Saint Louis : the future great city of the world : with biographical sketches of the representative men and women of St. Louis and Missouri online

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SAINT LOUIS:



THE



Future Great City



OF



THE WORLD,



WITH



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OB^ THE REPRESENTATIVE MEN AND
AVOMEN OF ST. LOUIS AND MISSOURI.



BY LV U. REAVIS.



" Had St. Louis been destined to remain a village, her history might
have been dispatched in a few lines ; but future generations
will inquire of us all that concerns tlie origin of
the ' River Qiieen,' the destined Queen
of the Western Empire." — Nicollet.



CENTENNIAL EDITION.



ST. LOUIS:

C. R. Barns, 215 Pine Street.

1876.



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1S76, by

L. U. REAVIS,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.



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CHANCY R. BARNS,



BECKTOLD & CO.,



TO



GENERAL WILLIAM SELBY HARNEY



TnE DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER,

WHOSE SWORD W^AS ALW^AYS FEARED IN BATTLE. AND WHOSE
COUNSEC WAS EVER VALUED IN

THE Pabinet :
THE DEVOTED PATRIOT.

WHO HAS GIVEN THE YEARS OF MORE THAN AN ORDINARY

life-time, to THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY AND

THE CAUSE OF MANKIND I

THE YETEIiAX CHIEFTAIX,

WHO IN THE EVENING OF LIFE, HONORED FOR HIS GALLANTRY

AND HIGH DEMEANOR IN THE LAND HIS GENIUS

DEFENDED^ ENJOYING ALIKE THE ESTEEM

AND GRATITUDE OF HIS

COUNTRYMEN.

THIS V0LU2IE

WHICH IS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY AND GROWTH OF A CITY

DESTINED TO BECOME THE CHIEF METROPOLIS

OF THE GLOBE

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY

THE AUTHOR.



CONTENTS .



PAGE.

Dedication

Preface ... v.

A Personal Word vii.

Prophetic Voices About St. Louis x.

St. Louis the Metropolis of the Misskssippi Valley — Letter from

Judge Holmes xi.



PAI\T FIRST. HlSTOP>^CAL REVIEW,



Introductory '. 3

CHAPTER I. — The Geographical, Geological, and Topographical situation

of the City of St. Louis. — First Settlement 5

CHAPTER II.— The Treaty of 1767.— Progress of the St. Louis Colony.—

An Indian Visit. — St. Ange de Bellerive. — Pontiac the Indian Hero. 11
CHAPTER III. — Changes in Government. — The Aborigines. — Death of
Laclede. — The St. Louis of Early Days. — Attack by Indians. —
Treachery of the Commandant. — The Perils of the Mississippi. —

River Pirates. — The Flood of 1785 15

CHAPTER IV. — Concluding Events under Spanish Dominion. — Retroces-
sion of Louisiana to France. — Transfer to the United States. —

Appearance of St. Louis. at the time. — Its Commerce 23

CHAPTER V. — Primitive Habits. — Singular Views of Credit, — First Trip
to Santa Fe. — Explorations of Lewis and Clark. — Territorial Organ-
ization. — Wilkinson and Burr. — First Legislative Assembly. — Steps

for the formation of a State Government 27

CHAPTER VI.— Educational Efforts.— The Fur Trade.— First Steamboat.

A Newspaper and a Bank 31

CHAPTER VII.— St. Louis in 1821.— Its Mercantile and Mechanical
Establishments. — The "Grand Cathedral." — Incorporation as a

City. — The First Duel. — Visit of Lafayette. — Rapid Growth 34

CHAPTER VIII. — Burning the Negro. — New Enterprises. — Visit from

Daniel Webster. — The Levee in 1840-50. — Crimes and Executions... 49
CHAPTER IX. — Another Decade. — Important Enterprises Inaugurated. —
Mercantile Library Association. — The Mexican War. — The Great
Fire of 1848. — The Cholera. — Project of a Railroad to California. —

Murder. — Robbery of the State Bank 57

CHAPTER X.— From 1850 to i860.— The Fair Association. —The Lindell

Hotel. — Introduction of Street Railroads 65



CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI. — Modern Improvements. — The Polytechnic Building. —
Public School Library. — Insane Asylum. — The New Jail. — The Great

Bridge across the Mississippi. — The Railway Tunnel 6S

CHAPTER XII.— History of the Court-House.— City Charters and Execu-
tive Officers •. 72

Tables of Population 78

COMMERCIAL REVIEW.— The Merchants.— The Old Exchange and the

New 80

THE RIVER SYSTEM OF ST. LOUIS 95

THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF ST. LOUIS loi

BANKS AND BANKING 131

INDUSTRIAL REVIEW.— The Manufacture of Iron.— The Manufacture
of Flour. — The Brewery Business. — Statistics of Manufacturing. — The
Packing Business. — Dry Goods. — Groceries. — Tobacco. — Furniture.

Hardware. — Hats and Caps. — Drugs. — Boots and Shoes 133

LOCAL INSTITUTIONS.— The Water Works.— The Fire Department —
Metropolitan Police. — Gas Companies. — Street Railways. — Public
Parks. — The Press of St. Louis. — Washington University. — The St.
Louis Public Schools. — The Churches. — The Post Office. — Missouri
Medical College 147



PART SECOND. yVlISSOUI\I.

CHAPTER I. — The Discoverers and Early Colonists — Fernando DeSoto —

Father Marquette. — Early Annals 1S5

CHAPTER II. — How the Counties were Settled 191

CHAPTER HI — The Counties Continued. — Madison, Jefferson, Franklin,

etc 195

CHAPTER IV.— The Settlement of the Platte Purchase, Buchanan, Bates,

Caldwell and other Counties of the Northwest 199

CHAPTER V. — Southwest, Southeast and other Counties 204

CHAPTER VI. — Moniteau, Bollinger, Benton, Counties, etc. — Indian

Troubles. — The "Anti-Slicker" War 209

CHAPTER VII.— The Settlers of Pike.— History of Polk, Reynolds,

St. Clair, Ripley, Shannon, and other Counties 219

CHAPTERVIIL— Political History.— Territorial organization.— The Slavery

Question. — Formation of State Constitution. — Mexican War 223

CHAPTER IX.— The State and its Representatives.— Slavery and State

Rights. — Benton, Atchison and others 229

CHAPTER X.— The Civil War.— The part Missouri played. — Events since

the War 232

CHAPTER XL— Geographical Position.— Geology 258



CONTENTS.

MINKRAT. WEALTH. — Lead Mines, Iron Mines, Coal Mines.— Miscella-
neous 241

AGRICUL'J'URE 247

SOCIAL PROGRESS.— Statistics of Population 251

RAILROADS 254

EDUCATION.— The Public School System.— The State University.— Nor-
mal and Denominational Schools 256

LEADING CTTIES.— Jefferson City, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Boonville,

Springfield, Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve, St. Charles 270

THE FUTURE 324



PART THII\D. BIOGRAPHICAL.



Alexander, J. F 591

Allen, Thom.\s 365

Bartle, William G 784

Beck, James P 684

Bell, Daniel W 363

Benton, Thomas H 385

Blair, Gen. Francis P 395

Bland, Peter E 793

Blow, Henry T 409

Bogy, Lewis V 417

Bosbyshell, William 797

Brawner, William a 813

Britton, James H 603

Broadhead, James O 636

BURLINGHAM, ReV. A. H 674

Cavender, J. S... 709

Chambers, James H 830

Christy, William 641

Churchill, S. B 463

Clark, William G 790

Crane, John H 621

Crittenden, Mrs. Elizabeth... 677

Crawshaw, Joseph 221

Cummings, John K 717

Dameron, Logan D 781

Eads, James B v 433



Edgell, Stephen M 435

Parish, Edward T 764

Farrar, Bernard G 529

Fletcher, Thomas C 623

Franklin, E. C 541

Garrison, D. R 577

Gerhart, Peter G 816

Ghio, John B 524

(}iBsoN, Charles 489

Gould David B 825

Griswold, William D 741

GuERDAN, Francis 820

Harney, Gen. William S 331

Hamilton, William 609

Hayden, Edwin 519

Henry, John 752

Hill, Britton A 513

HousER, Daniel M 657

Hunt, Mrs. Anne L 659

Hutchins Stilson 626

Jackson, John 783

Jamison, William C 607

Jones, Horatio M 693

Jones, Isaac Eaton 569

Jones, William C 749

Kehlor, James B. M 787



CONTENTS.



Kennard, Thomas 713

Kennett, Luther M 477

Knapp, George 612

Laflin, Sylvester H 829

Leffingwell, H. W 721

Liggett, John E 774

Lucas, James H 483

McClellan, Josiah G 743

McCullagh, Joseph B 615

McLean, James H 705

Monks, James A 823

Morrison, James L. D 777

Morse, John H 767

Murphy, Patrick C 800

Normile, J. C 545

Page, William M 504

Paramore, James W 759

Peck, Charles H 497

PiGGOTT, J. J 527

Porter, Frank J 698

Rollins, A. W 728

Rollins, James S 449



Rowland, D. P 689

Russell, W. H. H 058

Ryan, Rev. P. J 671

Schneider, Philip W 802

ScHOLTEN, John A 795

Schurz, Carl 44.3

SCHULTZ, ChAUNCY F 575

Sherman, Gen. W. T 375

Simmons, Edward C 510

Simpson, John E 502

Slayback, a. W 737

Smith, Charlotte 756

Stagg, Henry 619

-Stewart, Robert M 701

Terry, John H 663

Thorwegan, W. H 666

Todd, Albert 537

Walsh, Julius S 647

Wells Erastus 594

Wells, Rodney D 652

Wilson, Henry 811

Wolff, Marcus A 521



APPENDIX.



The Cotton Trade of St. Louis 3

Collier White Lead Works S

Excelsior Manufacturing Co 12

St. Louis Type Foundry 15

Lindell Hotei 19

The Furniture Trade.— J. H.Crane 23

St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association 25

Dodd, Brown & Co 29

A. F. Shapleigh & Co 34

Western Engraving Co 37

Pettes & Leath e 40

Newcomb Brothers 42

John J. Daly & Co., Stationers 44

Chancy R. Barns, Printer 45

Becktold & Co., Binders 45

East St. Louis 47



PREFACE.



IN presenting to the public a Centennial "Work, more ambitious and compre-
hensive than anything of a similar character I have yet issued, a few words
relative to its scope and its design are deemed essential to a proper appre-
ciation among those who know the circumstances under which the labor has
been performed, and the purpose which the work is designed to subserve.

In its character and scope, the work is designed to be commensurate with, and
representative of, the fame and material grandeur of St. Louis and Missouri. To
this end the information and the arguments have been grouped in general depart-
ments, and each of these has been treated with such elaboration as its importance
seemed to demand.

In presenting the historical sketch of St. Louis, I feel a laudable pride,
believing that it is the best yet published, and that it will be so decided by the
reader.

In the history of the city, the greater attention has been given to that dim
traditionary period, the record of which is fragmentary, and which, therefore,
requires our efforts to preserve from that decay which follows all events inscribed
only in the recollection of men. The records of our later history as a city, have
been too fully and voluminously kept to run the risk of oblivion, and their elabo-
ration is left to some future historian.

The statistics and facts, which set forth the present advancement of St. Louis
in her material growth, have been collected with care, and are presented without
exaggeration or any unnecessary ornament. In their simplicity they are eloquent
of a present full of grandeur, and a future glowing with brighter promise than the
achievements of the past can even measure. In that promise, so plainly to be
read, so far on its way to fulfillment, I see the consummation of my great ambition
for the city of my home, the city of my ardent hope and love.

That part of this work devoted to the State of Missouri, has been prepared
with great care, with a view of not only placing upon record a contribution on
this epoch in American history, but also, to present to the public a more elaborate
• statement of the physical features, resources, history, growth and greatness of the
State than has yet appeared in public print. No State in the American Union is
supplied with so much natural wealth, and none gives promise of a greater future.
And if it be true that St. Louis is destined to be the great city of the world, it
is also possible that Missouri will be the great State of the American Union.
Abounding, throughout her wide domain, in unlimited resources, her future
must be great.

B



VI PREFACE.

That portion of the work devoted to biography, embellished as it is with the
best productions of the engraver's art, is designed to be a faithful reflex of the
moving force, the life and soul behind the marble, the iron and the brick that in
stately piles typify the swelling power of a new and wonderful civilization planted
upon a congenial soil. In the selection of biographical sketches, it has been my
purpose to choose, more especially, those men and women, who are conspicuous
and representative, in some branch of industry or profession, or fill some import-
ant place in life's fraternity ; and though I am not able to make this part of the
work as complete as I desire, it will be representative in its character, and
transmit to posterity the life career of many men and women, who have con-
tributed to the' honor and greatness of St. Louis and Missouri. As a whole,
it is no egotism to say that it constitutes a mine of information and instruction
from which may be gathered some of the choicest events and episodes in the
history of our country, and some of the brightest examples of well-directed
endeavor. In this department, so essential to history, there will be found neither
flattery nor unmerited compliment, but such a representation as conscientious
performance of a worthy labor can alone produce. Could we subtract biography
from all history, we would have left but a succesion of barren facts, in which there
would be nothing to attract our sympathies or to guide our judgment. It is,
therefore, becoming in those who record the efforts of individuals, to do so with
a full sense of their responsibility, and in the consciousness that the teaching
conveyed will grow stronger with each succeeding generation.

Actuated by these deep convictions this work has been prepared, and I therefore
trust that its usefulness will extend far beyond my own times, and that when it is
looked upon as a memento of the past, it will also be regarded as a prophecy that
has met a triumphant fulfillment.

In the preparation of this work, I have not been unmindful of the occasion
which has been the cause of its production. I have not been unmindful that this
is a great era in American history, a great event in the life of the nation, designed
to demonstrate the growth and power of its people — their material growth and
political, intellectual and moral greatness. Such a period necessarily excites in
the minds of the people unusual interests of patriotism and pride: patriotism for
the land and government of those whose heritage and home the country is, and a
pride in its growth and greatness, and the manifest genius of its people in the
affairs of the world.

Conscious of these things, it has been my purpose to prepare a work in every
way fully representative of the material and intellectual interests of St. Louis
and Missouri — a work exhibiting in voluminous form, at this Centennial period,
the growth and greatness of a city destined to be the world's metropolis, and a
State destined to contain a population of forty million.

With a full conviction that the city of London is not fixed in history as the final
great city of the world, but that it heralds the one great city of the future, which
all civilization is now hastening to build up on this continent, as the culminating
work of the westward movement of the world's people on the globe, it is with



PREFACE. VII

heartfelt gratitude that I have been enabled to see some good results, as I believe,
come to the public from my own labors. Especially am I grateful for the achieve-
ment won in being able to send out this volume to my people, representing as it
does so much of their life and greatness — a people who, I believe, will in turn
kindly regard it, and be charitable in criticism, and generous in promoting its
usefulness.

In the preparation of this work, it is but just to say that I have received valuable
assistance from John S. Dormer, Esq., a gentleman well known, not only in
St. Louis, but throughout the country, for his ability and scholarly attainments,
his experience in journalism, and his literary accomplishments.

L. U. R.
May I, 1876.



TO THE PEOPLE OF ST. LOUIS — A PERSONAL WORD.

In presenting a final and conclusive record of St. Louis and Missouri, at this
pivot point in American history, I deem it of some concern to myself to place in
this volume a personal word in reference to my work done in your midst and the
motive that has actuated me in my labors.

I came a stranger to St. Louis ten years ago this May 1876. I came from my
native State, Illinois, to make this city my home, and for a pre-determined
purpose to engage as best I could in the discussion of questions relating to the
future growth and prosperity of St. Louis and the grand Valley of the Mississippi.
I saw a great transition which the civil war had brought about, gradually stealing
upon the nation, and slowly and surely changing the social and commercial
relations of the people, and destined to establish new modes of trade and new
commercial channels, quite different from those of the past. These new modes
and new channels I saw to be essential to the future growth and grandeur of the
nation. True to "my personalities and their boundaries," though a stranger,
without friends and without means in your midst, I commenced the work I came
to accomplish. And while it was undefined to my mind, at the beginning, and
undertaken without a contract for compensation, the way, though rugged, and
beset with opposition, gradually opened before me as I proceeded.

Almost ten years have passed away since the publication of my first pamphlet,
entitled "The New Republic, or the Transition Complete." During this time I
have prepared and published and circulated, through the aid of- the County Court
and a few friends, more than 150,000 copies of my pamphlets, accompaniqfi with
appropriate maps of my own, and recently added to my labors the present, and a
previous, biographical volume.

In the prosecution of my work I have not been actuated by any desire for
personal gain, nor any ambitious motive. I have been alone impelled by
a profound conviction that a new manifestation of life was growing upon



VIII PREFACE.

the nation, which was destined to compel our civilization to adjust itself in
harmony with the topographical character of the continent, and the nation,
vitalized by this new life, to be ruled from a continental capital. Nor
have I, in the prosecution of my work, been actuated by a local selfish spirit.
With due regard for my convictions about the future of St. Louis, I have been
sanguine and earnest in presenting to the public " the reason for the faith that is in
me; " but under no circumstances have I intended to express aught of prejudice
or envy toward any other city on the continent. But my home, my hope and
love are all in St. Louis, the destined capital of the nation, and the great city of
the future. And the convictions I entertain respecting her future growth are the
result of my thoughtful conclusions, and in no way the result of prejudice to
other cities, which are "all pearls strung upon the one string" of our common
country.

Since I came to St. Louis, her population has more than trebled, and her
wealth and power have correspondingly increased. Her glory, like that of a
newly-risen star, has gone out over the globe to the people of all lands. My
books are in the great libraries and commercial centers of this and European
countries, bearing the testimony of the present growth, and heralding the triumph
of the final great city of the world, the ultimate heart of the civilization of the
world's people which is destined ere long to throb the onward progress of our
universal humanity.

Now, whether I have done much or little to advance the material interests of
St. Louis, and to present the possibilities of the Mississippi Valley, during the
years of my labor, I leave it for others to determine.

In thus laboring I have had no ambition to gratify. Here is my home, and I
shall be content to pass the balance of my life with the consciousness that I am
a humble citizen in the future great city of the world.

I have thus far spent the best years of my life in St. Louis, Impelled by an
intense zeal, a zeal akin to enthusiasm, I have walked these streets in poverty and
hunger to collect from every field of laudable life, facts and statistics out of which
to make arguments to present to the world, to show the rising glory and future
greatness of St. Louis. Still more, I have sought every avenue of information
that promised to lead to some new form of truth necessary to a complete demon-
stration of the westward movement of human power on this continent, and to
show that the future theater of American activity will be in the great basin of the
Mississippi. And I take pride in all things that contribute to the welfare of, and
give promise of a greater future for, St. Louis and the American nation. And
though I see the future with brighter hopes, I feel that the shadows of declining
life begin to fall upon me. But I shall not falter in my work, for I am conscious
that this volume will endure, and find welcome and anxious readers long after the
prophecy it contains is fulfilled, and the fact heralded to mankind that St. Louis
is the great city of the world. And thus conscious of the correctness of this
prophecy, the fulfillment of which now lies hid in the future, it matters very little
what vicissitudes are in store for me on this side of the eternal world, for I know



PREFACE. IX

that the people of other times who shall walk the streets of this city, in the riper
years of its growth, will do justice to my memory, and accept the boon of a
metropolitan destiny now impending in the affairs of the world, and for which I
have labored with an unselfish purpose.

My fate is inseparably connected with you, the citizens of St. Louis; and no
matter how humble I may be in your midst, and no matter what distinction
wealth may make between many of you and myself, I have the promise, from of
old, that my works shall live after me. And henceforth, whether my days be
many or few, I shall not cease to present to the public everything within the
scope of my future labors that tends to proclaim the glory of St. Louis, and
herald the final triumph of the great city of the world.

With these words, I shall henceforth extend my labors to the interests of the
Mississippi Valley, the welfare of the American nation, and the commercial
destiny of the Western Hemisphere.

L. U. REAVIS.

St. Louis, Mo., May i, 1S76.



PROPHETIC VOICES ABOUT ST. LOUIS.



St. Louis alone would be an all-sufficient theme; for, who crai doubt that this prosperous
metropolis is destined to be one of the mighty centers of our mighty Republic? — Charles
Sumner.

Fair St. Louis, the future Capital of the United States, and of the civilization of the Western
Continent. — James Parton.

A glance at the map ot the United States shows what an interesting place St. Louis is destined
to become; when the white population has spread itself more westwardly from the Mississippi, and
up and along the Missouri river, perhaps it may yet become the capital of a great nation. — Duke
OF Saxe-Weimar Eisenach, "Ti-avels in North America in i825-'26."

New York Tribune, \
New York, February 4, 1870. J

Dear Sir : — I have twice seen St. Louis in the middle of the winter. Nature made her the
focus of a vast region, embodying a vast area of the most fertile soil of the globe. Man will soon
accomplish her destiny by rendering her the seat of an immense industry, the home of a far-
reaching, ever-expanding commerce. Her gait is not so rapid as that of some of her Western
sisters, but she advances steadily and surely to her predestined station of first inland city on the
globe. Yours,

Z. C/. Reavis, Esq., Missotiri. Horace Greeley.

I also remember that I am in the city of St. Louis — destined, ere long, to be the great city on
the continent (renewed cheers) ; the greatest central point between the East and the West, at
once destined to be the entrepot and depot of all the internal commerce of the greatest and
most prosperous country the world has ever seen ; connected soon with India by the Pacific, and
receiving the goods of China and Japan ; draining, with its immense rivers centering here, the
great Northwest, and opening into the Gulf through the great river of this nation, the Father of
Waters — the Mississippi. Whenever — and that time is not far distant — the internal commerce
shall exceed our foreign commerce, then shall St. Louis take the very first rank among the cities
of the nation. And that time, my friends, is much sooner than any one of us at the present time
actually realizes. Suppose that it had been told to you — any one of you here present, of middle
age, within twenty years past, that within that time such a city should grow up here, with such a