History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 99

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 99

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1 At the time of the transfer of the province of Louisiana to the United States there were but two little French taverns in the town, one kept by Yostic, and the other by Landreville, chiefly to accommodate the courriers du bois (hunters) and the voyageurs (boatmen) of the Mississippi. Both of these taverns stood upon the corners of Main and Locust Streets .- Edwards' Great West, pp. 288-89.

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years, and then disposed of it to William R. McClure. Subsequently A. S. Merritt, formerly of the Pacific Hotel, operated it.

The first hotel of any prominence in St. Louis was the old Missouri, which stood on the southwest corner of Main and Morgan Streets. It was built in 1819 by John McKnight and Thomas Brady, and subse- quently became the property of the latter, who retained it until his death in 1822. It was a two-story stone structure, built in the old French style, its side front- ing on Main Street, and its steep roof studded with dormer-windows. After Mr. Brady's death, Maj. Thomas Biddle bought it, and owned it until he was killed in a duel with Spencer Pettis, in October, 1831. Maj. Biddle built an addition to the hotel by which the accommodations were greatly increased. He sent to the East and procured a hotel-keeper, who opened the house with conveniences never before known west of the Mississippi River. After the death of Maj. Biddle, the hotel was sold to John F. Darby, who in the year 1835 sold it to Isaac Walker. Subsequently the following persons kept it as tavern and hotel : Abijah Hull, Ephraim Town, and Messrs. Mitchell, Johnson, Louis Oldenburg, Scudder, Hubbard, Sey- mour, and others. In 1873 the building was torn down, and gave place to the tobacco-factory of Chris- tian Peper.

The old Missouri Hotel was the scene of many his- torical incidents. The first Legislature that met under the State Constitution convened there in the year 1820. There also the first Governor and Lieu- tenant-Governor of the State were sworn into office and delivered their inaugural addresses, and there the two first United States senators ever elected in Missouri, David Barton and Thomas H. Benton, were chosen. It was also a favorite place for the arrangement of duels, trials by courts-martial, and rendezvous for army officers. Gen. Scott, Gen. Wil- liam Henry Harrison, Gen. Zachary Taylor, Gen. Leavenworth, and the celebrated Indian-fighter and soldier, Gen. Henry Dodge, and many other eminent and distinguished men made it their stopping-place.

St. Clair Hotel .- In 1829 the growing wants of St. Louis seemed to demand a more commodious and pretentious hotel than the Missouri, and accord- ingly Col. Thornton Grimsley purchased the Baptist Church property on the southwest corner of Market and Third Streets, and remodeled it into a neat four- story hotel, which he called the National, placing liis brother William G. in charge of it. The National at once became the principal hotel of St. Louis. Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Gen. Zachary Taylor, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and others who

were then or have since become prominent, made it their stopping-place when visiting St. Louis. In 1837, Messrs. Stickney & McKnight leased the house from Grimsley, and fully maintained its popularity until 1841, when they retired to take charge of the Planters', then just built. They were succeeded by Col. Scott, and a close rivalry existed for some time between the National and Planters'. In 1846 or 1847 a fire partly destroyed the National, and bad luck seemed to hang about the house for some time thereafter. A number of changes occurred. Mr. Scott leased and ran it a few years as Scott's Hotel, and was followed by William Chesley, who changed its name to the St. Clair. By this name it has been known since that time, with one or two brief inter- vals. From 1860 to 1877 the following persons have managed the St. Clair : Col. Gannett, Jeremiah Wood, George C. Wales, Jonathan Chesley, Valentine Gerber, William Baird, M. W. Quinn, Trumbull B. Raymond, and McDonald & Rochester. In 1877 the house was closed, but was afterwards leased by Judge George Williams, who remodeled and newly fur- nished it, since which time it has been managed suc- cessfully on the moderate price plan.

Planters' Hotel .- In November, 1817, Evarist Maury announced to the public that he had opened the Planters' Hotel on Second Street, opposite Maj. Douglass' office, where a few boarders could be ac- commodated. He proposed to go into the business on an extensive scale, and announced that he would en- large the capacity of his house and erect additional buildings. This was not, however, the forerunner of the present hotel known as the Planters'. In 1836 a number of prominent citizens thought that it would be advisable to erect a larger and more commodious hotel than any the city then contained. To consider this proposition a meeting was called in October, at which Judge J. B. C. Lucas presided and Bernard Pratte acted as secretary. A committee consisting of Messrs. McGunnegle, Morton, Kerr, and Brant was ap- pointed to select a suitable site and report to an adjourned meeting. The committee reported a week afterward, and the location immediately north of the court- house, having a front on Fourth Street and bounded by Chestnut and Vine, was almost unanimously se- lected, and a committee was appointed to obtain the subscription of the necessary amount of stock. The liberal offer of Judge Lucas, wlio owned the site selected, unquestionably had much to do with bring- ing about this result. At a meeting of the share- holders on Dec. 6, 1836, Messrs. Alexander R. Simp- son, D. D. Page, D. Lamont, J. C. Laveille, E. Tracy, J. Charless, and G. W. Call were elected directors of

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the company for the first year. Application was made to the Legislature of 1836-37, and a charter with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars was obtained. In March, 1837, ground was broken, but owing to the embarrassments of the times the work was not com- pleted until March, 1841.1

The following announcement, made upon the eve of its opening, will explain why an intended compliment was not conferred : " We would briefly observe, fur- ther, that the title of the house is that given in the charter. After the house had been taken by the present enterprising proprietors, Messrs. Stickney & McKnight, and after they had ordered their furniture, part of which, the porcelain, cutlery, etc., was manu- factured in England, and the name of the establish- ment impressed or otherwise fixed on every piece, the board of managers altered the title to that of 'The Lucas House,' in honor of the liberal patron of the same, the Hon. Judge Lucas, but on account of the above previous arrangement of the proprietors they have felt themselves bound to open under the title of ' The Planters' House.'" On the 1st of April, 1841, the hotel went into operation. Stickney & McKnight, the lessees, had previously conducted the National Hotel, and were experienced hotel-keepers. Mr. Stick- ney subsequently bought out Mr. McKnight's interest, and afterwards associated with him Leonard Scolly. The latter died in the fall of 1860, and Mr. Stickney kept the house until April, 1864, when he retired with a competency. Benjamin Stickney was one of the leading citizens of St. Louis, and filled the po- sitions of director in the St. Louis Gas-Light Com- pany, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and the St. Louis National Bank. He died on the 14th of November, 1876. After his retirement the house was reopened by J. Fogg & Co., Mr. Fogg having previously been associated with Theron Barnum in Barnum's Hotel.

Glasgow House .- On the 3d of March, 1843, the Glasgow House was opened at the corner of Olive and Second Streets.

Barnum's Hotel was erected in 1854 by George R. Taylor. The building stands at the corner of Walnut and Second Streets, and extends ninety-two feet on Second Street and one hundred and sixty feet on Walnut, with an interior court one hundred by sixteen feet. The building is six stories above the pavement and one story below, and its exteme height from pavement to cornice is ninety feet six inches. The architectural style of the exterior façades is mod- ern Italian. The first or bascment story supporting the structure is composed entirely of finely-wrought St. Louis limestone. " Barnum's" was unquestion- ably the finest hotel then in St. Louis, and was built by Mr. Taylor expressly for Theron Barnum. On the 28th of September, 1854, the hotel was opened under the proprietorship of Barnum & Fogg, and at once gained a wide reputation. In April, 1864, Mr. Bar- num retired, and the hotel was continued under the management of Fogg, Miles & Co.

Theron Barnum, the senior member of the firm, was born April 23, 1803, in Addison County, Vt., and in 1808 moved with his father to Susquehanna County, Pa. There he worked on the farm, also getting such instruction as could be obtained in a country school. At the age of seventeen he began to teach school, and pursued that avocation for several years, in the mean time cultivating his mind in the advanced branches of English education. In 1824 he went to Wilkesbarre, Pa., and filled the position of clerk in a storc until 1827, when he removed to . Baltimore at the request of his uncle, David Barnum, and became associated with him in the management of Barnum's Hotel, then enjoying a well-deserved fame as one of the best hotels in the United States. He re- mained with his uncle in the capacity of confidential clerk, and became under his able instruction well versed in the art of conducting a first-class hotel. He then opened the Patapsco Hotel at Ellicott's Mills, fifteen miles from Baltimore, and the terminus of the first fifteen miles of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. While there, in 1832, he married Mary Lay Chadwick, daughter of Capt. Chadwick, of Lime, Conn., and captain of one of the large packets between New York and Liverpool. The fruit of this marriage was two sons, Freeman and Robert. In 1835 he removed to Philadelphia, and bought the Philadelphia Hotel on Arch Street, but having long thought of going to the West, he sold out in 1838, and determined to settle in St. Louis. On his way he was induced to stop at Terre Haute, Ind., where

1 A curious circumstance connected with the land on which the Planters' Hotel was built is this : A Frenchman, François Gunell, in 1834, had the contract for grading Fourth Street four feet in front of the present court-house and Planters' Hotel. He had six yoke of oxen engaged to plow up the hard pan, for which he paid six dollars per hour ; the fact that an hour or two's plowing loosencd dirt enough to keep his hands at work shoveling the remainder of the day will account for the high price extorted for the labor of the oxen, as they were employed but a short time. He had a contract with Judge J. B. C. Lucas to fill up the gully on which the Planters' Hotel stands with the excavated dirt, for which he was to receive three cents per cubic yard. The hole was about thirty feet deep, and the dirt dumped in amounted to sixty dollars. When he came to settle up with Judge Lucas the latter offered him a deed to half the block on which the Planters' House now stands in lieu of the sixty dollars, which Mr. Gunell refused to accept, as he needed the money.

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he opened the new Prairie House. He remained here only until 1840, becoming satisfied in the mean time that Terre Haute could never support the kind of hotel which he was desirous of establishing. In March, 1840, he removed to St. Louis, and rented the City Hotel, at Third and Vine Streets. This hotel was for a long time the favorite house of the public, and became the headquarters of the army officers residing in or visiting St. Louis. Among the distinguished officers who made the City Hotel their home were Gen. Gaines and Col. Croghan. Mr. Benton also stopped here. Mr. Barnum managed the hotel for thirteen years, and in September, 1852, sold out. After a short retirement the present Barnum's Hotel was built for him by George R. Taylor, and for many years he had charge of it. During his supervision the Prince of Wales, George Peabody, William H. Seward, Abraham Lincoln, and many other distin- guished persons stopped at it. In 1877 he took the Beaumont House, which he put in successful opera- tion. He died there on the 17th of March, 1878, of pneumonia. Mr. Barnum was a cousin of P. T. Bar- num, and seems, with the other prominent mem- bers of that family, to have followed his peculiar bent with a pertinacity and energy that deserved if it did not always achieve success. He filled at different times responsible positions, and was a director in the Home Mutual Insurance Company for thirty years.

Lindell Hotel .- On the 5th of March, 1855, the Governor of Missouri approved an act of the Legislature chartering the " Laclede Hotel Company of St. Louis." Directors were elected by the corpo- rators, and a practical organization was effected in 1857, and work commenced on the lot bounded by Washington Avenue and Green Street and Sixth and Seventh Streets, part of which had been selected for a site. Jesse G. and Peter Lindell, brothers, con- tributed the ground and took in exchange for it eighty thousand dollars in the company's stock ; they also subscribed ten thousand dollars in money. The mon- etary panic in 1857 obstructed the progress of the work. In 1859 an act was obtained revising the charter, and permitting the erection of a larger and finer structure, and the expenditure of more than five hundred thousand dollars, the limit in the original act. The name was also changed to " Lindell Hotel," in compliment to the brothers who had so largely in- terested themselves in the enterprise. In 1863 the hotel was completed and leased to Messrs. Sparr & Parks, who had recently been the proprietors of the Olive Street House. The board of directors at this time were Levin H. Baker, president, J. T. Swearin- gen, Charles H. Peck, Gerard B. Allen, S. H. Laflin,

D. K. Ferguson, and Derrick A. January. Thomas Walsh and James Smith were the architects. The design was Italian of the Venetian school. The hotel consisted of two parallel buildings, extending east and west the length of the whole front, with a space of forty-five feet between them, and connected only in the centre and both extremes by wing buildings run- ning north and south, leaving between them two courts. The Lindell was six stories high exclusive of basement and attic. The height from sidewalk to basement was one hundred and twelve feet. The stone used was a rich cream-colored magnesian lime- stone from the Grafton quarries. The east and south fronts were of this stone, and showed much elaborate carving. The north and west fronts were faced with the finest stock brick, ornamented by cut-stone win- dow-trimmings. In every respect the hotel was a model one. On the 25th of November the formal opening was marked by an immense ball and banquet, which was attended by about four thousand guests. On December 17th the hotel was sold at trustees' sale to Henry Ames & Co., for one hundred and fifty- three thousand dollars, subject to first mortgage bonds and accrued interest amounting to two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, but Sparr & Parks were not disturbed in their lease.

About half-past eight o'clock on the night of the 30th of March, 1867, fire was discovered in the upper story of the hotel, and in a short time the flames burst through the roof and spread on all sides with great rapidity. The alarm was conveyed to the fire department, and the engines arrived without much delay. They were powerless, however, to stay the progress of the flames, the great height of the building rendering it impossible to throw water on the roof. In a short time the entire top of the hotel was on fire; the flames gradually worked downward, and it was soon evident that the magnificent structure was doomed. Fortunately, owing to the earliness of the hour, very few of the guests, of whom there were about four hundred, had retired. Those who were sick were carried out and conveyed to places of safety. As soon as it was known that the building could not be saved efforts were made to secure the stock in the different stores and the furniture and portable property of the hotel, much of which was saved. Within three hours the fire was at its height, the heat being so intense that water thrown upon the flames flew upward in sheets of steam. The firemen desisted from their fruitless efforts and devoted their attention to saving the surrounding buildings. About twelve o'clock the walls fell, and all that remained of one of the finest hotels in the world was a shape-

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less mass of ruins. The loss on the building was about nine hundred thousand dollars, and on the furniture between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand dollars.

The destruction of the Lindell was regarded as a public calamity. Impromptu meetings of the citizens were held almost before the smoke had ceased ascend- ing from the ruins to take measures for the erection of a new building, but it was not until five years had elapsed that these efforts were crowned with success. It became frequently, during this time, a question whether the new Lindell should be erected on the old

and the numerous contractors, and within two years from the breaking of ground the structure was com- pleted. For two months morc the process of fitting and furnishing went on, and on the 28th of September, 1874, the whole establishment in complete running order was thrown open to the public.

The exterior of the new building presents a very different aspect from the old one, being less ornate but much handsomer.

The first story is flush with the sidewalk, instead of having a basement elevating it several feet above the pavement. The principal front, as in the old

HENRY AMES.

LINDELL HOTEL,

Corner Washington Avenue, Sixth Street, and Lucas Avenue.

site or at a point farther west on the same thorough- fare. The matter was finally determined by Mrs. Vincent Marmaduke (formerly Mrs. Henry Ames), who resolved to build on the spot made historical by the old Lindell. A company was formed consisting of Messrs. William Scudder, Levin H. Baker, and Charles Parsons, who engaged the well-known architect George I. Barnett to design the proposed building. About the 1st of September, 1872, the work was com- menced by removing the rubbish from the old foun- dations for the purpose of constructing the new. The work was pushed forward without intermission through the untiring efforts of Messrs. Scudder and Barnett

building, is on Washington Avenue, with a frontage of one hundred and eighty-two feet, and a depth of two hundred and twenty-seven feet to Christy Avenue. The height of the building is one hundred and five . feet, and the architecture is of the modern Italian school, the first story being of the Tuscan order and constructed of iron. The five upper stories of the façades on Washington Avenue and Sixth Street are composed of Warrensburg gray sandstone that hardens with age until it becomes almost as capable of resist- ing the elements as granite. The second story is composed in the principal compartments of Corinthian columns supporting semi-circular arches over the win-

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dows. The intermediate windows have semi-circular arehes with caps, supported by earved trusses. This story is surmounted by a fine cornice, and the four upper stories are divided by five moulded water-tables. All the angles of the building are finished with heavy quoin-stones. There are three eapacious stores on each side of the main entrance, and six equally so on Sixth Street. A striking feature of the front is a massive two-story portico immediately in front of the main entrance, forty-five feet wide, and projeeting fifteen feet from the building, with six Tuscan columns below and six Corinthian columns above. Massive iron railings of unique designs inclose each floor. The ladies' entrance on Sixth Street has also an elegant but smaller portico, one story high, with six columns. The whole building is erowned with a massive iron eornice eight feet high. On the first floor is a splendid hall or exchange, one hundred and fifty-five feet long, forty-one feet wide, and eighteen feet high. The eeiling is elegantly frescoed in intricate and tasteful designs and harmonious eolors. The floor is laid in tessellated marble, and the walls are pleasantly tinted. On the west side of the exchange is the office, ele- gantly fitted up with all the modern appliances. Im- mediately west of the office is a spacious reading-room, comfortable and well lighted. Opposite the office is the grand staircase, an elaborate and stately structure. The walls and ceilings are elegantly freseoed, and a view upwards presents a most pleasing effect.

There is not a dark room in the hotel, and the ventilation is excellent. There are two hundred and seventy guests' rooms, which is about a seore less than the old building had, but there are many more rooms devoted to public use, and the floor-room is much greater. Everything that forethought could devise for the comfort of the guest and the facilitating of busi- ness has been provided, and that, too, in the best pos- sible manner. The proprietors of the Lindell were Messrs. Felt, Griswold, Clemmens & Co., being W. W. Felt, of the old Lindell ; J. L. Griswold, formerly superintendent of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad ; H. H. Clemmens, formerly one of the proprietors of Congress Hall, Saratoga ; and Charles Seudder. The chief architect was George I. Barnett ; assistant archi- tects, Furlong & Taylor; general carpenter and builder, Charles H. Bireh.

The present proprietors of the Lindell Hotel are the members of the Lindell Hotel Association ; Charles Scudder, president ; Henry Ames, vice-presi- dent ; William F. Haines, secretary. Mr. Scudder is a brother of Capt. John A. Scudder (of whom a full biographieal sketch is given elsewhere), and, like his brother, is one of the most active and influential

citizens of St. Louis. Maj. William F. Haines was born at Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. 5, 1829. He was the son of Samuel Haines, of Lancaster County, Pa., and his mother was formerly Miss Anna Lengeker, of the same county. At the age of sixteen William F. Haines served as ordinary seaman on the brig "Odd Fellow." After nearly a year " before the mast" he was employed in Robinson's banking-house, and at the age of seventeen was eashier of the Mer- chants' National Bank of Erie County, N. Y. Sub- sequently young Haines returned to school until Sep- tember, 1849, when he removed to St. Louis, where his first oeeupation was that of book-keeper in the commission house of David Tatum. In the spring of 1851 he accepted the position of chief clerk on the steamer " Josiah Lawrence," plying between St. Louis and New Orleans, and was identified with various river steamers as chief clerk and master until the opening of the civil war, when he entered the Confederate serviee as private in Capt. James Priteh- ard's company, First Missouri Regiment. He was afterwards appointed quartermaster of the regiment, with the rank of captain, and after the promotion of Col. Bowen, of the First Missouri, to brigadier-gen- eral, Capt. Haines was made brigade quartermaster on his staff, with the rank of major. He participated in all of the engagements in which Gen. Bowen's several commands took part, and was in Vicksburg during the siege.

On being exehanged, Maj. Haines was sent to serve with Gen. L. S. Baker, in North Carolina, where he remained until the close of the war. Gen. Baker's command being cut off from the main army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, Maj. Haines was sent to Raleigh to arrange terms of surrender with Gen. W. T. Sher- man. Having previously known Gen. Sherman in St. Louis, Maj. Haines secured the same terms given to Gen. Lee, and was designated as paroling offieer of Gen. Baker's command. After the war closed, Maj. Haines returned to St. Louis and resumed his river oeeupation, becoming eaptain of the steamer "Stone- wall," plying between St. Louis and New Orleans. In December, 1865, he married Miss Abbie Kennerly, youngest daughter of Capt. George H. Kennerly, for- merly of the United States army, and whose mother is a daughter of the late Col. Pierre Menard, of Kaskas- kia, Ill. The fruits of this marriage were four daugh- ters and three sons. Maj. Haines was for twelve years general freight agent of the Mississippi Valley Trans- portation Company, which position he held until Feb- ruary, 1882, when he became one of the proprietors of the Lindell, and of the Hotel St. Louis, at Lake Minnetonka, Minn.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

The Pacific Hotel was completed in January, 1857. It was located at the corner of Poplar and Seventh Streets, was three stories high, and had a front on Seventh Street of more than eighty feet. The ground-floor was divided into stores ; the second floor contained the office, dining-room, and some sleeping apartments ; and the third floor was divided into small rooms separated by lath and plaster parti- tions. The capacity of the house was about one hun- dred guests. George B. Field, who was the owner, leased the hotel to Daniel W. Strader, who opened it in June following, with Jacob Lyons as his partner. Its career was destined to be a short one, and to ter- minate with the most appalling catastrophe that had ever befallen St. Louis. On the morning of Saturday, Feb. 20, 1858, between three and four o'clock, the building was discovered to be on fire, and before the lodgers on the third floor could be aroused the flames had cut off all means of egress by the stairways. The terrified guests, finding no safety except in leaping to the ground, did so in many instances and escaped more or less injured. So rapid was the spread of the flames, owing to the combustible nature of the building, that many were unable to escape from their rooms. There were about seventy-five persons in the hotel at the time the fire broke out. Of these forty- four escaped uninjured. The killed numbered ninc- teen, of whom only ten were identified, as follows: Henry A. Rochester and T. Hart Strong, of Roch- ester, N. Y .; infant child of J. Jones, Bruce McNitt, Paul Steinestel, and Miss H. Hunter, of St. Louis ; Evans J. Watkins, Columbus, Ohio ; Ephraim Doane, Chicago; Mrs. H. Hubbard, Boston ; and J. Wag- oner.

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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 99

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