and foreign buyers with large capital made the city
their headquarters, but the veteran house of Senter
& Co. led them all, and has retained its acknowledged
supremacy, having handled of late years over sixty
thousand bales annually, representing a value of over
five million dollars. Associated in the house of
Senter & Co. is Mr. Senter's brother-in-law, W. T.
Wilkins, who brought to the concern rare energy and
ability.
As a business man of ripe judgment, Mr. Senter
is in great request, but outside of the cotton interests
his business connections are few. He has, however,
been vice-president of the Merchants' Exchange, and
is a director in the American Central Fire Insurance
Company of St. Louis.
Personally, Mr. Senter is one of the most modest
and unassuming of men, but in action he is energetic
and intrepid. He is a member of the Baptist
Church, and strives to leaven his business with his
religious principles. The result is that no house in
St. Louis enjoys a higher reputation as an honest,
capable, and sound establishment.
Mr. Senter has had four children, three of whom
are now living. One, a daughter, is the wife of A.
B. Jones, a well-known lawyer of St. Louis.
The St. Louis Board of Trade was organized in
the autumn of 1867, and its formal inauguration took
place at the Polytechnic building on the evening of
October 17th of that year, the address on that occa-
sion being delivered by Hon. Henry T. Blow. The
board held a meeting at the same place on the 1st of
November, 1867, which was called to order by the
president, Adolphus Meier, who laid before it the re-
port of Messrs. Wayman Crow, Henry T. Blow, and
Isidor Busch, " a special committee appointed to con-
sider and report upon a communication from the Bir-
mingham, England, Chamber of Commerce, recom-
mending the adoption of an international law." The
Board of Trade has continued in active and successful
operation since then down to this writing, its officers
(1882) being C. I. Filley, president; Joseph A.
Wherry, first vice-president ; C. L. Thompson, secre-
tary and treasurer ; E. C. Simmons, Joseph O'Neil,
E. K. Holton, J. E. Shorb, John Cantwell, E. A.
Hitchcock, N. C. Chapman, I. M. Mason, and S. H.
Laflin, directors.
Mechanics' Exchange. In 1839 the leading me-
chanics of the city, in order that there might be unity
in their efforts, and that co-operation might be secured
among them, called a meeting for the purpose of
forming a Mechanics' Exchange. At this meeting
Capt. David H. Hill presided, and Louis Dubreuil
was appointed secretary. Five persons were chosen
to select a committee from the different departments
of business, one to be selected from each branch, to
draft a constitution, by-laws, etc. The five gentlemen
thus chosen were R. N. Moore, J. M. Paulding, Asa
Wilgus, William A. Lynch, and John H. Ferguson,
who after consultation submitted the following names:
Joseph C. Laveille, carpenter ; Daniel D. Page, baker ;
Asa Wilgus, painter; Isaac Chadwick, plasterer;
Samuel Gaty, founder ; Thomas Andrews, copper-
smith ; George Trask, cabinet-maker; John M. Paul-
ding, hatter ; James Barry, chandler ; James Love,
blacksmith; Joseph Laiden, chair-maker; Wooster
Goodyear, cordwainer; William Shipp, silversmith;
John Young, saddler ; B. Townsend, wire and sieve
manufacturer; J. Todd, burr millstone manufacturer;
Thomas Gambal, cooper ; Francis Raborg, tanner ;
S. C. Coleman, turner ; N. Paschall, printer; John G.
Shelton, tailor ; B. L. Turnbull, bookbinder ; Charles
Coates, stone-cutter; Anthony Bennett, stone-mason;
David Shepard, bricklayer; I. A. Letcher, brick-
maker; William Thomas, ship-builder; Samuel Haw-
kins, gunsmith ; Samuel Shawk, locksmith ; A. Oak-
ford, comb-maker ; N. Tiernan, wheelwright ; J. B.
Gerard, carriage-maker ; Moses Stout, plane-maker ;
James Robinson, upholsterer ; and J. Bemis, machin-
ist. From this meeting resulted the organization of
the mechanics, and ultimately the formation of a
Mechanics' Exchange. 1
In 1852 a new Exchange was organized, a meeting
for that purpose being held at the Criminal Court
room on the 23d of February. At this meeting Col.
; Thornton Grimsley was called to the chair, and Rufus
Kayser was appointed secretary, after which Mr.
Goodin, chairman of a committee appointed at a
previous meeting, reported as follows :
"Your committee, appointed at a primary meeting of the
master-mechanics of St. Louis, held on Thursday evening, the
12th instant, to prepare a plan of organization, would report
recommendatory, as follows :
" 1st. That we proceed at once to an organization, under the
name and style of the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Exchange
and Library Association of St. Louis, by the election of the fol-
lowing officers: president, vice-president, corresponding secre-
tary, recording secretary, treasurer, and a board of seven direc-
tors, the president of the association to be ex officio chairman
of the board of directors.
2d. That any mechanic or manufacturer residing in the county
of St. Louis shall, upon the payment of ten dollars, the amount
1 Edwards' Great West, p. 365.
COMMERCIAL EXCHANGES.
1365
of annual subscription, be entitled to the full privileges of mem-
bership for one year.
" 3d. That the board of directors, as soon as elected, shall be
instructed to report to the association for the government of the
same a constitution and by-laws.
"THORNTON GRIMSLF.Y,
" CHARLES H. PECK,
"P. WONDERLY,
"J. C. EDGAR,
' R. KEYSER,
"JOHN GOODIN,
" Committee."
The report was unanimously adopted, and the fol-
lowing resolutions were after wards offered and adopted :
" Resolved, That at the first meeting of the subscribers to the
association it be made the special order of business to elect the
following : president, vice-president, corresponding secretary,
recording secretary, treasurer, and a board of seven directors.
" Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed in each
ward of the city to obtain subscriptions of members."
The following committees were afterwards appointed,
in accordance with the resolution : First Ward, J.
Dunn, F. Saler, L. W. Peck ; Second Ward, Richard
Ivers, Morris Pawley, S. E. Selleck; Third Ward,
J. P. Camp, C. H. Peck, James Luthey; Fourth
Ward, Rufus Keyser, Frank Weston, Mahlon Weber;
Fifth Ward, J. C. Edgar, W. F. Stacy, P. Kings-
land ; Sixth Ward, J. C. Cochran, Linus Jackson,
Archibald Carr.
The present Mechanics' P^xchange was organized
in 1856 by A. Ittner, Thomas Rich, A. Cook, W.
Stamps, James Garvin, C. Lynch, J. Locke, James
Luthy, and others. The first president (elected in
1856) was N. M. Ludlow. In 1857-58 the rooms
of the association, which was then known as the Me-
chanics' and Manufacturers' Exchange, were located
at No. 63 Chestnut Street, between Third and Fourth
Streets. The objects of the association, as stated at
the time, were " the encouragement, development, and
promotion of the mechanical and manufacturing in-
terests of the city, and the arbitration of all errors
and misunderstandings between its members and those
of the community having business with them." The
rooms were kept open on business days from seven
o'clock A.M. until six o'clock P.M., the general assem-
bling hour being from eleven to twelve o'clock. Each
member was entitled to a " communication box," the
use of the reading-room, library, stationery, etc.,
without extra charge. The terms of membership
were ten dollars per annum, payable half-yearly in
advance.
The officers in 1858 were W. Stamps, president ;
N. M. Ludlow, first vice-president ; E. N. Leeds,
second vice-president ; R. M. Parks, treasurer ; Henry
Weissenfels, secretary. Committee of Arbitration,
87
John Andrews, William Barron, Philip Wilson,
James L. Gage, P. Gregory, John B. Gibson, P.
Harvey, Andrew Middleton ; Committee of Appeal,
Charles H. Peck, Samuel Robbins, W. F. Cozzens,
John Evill, W. G. Clark, L. D. Baker, W. H. Mark-
ham.
The avocations of the members at this time were :
architects, superintendents, and builders, 110 ; hatters
and fur dealers, 4 ; bricklayers, 60 ; wire manufac-
turers, 1 ; boot and shoe dealers, 3 ; paper-hanging
establishments, 2 ; stationers and booksellers, 3 ; car-
riage- and wagon-makers, 5 ; stone-masons, 9 ; lumber
dealers, 13 ; stone-cutters, 8 ; tin and stove dealers,
9 ; hardware dealers, 3 ; wood-turners, 2 ; galvanized
iron-work, 7 ; saw-milling, 15 ; stone-pavers, 4 ; var-
nish manufacturers, 1 ; terra-cotta work, 9 ; painters,
8 ; lime-burners, 6 ; cement dealers, 2 ; gas-fitters, 5 ;
plumbers. 10 ; planing-mills, 5 ; mastic work, 2 ;
wrought- and cast-iron-work, 17 ; brick-makers, 20 ;
plasterers, 11; marble dealers, 8; composition-,
metal-, and slate- roofers, 14 ; sundry other kinds of
business, 24 ; total, 401.
Persons, not members, residing in or out of the city,
who desired to exhibit models, works of art, etc., had
the privilege of using the large hall for that purpose,
if acceded to by the secretary or any other officer of
the institution.
The present Exchange was chartered in 1875, with
an authorized capital stock of two thousand five hun-
dred dollars.
On the 12th of February, 1879, the Exchange
entered upon the occupation of its new quarters,
comprehending the entire fifth floor of the then re-
cently completed Hunt building, No. 106 North
Fourth Street, which had been leased to the organiza-
tion by Mr. Hunt. The president of the Exchange,
W. W. Polk, and the vice-presidents, Thomas F. Hay-
den and Francis Hawkins, welcomed the members.
At the present time the membership numbers
several hundred. The present board of officers is
composed of Anthony Ittner, president ; T. P. Mc-
Kelleget, first vice-president; W. J. Thorn, second
vice-president; William Stamps, treasurer; and W.
R. Dalton, secretary. Directors, J. Green, P. Mul-
cahy, II . Gundaker, J. Methudy, M. Hudson, and
W. Adams.
Among the most active and energetic members
of the Mechanics' Exchange was Joseph K. Bent,
on the occasion of whose death the Exchange
adopted resolutions expressive of regret at the loss
of an esteemed member, a valued friend, and one
of the foremost builders of the city. Mr. Bent
was born in Wendell, Mass., Nov. 16, 1816. His
1366
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
parents were descended from the old settlers of
Massachusetts, and the family was widely and favor-
ably known. His uncle, Joseph Kilbourn, was a
wealthy cotton broker in Augusta, Ga., and one of
his two brothers was a prosperous cotton broker in
New Orleans. Joseph K. received a good common-
school education, and then learned the trade of a
carpenter and builder. His parents went West in
the " '30's" for their health, and settled at Liberty,
Clay Co., Mo., where, July 3, 1839, Mr. Bent was
married to Miss Sabrina Phelps, daughter of William |
W. Phelps, a well-known and influential gentleman :
of that region, and a descendant of the famous Phelps ;
family of Western New York, after whom the village
of Phelpstown was named. At Liberty, Mr. Bent
attempted to practice the profession of an architect,
but the field being very limited, he removed to St.
Louis, Oct. 25, 1839, and was soon actively engaged
in building. During the forty years that followed he j
transacted a large and flourishing business as con- !
tractor. Up to the year 1868 he conducted the busi-
ness alone, but in that year he admitted his son, Wil-
liam E. Bent, as a partner, the firm-name being
Joseph K. Bent & Son. Mr. Bent's name is indeli-
bly associated with some of the largest and most
costly buildings erected in St. Louis. He did the
carpenter- work for the new Merchants' Exchange, the
immense Barr building at Sixth and Olive Streets,
and the First Presbyterian Church on Lucas Place, i
and had the entire contract for building the Third
National Bank, and many large stores on Fourth and
Fifth Streets, in the business portion of the town, as
well as numerous handsome and costly private resi-
dences in various parts of the city. In his day he
was one of the largest, as well as one of the best,
builders St. Louis possessed. In addition to his i
building enterprises he for several years managed a
planing-mill, manufacturing work for his own build-
ings as well as for others.
Mr. Bent died on the 21st of March, 1880, leav-
ing a comfortable estate to his widow and children, i
He was a faithful member of the First Presbyterian
Church, and bore his last illness with Christian forti- '
tude. He was a member of no secret or other society i
except the Mechanics' Exchange, in which he took a
deep interest. He was thoroughly devoted to his pro-
fession, and in the management of his large and ex-
acting business made numerous friends, being emi-
nently of a social nature. He was a man of unusual
decision of character, and enjoyed the implicit confi-
dence and respect of all who knew him.
The St. Louis Real Estate Exchange is located
at 212 North Sixth Street, and its officers (1882) are
Charles Green, president; M. A. Wolff, vice-president ;
Leon L. Hall, secretary and treasurer ; Charles Green,
Theophile Papin, J. S. Farrar, F. L. Haydel, J. L.
January, William C. Wilson, and John Maguire, di-
rectors.
St. Louis Mining and Stock Exchange. In
1874 the St. Louis Mining Exchange was established
at the southeast corner of Fourth and Elm Streets,
by M. S. Mepham & Co., as a headquarters for persons
engaged in mining or the sale of mineral lands. A
large number of persons interested in minerals rented
offices in the building, all being located at convenient
distances apart on the first floor, and separated from
each other by neat railings. Cases were fitted up for
the display of Missouri minerals, and a complete and
handsome collection was secured, together with
specimens of fossils, Indian curiosities, and relics of
the civil war, the latter presented by Gen. John B.
Gray.
The St. Louis Mining and Stock Exchange was
organized in the fall of 1880, and held its first meet-
ing at its rooms on Third Street, between Olive and
Locust, Dec. 2, 1880, on which occasion the Exchange
was formally opened for business at eleven o'clock.
The officers at the time were : President, James
Baker ; Vice-President, Thomas Richeson ; Treasurer,
Francis T. Iglebart ; Secretary, Theodore W. Heman ;
Directors, G. W. Chadbourne, Charles F. Orthwein,
Francis T. Iglehart, J. W. Paramore, John W. Noble,
D. P. Rowland, Thomas Richeson, E. S. Chester, T. W.
Beman, "W. R. Allen, D. R. Francis, James Baker,
John E. Ennis.
The St. Louis Coal Exchange was organized
June 1, 1879, for the purpose of developing the coal
trade of the city, and for the mutual protection of
dealers and shippers of coal.
The officers of the Exchange are Alexander Hamil-
ton, president; C. E. Gartside, treasurer; and Wil-
liam Lackman, secretary. The Exchange is located
at No. 108 North Fourth Street.
Boatmen's Exchange. In 1868, Charles P. Chou-
teau erected a handsome building on the Levee at the
corner of Vine Street, for the purposes of a Boatmen's
Exchange. The building presented quite a striking
appearance, having a front of about sixty feet and a
height of ninety feet. The material used in its erec-
tion was principally brick, but the front was of Chi-
cago stone from the Lemont quarries. The rear faced
on Commercial Street, and had also a handsome ex-
terior. The style of architecture was Italian. The
architects were Messrs. Barnard & Piquenard. The
cost of the building was about eighty thousand dollars.
St. Louis Furniture Exchange. In October,
0*
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, AND BANKERS. 1367
1879, there was quite a formidable strike among the
furniture-workers of the city, and at the suggestion of
George A. Rubelmann, a prominent dealer in cabinet
hardware, a meeting of the furniture manufacturers
was held, at which the desirability of union in the
existing emergency was conceded and the organization
of a Furniture Exchange determined. On the 26th
of October, 1879, the following officers were elected:
President, Daniel Aude; Vice-President, D. S. Home ;
Treasurer, J. H. Koppelman.
The strike soon collapsed, but the organization con-
tinued, and now embraces about fifty of the leading
manufacturers of the city. The Exchange meets at
Sixth and Morgan Streets, where it has convenient
rooms and supports a monthly paper, The St. Louis
Furniture Manufacturer. The present officers of the
Furniture Exchange are : President, Charles Spier ;
Vice-President, Frank Prange ; Secretary, F. Han-
peter ; Treasurer, J. H. Koppelman.
The St. Louis Manufacturers' Association was
organized on the 27th of March, 1874. The meeting
for the purpose, which was held in the directors' room
of the Merchants' Exchange, was called to order by
Adolphus Meier, who announced that it was an ad-
journed meeting, G. B. Allen having been chairman
of the previous meeting. At this meeting Mr. Allen
had been appointed to draft a constitution, by-laws,
and rules of order for the prospective association.
Mr. Allen read the document prepared by him,
which, on motion of Giles F. Filley, was adopted as a
whole.
The election of officers was then proceeded with by
ballot, Gerard B. Allen being elected president, and
Thomas Richeson vice-president.
The constitution provided that the secretary and
treasurer, which offices should be united in one person,
should be appointed by the executive committee,
which should be appointed by the president.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics was instituted
under an act of the General Assembly of Missouri
in March, 1879. The second section of the act
establishing the bureau defines its objects. It is
" to collect, assort, systematize, and present in annual
reports statistical details relating to all departments
of labor in the State, especially in relation to the com-
mercial, industrial, social, educational, and sanitary
condition of the laboring classes, and to the perma-
nent prosperity of the productive industries of the
State." The general offices are located in St. Louis.
The expense of the bureau up to Dec. 31, 1880, was
one thousand four hundred and forty-six dollars and
thirty cents. H. J. Spaunhorst is the commissioner.
The Missouri State Board of Immigration was
created by an act of the Legislature of Missouri in
March, 1879, its object being to advertise the resources
of the State and invite immigration. The officers
appointed when the board was created were Andrew
McKinley, of St. Louis, president ; A. Steinacker, of
St. Joseph, auditor; and John M. Richardson, of Car-
thage, Mo., secretary. The commissioners were to serve
for a term of four years. An appropriation was made
by the State for the first two years, of eight thousand
dollars, and for the next two years of twenty thousand
dollars. The board has issued several papers relating
to the agricultural, mining, and manufacturing capa-
bilities of the State, sixty thousand copies of the
" Hand-Book of Missouri," and fifty thousand copies
j of a smaller pamphlet and map, which have been dis-
tributed in other States and in Europe. The board
has conducted in the past and continues to conduct
an extensive correspondence with intending immigrants
and capitalists. The invitation extended to immi-
grants does not come from great land proprietors and
speculators, with specious and exaggerated statements,
to induce them to take their property at fancy prices,
but from the whole people, through their representa-
tives in the Legislature of the State. They are in-
vited because it is believed that the undeveloped
resources, once understood and put in process of
development, will enhance the value of every prop-
erty in the State ; because every acre put under
cultivation, every mine opened and worked, every
mill and factory built, and every new industrial
enterprise started will benefit the already existing
industries, create new markets, and increase the com-
merce and material wealth of Missouri.
CHAPTER XXXII.
BANKS, AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS,
AND BANKERS.
WHEN the white settlers first occupied the site of
St. Louis, the currency in use among the Indians was
mainly wampum, or peag, or wampumpeag, as it was
variously called. It consisted of dark purple and
white beads, made out of shells or stone, and pierced
for stringing. The purple beads had twice the value
of the white, and when arranged in strings or belts
were used as articles of jewelry. As currency, wam-
pum was used in strings and valued according to
measure, a fathom, or belt, consisting of three hun-
dred and sixty beads. At an early period the settlers,
in trading with the Indians for furs and peltries, some-
1368
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
times used wampum, but as it was liable to deterioration
by wear and use, and became overabundant, besides
not being of a character to satisfy foreign debts, it
soon ceased to be current and was abolished as a
nuisance.
When the early settlers received gold and silver,
they hoarded it up to pay for foreign commodities,
and to supply its place for making " change" began
to use a " barter currency." * Beaver-, otter-, raccoon-,
pechon-, muskrat-, mink-, gray-squirrel, buffalo-, and
deer-skins, beef-hides, bacon, beeswax, country-made
sugar, whiskey, and lead constituted the first currency
of St. Louis. 2
l Writing on this subject, Mr. Billon says, " The French word
livre signifies in English a book, a pound-weight, and down to
the date of the French Constitution of 1792 was the name of
a coin of the value of eighteen and one-half cents of our cur-
rency, which for long centuries back, under the ancient mon-
archy of France, was established as the unit of that nation, in
which all their money calculations were figured up and their
account-books kept.
" The French Revolutionists, in their zeal to do away with
everything that savored in the slightest of the ancien regime,
abolished the livre and substituted therefor their new coin, the
franc, which they made one mill, or the one-tenth of a cent,
heavier than the livre, otherwise it would have been merely the
same old thing with a new name, since which day the word livre, i
as applied to a money coin, has become obsolete, and is known '
but to few of the present age. The par value of five livres, by
act of Congress, was ninety-two and one-half cents, United !
States currency, and that of five francs, ninety-three cents.
"As this term livre occurs in every French document on '
record in the archives relating to money matters, the persons
who were employed to translate these papers into English some
years back, being doubtless ignorant that there ever had been a
coin of that designation, have almost invariably translated it
into 'pound,' thereby making the document translated mean-
ingless in its most essential particular, the consideration.
" Let it be understood that the above remarks in relation to
the livre apply solely to the mode of keeping their accounts,
there being but little of any coin seen in the country, the circu-
lating medium being furs and peltries at a fixed price per pound,
forty cents for finest, thirty for medium, and twenty cents
inferior. Whether established by law or custom does not appear,
but, unless otherwise stipulated by contract, all transactions were
understood to be in the above medium. After the transfer to j
Spain the coin of that kingdom began to appear, but in very '
limited amounts, as we find a few transactions for ' hard dol- |
lars,' in contradistinction of the soft, or ' fur dollars.'
"As to paper money, none had ever been seen in the country \
at that early day, and even had there been any, but few could j
have made out the denomination.
"Even after the transfer to the United States transactions
were made in peltries, as we find that Judge John B. C. Lucas
made his first purchase of a house for his residence from Pierre
Duchouquette and wife, Dec. 14, 1807, for six hundred dollars
in peltries."
z The following advertisements, taken from the files of the old
Missouri Republican, show that barter currency was very gen-
erally in use in St. Louis at a late period :
Jan. 4, 1809. " Have just received and offer for sale an as-
sortment of dry-goods, consisting of the following, viz. : Coat-
In many instances taxes were collected in kind,
and fees were established in barter.
It was long before the tide of immigration brought
to the people a small supply of silver coin. This
ings, flannels, blankets, velvets, cassimeres, linens, muslins,
checks, sannas, baftas, ginghams, cambrics, hose, handker-