1896
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
meetings in the house of James McClure, but in
1849 the present lodge-room on Main Street was
fitted up.
The Worshipful Masters since James McClure
have been Benjamin B. Edmondson, R. T. Edmond-
son, George R. Moke, J. H. Garret, R. E. Bland,
D. L. Bassett, C. L. Young, T. T. Craig, and the
present Master, J. H. Garrett. The Senior Warden
is S. W. Henley ; Junior Warden, D. V. Baber ;
Secretary, Jefferson Van Gundy ; Treasurer, John D.
Parsons. The lodge has enjoyed uniform prosperity
from the .time of its organization. The present mem-
bership is thirty- three.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH (CATHOLIC). Mass was
first celebrated in Bridgeton by the Jesuit Father J.
L. Gleizel, in 1851, in the house of Dr. Moore, now
owned by Judge Henderson. In 1852 a mission was
established and attended by the following priests :
Revs. Dennis Kennedy, 1852; James Murphy, 1856;
Park Brady, 1858; Thomas Clary, 18H2; L. Smith,
1864 ; J. B. Jackson, 18G5 ; B. Messelis, S.J., 1867 ;
P. J. Clark, 1868 ; M. Welby, 1869 ; Patrick Healy,
1871; E. Smith, 1873; James Dougherty, 1874;
F. P. Gallagher, 1876; J. D. Powers, 1877; Jos.
Schrocder, the present pastor, 1878. The church
edifice was erected by Father Gleizel in 1852. It is
a brick structure, fifty by forty- four feet in size. A
parsonage was erected near it in 1868 by Rev. Father
Messelis. The cemetery adjoins the church.
BRIDGETON METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
SOUTH. It is not known that there was any society
of Methodists here prior to 1842, though there were
members of that denomination residing here. At
about that time a society was organized, and it wor-
shiped at first in the old school-house on the com-
mons. In 1 844 a brick church edifice, forty by sixty
feet in size, was erected, and in 1855 this was ex-
changed for the old P^piscopal Church, which had
been purchased for school purposes. This is a brick
building, with a seating capacity of two hundred and
fifty. The society has no debt. This was a charge
on a circuit till 1872, when it was made a station.
Since that time the following clergymen have been in
charge here: Revs. F. A. Morris, 1872; J. R. Fra-
zier, 1876; B. R. Thrower, 1878; F. A. Morris,
1878 ; Joseph Dines, 1881 ; and the present pastor,
W. II. Hensley, 1882.
ST. JOHN'S BAPTIST CHURCH (COLORED). This
society was organized in 1870, with forty members
and Rev. William Dorsch, pastor. Mr. Dorsch was
succeeded in the pastorate in 1873 by Rev. James
W. Powell, who left in 1875, since which time the
society has been without a pastor. The present
membership is forty-two. In 1873 a framed church
edifice, with a seating capacity of two hundred, was
erected. The church has no debt.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (COLORED) OP
BRIDGETON. This was organized in 1874. The
first place of worship was the Ferguson school-house,
on the St. Charles Rock road ; then the house of
J. H. Woolfolk, in Bridgeton. In 1882 a wooden
house of worship, twenty-six by thirty-six feet in
size, was erected in Bridgeton. The pastors have
been Revs. J. H. Woolfolk, 1874; W. E. Wilson,
1878 ; A. Coleiuan, 1880 ; C. M. Keeton, 1881 ; and
the present pastor, B. Pullum, 1882. The member-
ship is twenty, and the church has no debt.
Pattonville. This village is located on the St.
Charles Rock road at its junction with the Fee-Fee
road, fourteen miles from St. Louis. A post-office
had been in existence here under the name of Fee-
Fee, which is said by some to be a French corruption
of the word fife, which was the original name of Fee-
Fee Creek. No village existed here prior to 1869.
A blacksmith-shop was started by T. T. Lucas in
1860. In 1866 this shop was converted into a car-
riage manufactory, and in 1869 a church and store
were built, and within a year another church was
erected. These buildings, with a few residences, com-
prise the present village. A post-office was established
in 1876. It was named Pattonville, from a family by
the name of Patton that resided here. In 1879 a
fine school building was erected near the village, in
which an excellent school is maintained.
The Lucas carriage-factory at Pattonville was first
a small blacksmith-shop, started by Thomas T. Lucas
in 1860. In 1865 this shop was removed and en-
larged, and the manufacture of carriages, at first on a
small scale, was commenced. From that time to the
present the business has steadily increased, till now
sixty vehicles of all kinds are annually made. In
1879 the manufacture of sulky plows was added to
the business, and since that time two hundred of
these have been turned out from the establishment.
MIZPAH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, at Pattonville,
was organized Nov. 20, 1842. The original con-
stituent members were James Patton, Agnes Patton,
George Patton, James Quinsenburg, George L. Lack-
land, Eliza E. Lackland, Ann Lackland, Jacob Brown,
Ellen B. Brown, Joseph Brown, and Sarah McClure.
The place of worship during nearly thirty years
was the old Fee- Fee Baptist Church, half a mile from
Pattonville. In 1869 the name of the society was
changed to its present designation. The present house
of worship at Pattonville was erected in 1870. It is
a brick structure with a stone basement, and it covers
COUNTY OF SAINT LOUIS.
1897
an area of fifty-five by thirty-eight feet. In 1870 a
parsonage was erected near the church. Ten acres of |
ground are included in the lot on which these build- \
ings stand, and the cost of the property was ten thou-
sand dollars. The society has no debt.
The pastors of this church have been Revs. R.
Finley, 1843; John Ly on, 1847; - - Beebe, 1848;
- Pettigrew, 1849; H. A. Booth, 1850;
Noble, 1857; T. C. Smith, 1860; W. J. Lapsley,
1868 ; Alfred E. Grover, 1876 ; William M. Stratton,
1878; and the present pastor, T. C. Barrett, 1880.
Ferguson. Ferguson Station is at the junction of
the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad with a
branch running to Union Depot, St. Louis. The
place had little importance previous to 1878, but at
about that time a rapid growth commenced, and now
it contains about sixty families. It has a post-office,
a hotel, two stores, three machine-shops, and two
churches. The population is largely composed of
railroad employes and their families, who find here a
convenient and pleasant place of residence. By reason
of the absence of marshes in the vicinity and the
excellent quality of the water, the village is remark-
ably healthy.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. Of the churches in Fergu-
son, St. John's (Catholic) is now (1882) in process
of erection. It will be a neat wooden structure, with
a seating capacity of three hundred and fifty. Rev.
Father D. S. Phelan is the pastor.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The Presbyterian
Church at Ferguson Station was erected about 1873.
It is a tasteful frame edifice, with a seating capacity
of between three and four hundred. The society has
been supplied by different clergymen, and with com-
mendable liberality it has opened the doors of its
house of worship to other denominations.
PUBLIC SCHOOL. In 1877-78 a brick building
was erected for a public school. It has two school-
rooms on the first floor, and in the second story a
hall, which is to be divided into school-rooms as future
exigencies require. The cost of the building was
fifty-six thousand dollars. A Kindergarten school is
also kept in the village.
The place has one physician and three attorneys,
one of whom, T. G. Allen, is a State senator, and
another, C. P. Ellerby, is a member of the House of
Representatives in the State.
In 1882 a cheese-factory was erected in the village,
with all the latest improved machinery and appliances
for establishments of that kind. It has facilities for
i
handling three thousand gallons of milk daily, and
for cooling the milk it has an ice-machine with a daily
capacity of three tons of ice.
It is the property of a stock company, with J. C.
Cabanne manager. This company has adopted the
plan of furnishing farmers in the vicinity with cows
on conditions arranged between the parties.
Black Jack, about three miles east from Florissant,
is a hamlet containing two stores and two mechanics'
shops. It has a post-office, and is in a fine farming
region. It was named from the abundance of the
species of oak known in common parlance as "black
jack" which grows there.
Brotherton was formerly a small village on the
bank of the Missouri River, opposite to St. Charles.
It was named from Marshall Brotherton, who owned
the land and established a ferry there between St.
Charles and the terminus of the St. Charles Rock
road. The river has so encroached on the land that
the little village has nearly disappeared.
Boufils is a post office on the Wabash and Kansas
City Railroad, sixteen miles from St. Louis.
BONHOMME TOWNSHIP.
The township of Bonhomme lies between St. Fer-
dinand, Central, and Carondelet townships on the
east and Meramec on the west. The Missouri River
forms its extreme northern boundary, and it joins
Jefferson County on the south. Its greatest length
between north and south is sixteen miles, and it has
an average width of eight and one-half miles, and it
includes an area of about one hundred and twenty
square miles.
Its surface is rolling, but while it is more uneven
than that of the townships lying east of it, it is less
hilly than that of Meramec on the west. A water-
shed divides it between north and south, passing
through nearly its central portion. Its northern
part is drained by Creve Coaur Creek, the waters
of which pass through the lake of the same name, to
empty into the Missouri River. Meramec River
pursues a tortuous course through the southern part
of the township, and receives affluents on both sides.
Creve Coeur Lake is in the northern part, about one
mile from the Missouri River. This lake has a length
of between two and three miles, and an average width
of about half a mile. A short distance west from
this is a smaller body of water known as Upper Creve
Coeur Lake, connected with its larger neighbor by a
small stream. The origin of the name of this lake,
like that of the township, is involved in uncertainty.
Many legends have been written or told concerning
both, but all these bear such unmistakable evidences
that imagination rather than reality was a prominent
factor in their production that even their partial ac-
ceptance must be with many grains of allowance.
1898
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Elsewhere an account is given of the improvements
that have recently been made at this lake, and the
prediction is safe that this will become an important
point in the not distant future.
The township is traversed by several highways,
which pass through it from west to east, and converge
toward the city of St. Louis. The Central or Olive
Street road passes westwardly through the northern |
part of the township, and unites near its western
boundary with the Conway road, which comes from
St. Louis and traverses the township farther south.
Through the central portion passes the Manchester
road, which is the principal avenue of travel and
transportation for the people living some distance
north and south from it. The Clayton road passes
through the township between the Manchester and
Conway roads, and unites with the latter in Central
township. The Gravois road crosses the southeastern
corner of the township. These are rock roads, and
are the avenues of transportation to market for the !
produce that is raised in the township.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad crosses the southern [
portion of the township, running for some distance
nearly parallel with the Meramec River. This is of
course the great avenue of communication between
that part of the township and St. Louis.
The early settlers in the northern portion of the
township were Joseph Conway, who was scalped by
the Indians in Kentucky during the Revolution, but
who recovered, migrated to this township, and was
the progenitor of the Conway family here ; James
Kincaid, Jonathan Wiseman, Smith, Greene B.
Baxter, Hempstead, Hibler, Cor-
dell, Frederick Bates, afterwards Governor of the
State ; Lanhatn, John Ball, Henry Mason, one
of the first magistrates ; William Baeon, William
Hannah, and others whose names cannot be recalled.
In the southern part were Eoff, George and
Robert King, John Hardecker, James Richardson,
Archibald Harbison, Thomas Keebly, Nathan Shot-
well, Thomas Williams, George Sipp, Caleb Bowles,
Rudder, Longwith, Samuel T. Vandover,
John McLaughlin, Jabez Ferris, Peter Breen,
Kuntz, Samuel Stowey, Richard Low, Jones,
and others. These early settlers were mostly immi-
grants from Kentucky and Virginia. At the time
they settled here the township was principally prairie,
and the wild denizens of the region abounded. All
these people, as they slept in their cabins, were seren-
aded by the wolves, and their corn-fields and pig-pens
were often invaded by bears. The wants of these
early inhabitants were not as numerous as those of
people in later times, and the abundant resources of
the fertile soil readily supplied the few which they
felt, and they were contented and happy. The popu-
lation of the township was in 1850, 1842; 1860,
3629; 1870, 6162; 1880,7043.
The pioneer mills in the township were what were
known as horse mills. They were introduced at a
very early date, and took the place of the primitive
mortars for grinding corn. They were established in
various parts of the township, and it was not till a
comparatively recent period that steam-mills took their
place. A short distance from Fenton a steam grist-
mill was erected by William Head about 1854. It
existed only a few years. In 1852, Smizer's grist-
mill and distillery was erected on the Meramec River,
a mile south from Meramec Station. This establish-
ment ceased to be operated twenty years since, and
the building has been converted into a barn.
At Meramec Station, on the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road, is located the Meramec Mill. This was first
built in 1874 by G. H. Timmerman, with two run
of stones, one for flour and one for corn. It was both
a custom and a merchant mill, and another run of
stones was soon added. C. F. Leonard afterward
purchased the mill, and added to it another run of
stones for grinding wheat. In June, 1881, H. B.
Eggers purchased the establishment, and added to its
former machinery seven sets of rollers, with other
machinery, for the manufacture of roller flour. The
machinery is driven by an engine of eighty horse-
power, and the daily capacity of the mill is two hun-
dred barrels of flour. It is wholly a merchant mill.
A cooperage is attached to it, and eighteen hands are
employed at the establishment. An elevator is in
process of construction, and this, when completed,
will have a capacity of thirty thousand bushels.
Bonhomme Presbyterian Church. Bonhomme
Church was organized by Rev. S. Giddings, Oct. 16,
1816, with sixteen members. It was the second
Presbyterian Church that was established west of the
Mississippi River, Concord (Bellevue) Church having
been organized on the 3d of the preceding August.
During ten years the church had a hard struggle
for existence. Its membership in 1825 was fourteen,
and in 1827 it was dissolved and its members united
with the church at St. Louis. It was reorganized,
with ten members, by Rev. John S. Ball, Nov. 5,
1828, and in 1831 the membership had increased to
fifteen.
The records of the church were burned some years
since, but it is remembered that during many years
it owned no house of worship, and that its services
were held in private residences and school-houses.
The present church edifice, which stands at the June-
COUNTY OF SAINT LOUIS.
1899
tion of the Conway and White roads, eighteen miles
from St. Louis, was erected about 1840 by Messrs.
James Sappington and John Baxter, under the su-
perintendence of Judge Joseph Conway. It is a stone
building with a basement, and its size is thirty by
forty-four feet. Services have been regularly held in
this building since its erection.
The first clergyman who ministered to this church
was Mr. Giddings, who visited it from St. Louis from
time to time. Soon after its reorganization in 1828,
a young licentiate named Hodges was engaged to
preach to the congregation for a year, but he died
before the expiration of that time. The next preacher
was Rev. John Gilbreath, under whose ministrations
the church grew and prospered during a number of
years. He was followed by a Mr. Beebe, who re-
mained but a short time. Next came Rev. John
Lyon, a native of Philadelphia, and a young man of
great promise, but his health soon failed, and he was
taken by his friends to the place of his nativity, where
he soon afterwards died. He was succeeded by Rev.
R. P. Farris, of St. Louis, a talented preacher and
an able writer. Revs. Henry A. Booth, William H.
Parks, A. Shotwell, and James A. Smith followed in '
order. The present membership of the church is fifty.
Evangelical Lutheran St. John's Church is
located at Ellisville, a hamlet on the Manchester road,
in the western part of Bonhomme township. It was
organized in 1852 with only a few constituent mem-
bers, and services were first held at Ballwin in private
houses. In 1854 a small log church was built a
mile and a half southwest from Ballwin, and in this
the society worshiped during seventeen years. In
1871 a brick church edifice, thirty by fifty feet, was
erected on the south side of the Manchester road at
Ellisville. The building cost four thousand three
hundred dollars, and it is not encumbered with a
debt. In 1872 a brick parsonage was built at a cost
of eleven hundred dollars. A parochial school build-
ing was erected near the church in 1878. A parochial
school had been maintained during fifteen years prior
to the erection of this building, and in this school
instruction has been given in the German and Eng-
lish languages, and now forty scholars on an average
are taught in it.
The clergymen who have served this congregation
have been, in succession, Revs. J. A. F. W. Mueller,
Lehmann, F. P. Pennekamp, Theodore Burzin,
August Schnessler, and the present pastor, E. T.
Richter. The membership is fifty.
St. Monica's Church. (Catholic) at Creve Coeur
was erected and the parish organized in 1872, and
mass was first celebrated on Christmas of that year.
The parish was founded and the church erected by
Rev. H. Muhlsiepen, vicar-general. The church
edifice is a neat brick structure, with a seating capac-
ity of one hundred and twenty, and its cost was two
thousand five hundred dollars. In 1873 the Francis-
can Fathers took charge of the parish, and continued
till 1881, when Rev. Joseph Diel became resident
pastor. In June of the same year Rev. H. S. Aert-
ler, the present pastor, assumed charge. The parson-
age was erected in the autumn of 1881, at a cost of
two thousand dollars. A parochial school was estab-
lished in 1873, and a brick school building was erected
near the church. In this a school has ever since been
maintained, and the average attendance is forty. In-
struction is given in both the German and English
languages. The congregation consists of sixty-five
families.
Christian Church, of Creve Coeur. A society of
this denomination was organized in the vicinity of
Creve Coeur in 1875, with twenty members. It has
built no house of worship, but has held services in the
Creve Coeur school-house. The pastors of the society
have been Revs. J. H. Garrison, 1875 ; J. H. Stuart,
1878 ; and the present pastor, J. H. Owen, 1880.
Manchester l was settled very early in the present
century, but for many years it was only a small vil-
lage. The first settler in the town was an Indian
named Bryson O'Hara, who built a cabin at Man-
chester Spring, and resided there several years, sub-
sisting by hunting, making ox-bows, ox-yokes, etc.
The place was first called Hoardstown, from Jesse
Hoard, who came quite early from Kentucky and
located on the corner of the Manchester road and
Creve Cceur Street. The place was called by that
name till about 1825, when it began to be spoken of
by its present title. An Englishman who settled
there about that time christened it Manchester, from
the place of his residence in England, and it gradu-
ally came to be thus designated by every one. A
store was established there at an early date by
Douglass, on the north side of the rock road, a short
distance east from Creve Coeur Street, in a log build-
ing, which was at the same time a store and a resi-
dence. By the side of this store was a blacksmith-
shop, which was carried on by William Triplet, who
came here in 1816 or 1817 from Kentucky. He
was a blacksmith in Manchester till his death, and
was an active, influential citizen.
Caleb Carman came from Kentucky to Manchester
in 1818, and established a saddlery and harness-shop,
where he conducted the business during many years.
1 Data for early history furnished by John Shotwell.
1900
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
He was an excellent mechanic, and to the manufac-
ture of saddles and harnesses he afterwards added the
business of carriage trimmings.
About one hundred yards east from Creve Coaur
Street, on the south side of the rock road, Isaac Mc-
Fadden established a shoe-shop in 1818 in a log
house, which was also a dwelling. He was the only
shoemaker in Manchester during many years. He
died at the house of John Shotwell in 1856.
Samuel Hindman came from Kentucky and set up
a tannery. This tannery came to be the property of
Robert Buchanan and Henry Rollins, who carried
on tanning extensively, and in connection with it the
manufacture of boots and shoes. At times they
employed as many as twelve men in the business.
The tannery ceased to be operated in 1860.
Between Carman's saddlery and Triplet's black-
smith-shop Starks Cockrill resided in a log house, a
portion of which is still standing, and kept a house of
entertainment for travelers. This was the first tavern
in Manchester.
Samuel Berry, also a Kentuckian, and, as well as
the others, from May's Lick, Mason Co., in that
State, carried on the manufacture of brick as early as
1822. His yard was on the south side of the rock
road, east from Creve Coeur Street. He not only
moulded and burned bricks, but was a bricklayer, and
built most of the chimneys that were erected in this
vicinity during many years.
In 1820 a carding-machine was brought from Ken-
tucky by James Neale and put in a log building that
was erected for the purpose in the rear of Mr. Trip-
let's house, which stood in the rear of his blacksmith-
shop. This machine was propelled by an inclined
wheel that was turned by the weight of horses. It
was used till 1839, when the building was converted
into a church.
Martin Shelton resided in the house that was built
by Mr. Hoard, and followed the business of teaming.
In those days, and for many years afterwards, all the
goods that were sold in Manchester and other places
that sprang up in its vicinity were brought by teams
of horses or oxen from St. Louis over what is now
the Manchester Rock road, and produce was con-
veyed to market in the same manner. Mr. Shelton
followed this business, which would now be called
freighting, during many years.
In addition to these an old man named Kuntz and
his wife resided here in 1826, and these constituted
the sum total of the families in the place at that time.
This Mr. Kuntz was from Pennsylvania, and had
located at what is now Meramec Station many years
before, and carried on a distillery there.
In 1830, Burns established the first tailor's
shop in Manchester. His shop was a log building
near Cockrill's log tavern, on the same side of the
street. These were the pioneers in the different kinds
of business in the town. Its growth was during
many years slow ; as the country around it became
settled it had a gradual increase, but in 1880 its
population numbered only three hundred and six.
The first frame building in Manchester was erected
in 1830 by James Robinson for a hotel, and it was
kept as such during many years. It is now known
as the " Old Hotel," and stands on the south side of the
road, east from Creve Coeur Street.
No great manufacturing industry ever sprang up
in this place, and there has been only a local trade to
make it a town. The travel that formerly passed
through the town has since the Missouri Pacific
Railroad went into operation been diverted from this
route, and only local travel passes through it now.
In 1850 a brewery was established in Manchester
by a Mr. Spoeri. It was located on the south side of