Archive for the ‘St. Louis’ Category

From St. Louis, Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas to Denver, Colorado

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Tuesday: We thanked David for letting us stay with him in St. Louis, picked up Hazel from the cleaners, and headed for Kansas City.

Wednesday: We had planned on seeing a few house museums in Kansas City (most notably, that of Alexander Majors — the guy who founded the Pony Express), but our gracious Kansas City host Suzannah had to leave early.  Plus, we needed to be in Denver to stay with Tom and Lauren at a reasonable hour.

Couch-hopping around Thanksgiving forced us to stray from our my ideal itinerary.  Oh well.

Just before 8 am

we took off for Denver by way of Red Cloud, Nebraska.  Sorry, Kansas City.

St. Louis, Missouri — Scott Joplin House

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Tuesday: Our last stop before picking Hazel up from the cleaners was the Scott Joplin House.

(Actually a ladies vest)

This was the first house on our trip that wasn’t opulent, which was refreshing. The coolest part was easily the player piano. Our docent gave us a taste of Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag–

Our docent was all about Scott Joplin and very excited to play. It was great. He told us we were too late to receive the tour, but then proceeded to gush about the house and Joplin, basically giving us the tour.

The ground floor has a few exhibits and player pianos, plus a gift shop. You have to go upstairs to see Joplin’s apartment.

Joplin lived in the apartment between 1900 and 1903. Several people lived here after Joplin, so little of the furniture is original. In this case, however, I don’t think that the original artifacts are as nearly as important as the music and the space.

Topics Discussed — Malts from Crown Candy Kitchen, How Great It Is When You Order a Malt or a Milkshake And They Give You the Silver Mixer Thing

St. Louis, Missouri — Campbell House Museum

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Tuesday: The Campbell House Museum was closed when we arrived, but we stumbled upon a special tour and got to go inside. Booya.

The Campbell House is one of those enormous and over the top homes that belonged to a wealthy family and blah blah blah.

I mean, the place is super nice, and that’s fun for a while. For example, this fireplace is sweet–

But while luxury and historic preservation are all well and good, it’s the stories that make the museum.

Luckily, the Campbell House recognized this and devoted a significant part of the tour to the lives and memories of the servants.

Even better, they had restored the extensive system of bells the servants used to respond to the whims of the folks who occupied the home. It’s like an old-timey intercom system.

Unrelated, I also love it when house museums leave evidence of their restorations.

It’s so telling of an old house’s craftsmanship, how easily and quickly a house can decay, and how dedicated individuals can perform feats of brilliance provided they have a truckload of funding. The restoration was really, truly remarkable.

Better yet, they have a full-time staff of one (who was not even close to above working the cash register), and we met a board member who was busy vacuuming the floors. Our docents were volunteers and true students of the house and the history. It’s a great house museum, sure, but only because they run what seems like a marvelous organization.

Susie wanted me to mention that they saved the best part for last. In the carriage house, they’ve got the original carriages that belonged to the Campbell Family.

We weren’t allowed to take ‘em for a spin.

Topics Discussed — Helicopter Parents, Clingy Children, How I Forgot My Business Cards, Gentrification, Gift Shops with Unrelated and/or Ridiculous Wares, Christopher Radko

St. Louis, Missouri — Eugene Field House and St. Louis Toy Museum

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Tuesday: We knew that the Eugene Field House would be closed today, but it was also on our way. We stopped by for a picture.

Eugene Field and Joel Chandler Harris have a lot in common. Both were newspapermen, both were humorists, both wrote popular children’s works, and both had direct and familial ties to early civil rights efforts.

And like the Wren’s Nest, the Eugene Field House is a National Historic Landmark, freshly stamped in 2007.

Susie and I determined that the Eugene Field House would be the best to work at given its proximity to Busch Stadium and the two bars across the street.

That’s the stadium in the back.

Topics Discussed — Dred Scott’s Lawyer, Julian LaRose Harris, St. Louis Light Rail, Ozzie Smith

St. Louis, Missouri — Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion

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Tuesday: Let me tell you, the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion has a lot of cool stuff.

You really can’t get a good picture of the front, however, since a few brain geniuses at the Missouri DOT decided to build a highway on-ramp in the front yard.

Anyway, our docent–also the director of the museum–was great. He talked at approximately four million words per minute. We ate it up.

If he had said that he was Neil Young’s brother, I would have believed it.

Maybe it was the sideburns, I don’t know.

This particular artifact was a reading machine, where one would pin together newspaper serials in order to read stories in their entirety.

The Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion is actually two houses. The first was built by Henri Chatillon in 1848.

Chatillon was famous for being the tour guide for Francis Parkman, author of the bestselling book The Oregon Trail that captivated the imagination of 19th century America. Chatillon himself left St. Louis at age 15 and walked to Laramie, Wyoming before returning home many years later.

The second house, built more or less on top of the first, was built by Nicolas DeMenil, a wealthy doctor and pharmaceutical dude. Together, the house affords a unique cross-section of St. Louis history. Susie and I agreed–it’s super-awesome.

For example, we saw all sorts of chamber pots.

This one doubled as a child’s stepping stool. The decorations on the bed are for Christmas: each child would have a dedicated color of string and receive the presents attached to that string.

We also saw, um, a Murphy Bathtub.

I don’t know if that’s the real name, but oh my goodness, what I wouldn’t give for a bathtub that folded up into the wall.

And the telephone wasn’t even an artifact, but man it was awesome.

In sum, this may have been our favorite museum on the trip. We’ll wait until we’re done for the final verdict.

It’s almost a shame too–the director stressed that they were in serious financial trouble. He didn’t know if they’d be open next year. Go see it if you have the chance.

Topics Discussed — Hot Air Balloon Collisions, Brewery Caves, How Weird Is the World’s Fair, Slop Pails

From Nashville, Tennessee to St. Louis, Missouri

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Monday: We left Nashville owing a huge debt to our tour guide Tom (and his parents) who fed us, put a roof over our heads, and showed us the Nashville ropes. Thanks, y’all.

Tuesday: This morning we dropped Hazel off at the cleaners groomers Beauty Parlor for the day while we checked out the house museums of St. Louis. First stop, the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion.

As usual, I neglected to get directions before hopping in the car. We got a little lost along the way, but stopped for guidance when we felt we were close.

(Close)

I walked into the Lemp Mansion Restaurant, thinking that maybe since they ran their operation out of an old house, they’d be in the know. Here’s how the conversation went–

LAIN: Hey! Do you know where the Chant-tee-yon Demumble House is?

WAITER: Dude, are you serious?

LAIN: I really don’t know how to pronounce it, I’m sorry.

WAITER: (eyeing me warily) It is literally next door.

LAIN: Reall–

WAITER: Literally. Next door.

The distance between the two houses was well before the stop sign.

So we found it. Review to follow.