Cleveland High School - Beacon Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 25 text:

jle L-Zbe Weld! ,!4l!0owe The DeMenil house portrays well the beauty of old St. Louis. Its history is a typical one of the many histories that combine to make delightful the memories of our city. Dr. Nicholas DeMeni1, for whom the mansion is named, was a lieutenant in the French army. Drawn by the magnetic attraction of this infant country, Dr. DeMenil came to visit in America in 1835. At that time he had not the slightest intention of making this his home. The grace and charm of St. Louis, Where he arrived in 1836, and of its women, Emily Sophie Chouteau in particular, was suflicient to convince him that this was the place for him. In 1838 he married Miss Chouteau. This, of course, made expedient the procuring of a home. Dr. Nicholas DeMenil, father of the late Alexander DeMenil, purchased with this purpose in mind, a farm between St. Louis and Carondelet. It must be remembered that in those days, St. Louis and Carondelet were two separate communities. Here was erected a stately house, the finest example of the contemporary taste in French domestic archi- tecture that can be seen in St. Louis. Can you picture the gay parties that took place in this mansion in pre-war days? Men in powdered wigs, and women in hoop skirts courtsied and danced the minuet and quad- rille. Lovely mirrors reflected the splendor of the guests and the furnishings for the French people were a hospitable, fun-loving people. The house is of gray brick and has two stories. It contains nine rooms in which are preserved many line pieces of furniture, representative of the era. The front, which later became the rear, is of an ornamental Doric-Ionic design. An addition was built in 1863 consisting of a two story porch supported by four Ionic columns. The grounds about the house are spacious and beautifully adorned with many stately trees and appropriate shrub- bery-a lit setting for such a truly line home. S The whole place is well situated, overlooking the Mississippi. The main entrance faces the majestic Father of Waters. The grounds are enclosed by a wrought iron fence of intri- cate design, which is one of the finest examples of its type in the Mid-West. Today this abode is well preserved in its spacious grounds at 3352 South Thirteenth Street. The picture is that of the rear of the house. GLENN MERRITT 19 Photograph by Piaget Siudios

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A 17,8 of fine Qedt mn QM of tA9 '7 Prior to 1865, all traffic was ferried across the Mississippi River. The width of the river, swiftness of the current and the crude equipment employed at that time made this operation not only tedious and slow but very costly as well. A group of progressive New York railroad men conceived the idea of building a bridge across the Mississippi to handle the increasing traffic more speedily and economically. St. Louis was chosen as the ideal location. Captain James Buchanan Eads was selected to do the job. More than twenty of his forty-live years had been spent on the Mississippi River recovering the cargoes and hulls of sunken steamers. He invented and constructed the diving bells and other equipment used in this undertaking. At President Lincoln's request he designed and constructed a fleet of iron-clad vessels. This experience coupled with his engineering ability made him the best equipped man for the undertaking. Eads and a picked staff of outstanding engineers of the time began drawing the plans. Other bridges of the time were very much smaller and were built of wood and stone. Engineers scoffed at Eads's suggestion to build the bridge of great steel arches supported by granite jetties or piers but his implicit faith in his own convictions led him to follow his original plan. Construction was begun in 1867. This was an entirely new field and Eads and his engineers had nothing to guide them but their own observations. The piers had to be built on bed rock, which meant digging through an immense depth of sand and silt. This was accomplished by sinking caissons and forcing the water out of the chambers to keep the workmen alive. Working conditions were extremely dangerous and fourteen of the six hundred men engaged in this work were killed. The granite used in the bridge came from Iron Mountain, Mo. All did not run smoothly for many delays, costing precious time and money, were encountered. The worst of these was the tornado in 1871, causing S250,000 damage. Seven years were required to complete the work. The railroad tunnel which connects the bridge with Union Station was built at the same time. It was a tremendous undertaking for that period, being almost a mile in length and containing two tubes, fourteen feet wide. A few days before the dedication, which took place on July 4, 1874, the final test of the bridge was made. Two teams of seven of the finest locomotives available passed back and forth over the great structure and stood still at various positions. The engineers exam- ined every unit of the great mass of stone and steel and pronounced it capable of standing much greater pressure. St. Louis was acknowledged to have accomplished one of the great wonders of the world. TOM COERVER-June, 1942. 2 1 Photograph by Pi.-:get Studios -4:622-L