.

159 years after Robert was born, on February 12, 1963, construction began on the Gateway Arch.

 

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*swoon*

We just stumbled across this article that ran in the February 13, 2000 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The quote is so good, we had to share it. From a letter Robert wrote to his fiancée Virginia shortly before the were married in 1841:

Prepare one of your sweetest kisses and have it on the border of your sweet lips to welcome me on my arrival to contrive our meetings so that I can, with your sense of propriety, fold you in my embrace and revel in your charms without being interrupted. I must not indulge in this strain for it produces such excitement that my writing would scarce be legible.

Yowsah.

An image of the Post-Dispatch article that announces the donation of the Diebel Collection of Campbell letters and the intimate nature of their contents. Appropriately, it ran right before Valentine’s Day 2000.

Remember Remember the 14th of February!

Wait, I think we may have that quote wrong.

Either way, don’t wait until the last minute to find something fun to do with your honey on Tuesday. We’re hosting a traditional English high tea in our house with the lovelies from the London Tea Room. (These people are originally from England, so they know what they’re doing.) You’ll be greeted at the door with a glass of Roman punch that you can enjoy while you browse the house. As you relax at a table in the Dining Room, Parlor, Morning Room or Kitchen, we’ll serve you a scrumptious high tea, including your own pot of tea, finger sandwiches, currant scone with Devonshire cream, petit fours and a chocolate-covered strawberry.

We’ll have some special lovey-themed Campbell pieces on display, and you’ll get a little goodie bag. Tickets are $45 each and a portion of your ticket price is a donation to Campbell House.

Sound good? Call Campbell House at 314/421-0325 to make your reservation.

And now we’ll double check that whole “Remember Remember” quote with our English friends…..