History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 200

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 200

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Evangelical Theological College .- This institu- tion was established thirty years since, in Warren County, Mo. In 1882 measures were taken to re- move it to St. Louis County. A lot of eighteen acres was purchased at the intersection of St. Charles road and Hunt Avenue, and there college buildings are in process of erection. The estimated cost of these buildings is eighty-five thousand dollars.

Protestant Orphan Asylum .- In 1850 the late Rev. Dr. A. Bullard, who was strongly impressed with the importance of establishing an institution of learn- ing under the patronage and control of the Presby- terian denomination, put forth active efforts for the establishment of such an institution here. The result was the erection and partial endowment of the Webster College, so named in honor of the great statesman Daniel Webster. A farm of one hundred and fifty acres was donated for this purpose by the late John C. Mar- shall, and ten thousand dollars were given by Carlos S. Greeley toward the ercction of a college building. Other enterprising individuals also donated large sums for the purpose, and the stone building which was in- tended as the residence of the president of the college was erected. In this a school which was expected to develop into a prosperous college was established. The professors in this school were Rev. David Dimond and Rev. James A. Darrah. The school continued during four years, when the death of Dr. Bullard, who was killed by the railroad accident at Gasconade River, deprived it of its most influential supporter, and it soon ceased to be used as a college, though hopes were entertained of its subsequent revival. These hopes were blasted by the breaking out of the civil war.

In 1857 a boys' boarding-school was established in the building by Professor Edward M. Avery, and

successfully conducted during five years, or till the war commenced, when it was abandoned, and the building was closed. The farm then reverted to Mr. Marshall, and the house, with ten acres of land, be- came the property of Mr. Greeley. The Sanitary Commission subsequently came in possession of it, and added to it a large brick building. The estab- lishment then became a Soldiers' Orphans' Home, under the patronage and control of the Sanitary Com- mission, aided by the State. It was conducted for this purpose till 1869, when it was donated to the St. Louis Protestant Orphan Asylum, on condition that twenty-four thousand dollars should be raised for its endowment, which was promptly done. Possession of the buildings was taken in December of that year, and the children of the asylum were removed hither.

This, which was the first orphan asylum in St. Louis, was established in 1834, and had maintained a pros- perous existence till its removal. It brought hither all its inmates, and here its benevolent work has since been carried on.

The affairs of the asylum are administered by a board of sixteen lady managers, and its income is de- rived from the interest of its endowment, which is in- vested, and the voluntary contributions of its benevo- lent friends. Twenty acres have been added to the grounds, and the whole is cultivated for the benefit of the institution. The average number of orphans cared for here is one hundred.

Mrs. George K. Budd has been the efficient presi- dent of the board of managers since the removal of the asylum to Webster Groves. The other officers are Mrs. Edward M. Avery, vice-president; Mrs. Anna L. Blood, treasurer; and Mrs. Rebecca H. Morton, secretary. The matron is Mrs. George R. Pegram.

German Protestant Orphan Asylum .- In 1858 Rev. L. E. Nollau found on a boat a child whose parents had died on their passage to this country from Germany. . This child he placed under the care of Mrs. Wilhelmina Meyer, in rooms which he set apart for the purpose in the Good Samaritan Hospital, which he had just then established on Carr Street, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth. This was the commencement of the German Protestant Orphan Asylum.

The number of children in the establishment thus founded rapidly increased, and larger accommodations became necessary. Rooms were accordingly rented on the corner of Jefferson and Dayton Avenues, and to these the children were removed, though they con- tinued to board at the Good Samaritan Hospital. On the breaking out of the civil war in 1861 the gov-

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

ernment took possession of this building for a soldiers' hospital, and the children were removed to a house on the corner of Carr and Sixteenth Streets, where they remained till near the close of the war, when they were taken back.

In the autumn of 1866 a farm of sixty-five acres on the St. Charles road, nine miles from St. Louis, was purchased at a cost of twenty-three thousand five hundred dollars, and to the large dwelling on this farın the orphans, then fifty-five in number, werc re- moved. In 1870 a wing was added on the east of this building, and in 1874 another wing was added on the west, and a tower was erected in front. The cost of these additions was fifty thousand dollars.

Jan. 18, 1877, the entire establishment was burned, and one child perished in the flames. The children were removed to the Good Samaritan Hospital again till spring, when they were quartered in temporary

GERMAN PROTESTANT ORPHANS' HOME.

shanties on the farm. During the summer the present asylum was erected, and was first occupied November 18th of that year. It is a brick structure, one hun- dred and sixty by seventy feet in size, and three stories in height above the basement. It is fitted up with all the modern conveniences for an institution of this kind, and it is believed to be one of the best-ar- ranged asylums in the country. Its cost was fifty thousand dollars. There have also been erected a teachers' residence, bakery, laundry, icc-house, and stable, all of brick, and their total cost was twenty thousand dollars. In December, 1882, twenty acres were added to the farm, and the cost of this addition was two thousand dollars. The grounds have been improved and beautified, and the place is now more attractive than any other of the kind in the vicinity.

man, Michael Voepel, and Francis Hackemeier as cor- porators. This board has been increased to the max- imum number allowed by the charter.

The presidents of the board have been Frederick Bolte, Michael Voepel, Christian Knickmeier, and Mr. Voepcl again. The management of the asylum devolved wholly on its founder, Rev. Mr. Nollau, till his death in 1869, until which time Mrs. Meyer con- tinued to discharge the duties of matron. On the death of Mr. Nollau, the present superintendent, Franz Hackemcier, entered on his duties, and Mrs. Haekemeier became matron.

In the Asylum no sectarian distinction is made, but the children of Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant, alike are received and cared for. The asylum is not endowed, but is dependent for its sup- port entirely on the contributions of benevolent people. It is a noteworthy fact that the first dona- tion was made in 1858 by a child four years of age, Charles H. Hackemeier, who gave the sum of one dollar from his little savings. The next contributor was Mr. Voepel, who gave ten dollars.

From its humble beginning with one orphan in 1858 its benevolent work has increased till now it has two hundred and thirty-five inmates. To the watchful care and efficient labors of Mr. Nollau the early success of the institution was largely due.

Franz Hackemeier, the superintendent of the Asylum, was born in Hanover, Germany, May 8, 1831. Hc received an ordinary education in the schools of his native place, but did not acquire a trade or profession. In the autumn of 1844, with his parents, he left the land of his nativity, and on the 1st of January, 1845, they arrived in St. Louis.

During their first summer here he and his father labored in a brick-yard ; then they were employed in a lead-factory until the death of his father in the fall of 1846. The support of four brothers and sisters devolved on him, and he continued for a year to labor in the factory by day, and at night sold newspapers. He then learned the business of a tobacconist, which lie followed until 1849. In the spring of that year he entered the clothing house of Young & Brothers, first as an errand-boy. He soon came to be superin- tendent of the store, and continued in that capacity until 1856, except during a short interval. In that year he and his brother-in-law embarked in the dry- goods and clothing trade on Franklin Avenue, in which they continued until 1861. He then during a

On March 23, 1861, the institution was incor- porated by an act of the Legistature, with Lewis E. Nollau, Frederick Maschmeicr, T. Frederick Mass- 1 year collected funds for the Good Samaritan Hospital,

COUNTY OF SAINT LOUIS.

1917

after which, on account of his health, he engaged until 1869 in farming. On the death of Rev. L. Nollau, he became superintendent of the German Protestant Orphan Asylum, which position he has

Trong Hackemeier,

sinee continued to fill. He has been a director of the Good Samaritan Hospital and of the Orphan Asylum from the commencement of those institutions.

His mother died in June, 1849, and he was mar- ried in 1851 to Miss Mary Piper, who is now matron of the Orphan Asylum. They have one son, Charles H. Haekemeier.

The poverty and hardships of Mr. Hackemeier's early life served to strengthen the benevolenee and sympathy with the unfortunate with which he was en- dowed by nature, and to fit him for the eareer of use- fulness which it has been his good fortune to pursue.

Lutheran Orphans' Home .- The German Evan- gelical Lutheran Orphans' Home (“ Zum Kindlein Jesu"), with which is connected an asylum for aged and indigent members of the denomination, was erected in 1867 by the German Evangelieal Lutheran Hospital Association of St. Louis. This association was incorporated in 1863 by an act of the Missouri Legislature. The first building erected was a log house, which is still in use. In 1873 a briek build- ing forty-five by fifty-five feet in size, three stories in height, with a Mansard roof, was ereeted, and dedi- i

eated on the 8th of June in that year. In 1882 a frame building for an orphan sehool was ereeted.

Sinee the erection of the first building three hun- dred and eighty children have been eared for in the Home. The present number is one hundred, and there are ten aged and infirm men and women eared for at the establishment.

The Home is located at Des Peres, on the Man- ehester road, fifteen miles from St. Louis. Forty acres of land belong to the Home, and the value of the whole is ten thousand dollars.

The first president of this asylum was the late Rev. Johann Freidrich Buenger, who at his death in 1882 was succeeded by the present president, Rev. Christlieb C. E. Brandt, pastor of the Evangelieal Lutheran St. Paulus' Church of St. Louis.

The first superintendent of the asylum was the late Rev. E. H. Lehman, of Des Peres. The present superintendent is Ernst Leirbner. The teacher is Heinrich Keller.

MERAMEC TOWNSHIP.1

Meramec township is composed of United States townships 43 (north of the Meramec River), 44, and 45 of range 3 east, and the two western ranges of seetions in range 4 east, having the Meramec River as its southern boundary till Antire Creek is reached, thence through Bunkum on the line of township 43. Its western line joins Franklin on the line of range 2 east, a distance of twelve miles. At a very early period in the history of the State the township was a locality of great importance, owing to the fact that it was the frontier of advaneing eivilization and a breast- work for the protection of the growing Western em- porium, and the key to its gates. The irregular ehar- aeter of most of its surface, composed of great heights and deep ravines, gave it great strategie im- portanee in the struggles with the Indians. From it the upper Missouri country was explored, and in it a eitizens' guard was formed to repress the Indians and the no less to be dreaded white marauders. Great encouragement was given by the French and Spanish governments, and subsequently by that of the United States, to the formation of frontier volunteer eom- panies and seouts, and deeds of daring and danger and eases of suffering and sacrifiee were common, and stamped the character of the people with open-hearted hospitality, and were rewarded by liberal grants of land.

The origin of the name is involved in obscurity, and quite a number of different versions are current

1 Written especially for this work by William Muir.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

among the traditions of the early settlers. Mahr-ah- mec is given as the Indian for the water of the bitter springs, with no point obvious to-day. Again, Mah- ah-mac refers in the Indian to the waters of death, from the reputed unhealthiness of its banks in mala- rial seasons and to its fatality to swimmers, tempted into its beautiful waters, to be caught in a cold stream flowing from numerous springs, by inducing cramps and death by drowning. Some trace the name to the river of the smoking springs, from the spring in which it originates and from the numerous columns of vapor seen, in the frosty air of winter, from the surrounding hills. Others say it means catfish stream, and yet others trace it to the Merrimac of New Hampshire. A very pleasing and plausible version is based on a very early and rare house of entertainment near the site of the present town of Franklin and near the St. Louis County line, kept by Mac Young. This was the great rendezvous of the scout, hunter, trapper, fisher, trader, and settler. In its management he was ably assisted by a noble-hearted wife named Mary, and it was talked of as a rendezvous, base of opera- tions, source of supplies, as Mary and Mac's, till the brief appellation was applied to the entire river and adjacent country. The Youngs are historic characters, and Robert Young King, born in 1812, and now postmaster of Oakfield, takes his middle name from them.

Indian relics, implements, camps, and trails are quite numerous. On the line of the old King's Highway, the oldest road known, running along the south edge of the township (on the first bluff) arc numerous well-marked " mounds" containing pottery, arrow-heads, etc., of which William H. Coleman and his brother, State Senator R. G. Coleman, have fine collections. In the excavations for the senator's new residence many fine specimens of pottery were found. On Tavern Creek, just west of the county line, is a large, well-defined fortified village, with a circle of de- fensive out-works. The cave in Tavern Rock has numerous inscriptions and remains. A cave in the bluff opposite the Boxley bridge, sections 9, 45, 4 east, is another place rich in relics, and no doubt con- nected with the mounds on the bluff. On the south edge of the township, between the mouth of Flat Creek, sections 30, 44, 3 east, and L. D. Votaw's, along the bank of the Meramec was an old village, and great quantities of pottery used to be plowed up. The Shawnecs were here till 1812, and single fami- lies much later. A curious cave exists on the west fork of Fox Creek, sections 30, 31, 44, 3 east, con- taining Indian remains, and traditions say it is con- nected by a subterranean communication with Tavern

Cave on the Missouri River, and one of the numerous caves on the Meramec. Arrow-heads, axes, pelt- knives, and other implements of stone are very fre- quently turned up by the plow, and there are few farmers who have none of them. George Letterman, of Allentown, makes a specialty of collecting them. Thic Shawnees frequented this locality, and were quiet and generally liked. The Delawares werc also peace- able. The Pawnees, Cherokees, and Osages were not trusted, but the Kickapoos were thievish, cruel, and generally dreaded. They frequently visited and camped at the large springs as late as 1832. John Ball, from Kentucky, one of the very carlicst settlers, tells of an Indian prophecy in 1780. In that year honey-becs began to be seen on the wild-flowers, and an old Indian told him that when "the white man's fly" appeared, the Indian had to move; "that the white man would push out the red race, and the black man would in turn take the country from the white race."

The Koonce massacre was an incident associated with one of the oldest families of the neighborhood. Towards the close of the last century, perhaps 1795, a band of Kickapoos and Omahas murdered nearly all the Koonce family, in the town of St. Charles, then the principal city west of the Mississippi River, and took a baby boy, the youngest of the family, away with them. The boy's niece, Mary Koonce, became the wife of John Votaw, and mother of L. D. Votaw, and settled on the old " Votaw place." The Shawnees had their village near, and a band of them lived beside them till about 1820. The head man, " George," was very friendly, and on intimate terms with the family, and knew of their relationships. About 1826 a band of Shawnees visited their old haunts, and the head, or the interpreter, was " George." He informed the Votaw family that he had found young Koonce, now a " brave," and would try to per- suade him to visit them when he returned to his tribe. He kept his word, and Koonce and several children visited his relations, and remained a year among them, but finally returned to his tribe among the Omaha Indians in Wyoming in 1831, and has never been heard of sincc.

On the north edge of the township, and running nearly parallel with the Missouri River, there still exists the great " Indian trail" adopted by the Spanish adven- turer and silver-hunter, then named the "King's Highway," which led to the " Upper Missouri Country," as all west of St. Louis County was then called, to Santa Fé and the West. It commences near Bellefontaine, and passing Crève Coeur takes the continuation of the Olive Street road on the

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COUNTY OF SAINT LOUIS.

bluffs, St. Charles on the opposite side of the river being then, and till 1826, the principal city of the State. The rich bottom-lands of the Missouri River presented extraordinary inducements for settlement, and this desire was cordially met and encouraged by the early commandants as creating a cheap and efficient protection to the other portions of the county, and to the city itself. The traders, voyageurs, and Indians grazed their fattening cattle in these rich bottom-lands to fit them for the consumption of the city and military posts ; hence, we find the Spanish grants running from 102, James McDonald, 122, 124, 132, 133, 134, and upward. Among these grants were those in Florissant, the garden spot of the county, and the celebrated prairies of Carondelet township, between the Meramec and Mississippi Rivers, in surveys 110, 111, and 403. Many of these grants bear the signature of Zenon Trudeau in 1796, and the direct descendants of most. of the grantees are still in possession of portions of them. .

Along the south side of the township, at irregular distances from the Meramcc River, ran the old " State road," traced by the Indians, used by the French hunters, trappers, and adventurers, and the Courtois, Moreaus, Bitticks, Poilevres, Fortins, and Farrahs, antedating the time when the Spanish-French posses- sions became territory of the United States. This old State road ran in behind St. Paul, past the Ninian Hamilton place, now the Catholic Protectorate, north of Eureka, Allenton, and Dozier's, to Mary and Mac's, and then far beyond was the key that opened the south side of the township. As the upper cnds of the hollows and intervales from the two rivers and pathways were settled, pathways were opened up on the great " backbone" of the Osage range, and the centre of the township was opened through its whole length by the great State or Rock road. Jefferson City became the capital of the State in 1826, with a tri-weekly mail, carried on horseback. In 1836 a daily mail was granted between Jefferson and St. Louis, which opened the way for the stages started by Thomas L. Price, of Jefferson City. The road was graded and gravelcd in 1852-58 as part of a plan of public improvement championed by Olly Williams, of the St. Louis County Court, and is to-day the just pride of every citizen. The stage that de- stroyed the horseback " mail courier" was itself in turn supplanted by the locomotive on the opening of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

The connecting link between the Missouri, Mer- amec, and Mississippi Rivers was an “ Indian trail" from St. Albans, on the Missouri River, through Melrose, through the grounds of William Muir,

thence on the divide between Clifty and Fox Creeks, where it was joined by the mail route from Samuel Harris', thence above and parallel with Clifty Creek to Eureka and the mouth of Big River, and the Meramec to Hillsboro' and Herculaneum, on the Mississippi.

For many years after Upper Louisiana was ceded to the United States the nearest flour-mill was that at Chouteau's Pond, on Ninth and Poplar Streets, St. Louis, whence the breadstuffs were transported on horses, as there were neither wagons nor wagon-roads in the country. Many were the races and stratagems to avoid the Indians, and many the tale of hunger and of hardship in the settler's family from the bread-bearer being overhauled by the robber race.

Ninian Hamilton set up a horse-mill on survey 766, which was supplanted by a water-mill and bark- mill for tanning by Henry Mccullough, who carried on along with his tannery a shoemaking· establish- ment that not only supplied the surrounding country, but cnabled him to ship large quantities to a brother in the South, often employing eight men. Afterwards Samuel Harris erected a mill at the original Fox Creek post-office and tavern, section 19, 44, 3 east, and a mill was also built by Adolph Kehr, near Chesterfield. Several small mills were set up at dif- ferent points. In 1854, T. R. Allen built a grist- and saw-mill with wool cards at Allenton. About the same time a grist- and saw-mill was built by Woods, Christy & Co., of St. Louis, at Glencoe, and run by Messrs. Bushy, Cyrus Turner, Parr, and others till about 1868. Fenn's mill and broom- handle factory was erected near Howell's Ferry, and burned down about 1867. Robert Eatherton, along with Messrs. Eickerman & Woolsey, of St. Louis, erected a splendid mill with all the modern ap- purtenances and improvements at Orrville, at a cost of thirty-two thousand dollars, which ran about a year, and was burned down in 1868 and never rebuilt. In 1872, Frederick Hencken put up a neat grist- and saw-mill on the State road at Fox Creek, with two sets of burrs and a circular saw (since sold), at a cost of about three thousand five hundred dollars. In 1880 a saw-mill was set up at Allenton, run a short time, and removed to Fox Creek bottom. Besides these, quite a number of small mills arc run by thresher engines. About 1818 a distillery was operated on the McCourtenay tract. The cider of a fine orchard planted there, and now in the channel of the Missouri River, was, along with corn, used in distillation. Andrew Hamilton had a distillery on his place, as is previously noted.

The Glencoe Valley Lime-Works are situated in

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

sections 10, 14, 44, 3 east, and call into economic use and give value to several natural products that have for years been regarded as worthless. About 1868, Samuel Terry, from Ohio, bought the Mulligan tract, in this valley. Close examination and test revealed great beauty and durability in the rock of the bluffs, which present vast mural formations on each side. So promising were the prospects that a joint-stock com. pany (the Glencoe Marble Company) was formed, a side-track laid from Glencoe Station, Missouri Pacific Railroad, and fine steam machinery procured to saw the rock into slabs, etc., which were greatly admired. The track was afterwards extended to finc variegated gravel and paint-clay deposits farther up the valley. William Gowans, familiarly known as " Tennessee," put in the first blasts with single-drill bores ; now six to ten cans of powder is no uncommon charge. The cost of transportation so embarrassed operations that the Marble Company gave up business in a few years. In 1868, John Oliver, then manager of the Bagot farm, experimented with the several strata of rocks with a view to the production of lime, and a small kiln was erected on the Bagot place, which gave such assurances of success that a large kiln was built on the opposite side of the valley in 1876.

The quarries of the Marble Company were leased by a company for limc-burning, and a kiln put up. The lime was so well received that other kilns were added to keep pace with the demand, and the works fell into the hands of Cobb, White & Case, of Portland, Me. The lower kiln, operated by Fink & Oliver, was bought out by the same firm, and has John Oliver as resident manager, while David Thomas manages the upper works. The kilns produce about four hundred bushels of lime every twenty-four hours, which is in demand all over the West and South. About seven cords of wood arc consumed by each cvcry twenty- four hours, about one hundred men are employed, and twenty-nine thousand dollars of working capital represented.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 200

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358