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HISTORY OF
AFFTON
Courtesy of The
Affton Chamber of Commerce. Excerpted & edited by
various Members of the Board of the Affton Chamber of Commerce,
taken from the 125th Anniversary Special Edition of The
Channel, published by the Affton School District.
The
Early Settlers
In the year 1803 the United States of America negotiated the
purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France. At that time
the western boundary of the United States was the Mississippi
River. However, even at that early date there were many
Americans who were residents of the Louisiana Country, a vast,
roughly triangular shaped area which extended from the City of
New Orleans to the Canadian border. St. Louis was already a
thriving river city. The Chouteau’s, the Laclede’s, and
other early settlers had already established a profitable fur
trade with the Indians who roamed the rich fur country along the
Missouri River.
Many of the early settlers
around St. Louis had already been granted vast areas of land by
the Spanish King, who ruled this section of North America
through an appointed governor who had his headquarters in the
city of New Orleans. One of the men who had gained one of these
grants from the Spanish King was a Frenchman by the name of
Gregoire Sarpy. Sarpy had a tract of about 6,000 acres located
just southwest of St. Louis in a section known as Carondelet
(named after a Governor-General of New Orleans.) Sarpy was a
partner of another Frenchman, Chouteau, in a very profitable fur
trade business. The tract of land that Sarpy owned extended from
what is now the City of Webster Groves to a stream the Spaniards
called "Rio de los Padres" and the French called
"Riviere Des Peres" (River of the Fathers) after the
early Jesuit missionaries who had a settlement at its mouth.
During the 1820's a Scotchman
by the name of Kenneth MacKenzie had immigrated to America, made
quite a fortune in fur trade, and decided to settle down to the
life of a farmer. He purchased from Gregoire Sarpy a tract of
about 3,000 acres the eastern half of the Sarpy lands, and
established a great plantation. MacKenzie’s property included
all the land between what is now Hazel Avenue to the north,
Gravois Road to the south, Laclede Station Road to the west, and
River des Peres to the east. This is much of what is Affton
today and explains how part of Shrewsbury came to be included in
the Affton School District.
In 1842 MacKenzie had his lands
surveyed and divided into forty acre tracts which he put up for
sale. During the period from 1835 to 1870 there was much
political disturbance in western Europe, particularly Germany,
and many of the German immigrants came to this section of St.
Louis County to live. Many of the contributors to this story
have in their possession the documents, signed by Kenneth
MacKenzie, which deeded the 40 acre tracts to their ancestors.
A large tract of this ground
was sold in the 1850's to Louis A. Benoist, a successful St.
Louis banker. He purchased 485 acres and established a huge
plantation which he called "Oakland." In the spring of
1853, Benoist commissioned George Ingham Barnett, the dean of
Western architects and the first European-trained designer in
St. Louis to fashion his country mansion. Barnett was born in
Nottingham, England and studied in London. He came to America in
1839 at the age of 24 and after apprenticing in New York for a
short time, he journeyed to St. Louis to establish a practice of
his own. Barnett’s 50 years of architectural accomplishments
would later include the Southern and Lindell Hotels, the water
tower on North Grand, the Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson
City, many lavish houses in Lafayette Square, and #7 Vandeventer
Place. Benoist built a large mansion, barns, slave quarters,
cottages, smokehouses, and springhouses. About one-third of the
original Benoist estate now comprises the Lakewood Park Cemetery
and is one of the most interesting and historical areas in
Affton. The mansion, Oakland, was purchased by the Affton
Historical Society in 1976 and had undergone extensive
restoration. It is a showplace in the Affton community and is
included in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Henry A. W. Wagener home at
9935 MacKenzie is one that has seen a lot of history and change.
The trim, well kept home that one sees today is really much
older than it appears. Henry a. W. Wagener’s mother, Anna
Rothenbuecher Wagener, lived in that home as a child. The home
was built in 1843 and underneath its present covering is the
original log cabin.
According to Mr. Charles
Scheidt, who had lived in Affton from 1882 till he died, the old
Affton he remembered was an area of truck gardens. He told of
the farmers starting out before dawn to take their produce to
the market in horse drawn wagons. One of the principal markets
for the farmers of this area was located in the City of St.
Louis, at the wide V where Gravois meets Grand Avenue. There,
twice a week, Tuesdays and Saturdays the farmers would back
their wagons to the curb for the day and sell the produce of
their fields direct to the residents of South St. Louis who
would walk there to do their buying. Other farmers would
continue on down Gravois to the old French Market, Soulard or
Biddle Markets.
The "Ten Mile House"
which had been located at Gravois and Tesson was a well known
landmark. The name itself had much significance. In the days of
the horse and carriage, there were not many "Road
Markers" as we know them today. Instead travelers were
guided by different buildings along the way. They devised the
scale that any building one mile from the Court House in St.
Louis (now the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) would be
called the "One Mile House," meaning one mile from the
Court House.
Thus you will still find today
a "Ten Mile House" or an "Eleven Mile House"
by going out the older by-ways such as Manchester or Gravois.
The building at Gravois and Tesson was the building 10 miles out
Gravois Road from the courthouse. The building was originally
built by the Detjen family and called Detjen Grove. The original
building has been replaced by a building that now houses
National Check Cashier, Subway, Mid America Arms and 2 small
stores.
Johann Aff began a general
store at the "Ten Mile House" in 1872. Besides owning
a truck garden and operating the general store, he also served
as the first postmaster of the area. Thus it was for mailing
purposes, the area began being referred to as Aff’s town and
eventually Affton. Did you know that Johann Aff is buried near
Affton, just inside the City limits?
The story of early Affton would
certainly be incomplete without mention of another post-office
in the area, that of Nursery, Mo. The Weber Nursery, located at
approximately what is now Gravois and Coral Dr. is described in
early history books as one of the most complete nurseries west
of the Mississippi River. The Nursery did such a tremendous mail
order business that it had its own post office; thus the name
Nursery, Mo.
Although Affton is generally
thought of as a German Community, a large settlement of English
families made their home here. In fact, the oldest church in
Affton is the Episcopalian Church built in 1882. The group met
first in the McKenzie School building. In 1882 the congregation
built the frame church costing $1,200 on the corner of New
Hampshire and Aliceton.
The Affton as it was known
prior to 1900 is described as having been a good place to live,
quiet and beautiful. In the 1890's there was still much timber
and game was plentiful. Most of the residents still spoke
German, and a stranger coming down MacKenzie Road would attract
much attention, but the people of Affton were always friendly.
TOP
Grant’s
Farm
Perhaps the most treasured landmark of the community is
Grant’s log cabin which now stands in the Busch estate on
Gravois Road. The cabin was originally built in 1848 by Ulysses
S. Grant on an eighty acre tract given to him by his
father-in-law, Col. Frederick Dent. This tract of ground is just
west of the area where Laclede Station and Rock Hill intersect.
The cabin was built in the general vicinity of what is now the
St. Paul’s Cemetery entrance.
In 1890, the old Grant Cabin
was moved from the farm to Old Orchard (near Webster Groves)
where Justin E. Joy, a real estate dealer used to attract
attention to a subdivision he was promoting. The cabin was next
used in the World Fair Grounds in St. Louis in 1904 to advertise
a special brand of coffee. The cabin was finally brought back to
Affton when August A. Busch the 1st obtained it and located it
on the present site on Gravois Road. Busch restored it to its
original condition and today the cabin remains a point of great
interest.
1900-1930-A
Developing Community
Gravois Road is Paved!
The turn of the century found the little community "out by
the Gravois" developing all the signs of a little town. The
further development can be traced to the prominence of Gravois
Road. The earliest recorded data on Gravois Road is dated 1804,
according to Mr. B. Cordell Stevens, a resident of Clayton and
president of the St. Louis Historical Society. On an old map
this principal thoroughfare of Affton is described as the
"Road that led to the Salt Spring of Clamorgan in a
wagon." James Clamorgan was the name of an early Irish
settler who came to Jefferson County and built a home south and
east of what is now Fenton. The words "Salt Spring"
refer to the saline spring, common in that region, located near
this early homesite.
That early trail bore little
resemblance to our Gravois of today. In fact very few, if any,
of the original roads in St. Louis County can be recognized as
the early trails and turnpikes laid out and traveled by the
pioneers who settled this region and picked from the solid
wilderness a few traffic routes which later developed into
highways and boulevards. In most cases our modern highways,
built to meet the needs of fast motor transportation, do not
follow exactly the earlier routes which were determined largely
by accommodation to the natural terrain. Modern road building
machinery and materials have solved many of the problems with
which the early settlers were unable to cope.
However, this early "big
Road" (it could accommodate a wagon) rapidly became a much
used thoroughfare. This is attested to by the fact that on
December 20, 1804, a John Boli was granted a license to operate
a ferry across the Meramec River two miles below what is now the
present site of Fenton.
Plans for rerouting began with
a petition, dated May 23, 1818, addressed to the Circuit Court
asking for a road from Reaszin Sappington’s mill to the mill
belonging to Wilson P. Hunt whose property was located on River
des Peres. From this point the road was to proceed to the town
of St. Louis. Of special interest is the names of some of the
signatories of this petition: Wilson Hunt, Theodore Hunt, Joseph
Wells, John Sappington, Wm. L. Long, August Chouteau, Antoine
Soulard, Bernard Pratte, Sylvester Labadie and many other
pioneers around whom the history of St. Louis and St. Louis
County is written.
Fourteen years later (1832)
this "Road to Fenton" was established and declared a
public road. (Note: It was a common practice at that time for
individuals to be granted the right to charge a "toll"
on vehicles using a road if these individuals would maintain and
keep in repair the roadway near their homes. This practice was
common in western Europe, and the idea was brought over by our
early settlers.) According to the records, this new road began
at the "Three-Mile Post," where Gravois Ave. now
intersects Arsenal St.
By an act of the Missouri State
Legislature, passed February 11, 1839, Gravois Road became a
state road. All the roads of those days were of dirt corduroy
(logs laid side by side), or of planks, which made for the
smoothest riding. Remember, in those days this area was covered
with dense forest and trees were regarded of little value.
In 1845, the Missouri Assembly
appropriated a sum not to exceed $7,000 to be apportioned to
each township along the route for the macadamizing (a mixture of
gravel and tar, a new type of road surface discovered by a man
name MacAdam in Scotland) of Gravois Road within the limits of
each township.
The use of the name of Gravois
Road came into being about this time. The name
"Gravois" came from the combination of French words
meaning "gravely creek" referring to the small gravely
creek that runs through the area.
In 1847, the General Assembly
authorized the County Court to borrow $50,000 to macadamize all
of Gravois Road. However, the general practice in road building,
until the Civil War period continued to be the "plank"
type of roadway. In some ways this type of road was superior to
the newly developed macadam surface, which was of rather soft
construction (the "steam roller" had not yet been
invented), the hope being that travel would tramp the gravel and
tar to a hard surface. However, the carriage wheels would cut
deep ruts into the roadway and there soon appeared to one side
of the right-of-way what in those days was referred to as a
"summer road," a dirt road which was passable only in
the summer months.
To Gravois Road belongs the
distinction of being the first road in the county to be treated
with a concrete surface. The experiment was made over a 6,000
foot length, extending from the St. Louis city limits at
Gardenville, to Grant’s Farm, then owned by the late August A.
Busch who paid half the cost of construction. The concrete
roadway, 16 feet wide, was laid in 1914. All work was done with
horse-drawn equipment.
Except for the state regulated
Gravois Road, all the local county roads used the
"toll-gate" system. We have already seen that earlier
roads were maintained by the farm residents along the route for
the privilege of collecting money from those traveling along the
road. To enforce payment, a log, on a pivot, was swung across
the road to prevent passage until the toll was collected.
However, such a practice was so distasteful to travelers that as
the roads became used more and more, pressure was exerted on the
county governments to maintain these roads as county (tax)
expense. In 1868, a county order was announced that the
"toll gates on the St. Charles Road, and all those roads
designated as county roads, be removed as far as the county
line, as their location constituted an injustice to countians."
Other roads began to take on
the names we know them by today. Tesson Ferry got its name from
a settler named Tesson who operated a ferry on the Meramec
River. Rock Hill Road received its name from a quarry in a
"rock-hill." MacKenzie of course was taken from the
first subdivider when he had his acreage divided and sold in 40
acre tracts. Weber Road was the road going between the Weber
Nursery Office and nursery grounds. After MacKenzie Road was
paved in 1939 other subdivisions came into being and the streets
often took the names of the farmers who had sold the tract of
land. Thus the names of early settlers have become permanent
landmarkers: Darlow, Shepperd, Neier, Vasel, Stafford, Ashwell,
to mention only a few.
As Gravois Road became more
traveled, more settlers came into the area of rich truck farms
and the need for more local businesses was evident. About 1915
Affton had several small businesses, according to Kenneth Keller
who has done quite a bit of research on Early Affton. Tony Bauer
operated a blacksmith shop on the northeast corner of Gravois
Road and the Frisco Railroad tracks. August Mehl operated
another smithy near Consul Ave. Affton also had 3 groceries
belonging to the Hummelsheims, the Schneebergers, and
Wohlschlaegers. In the Wohlschlaerger’s Store was located the
second U.S. Post Office in Affton. Meyer’s meat market was
also a favorite source of food.
Affton also claimed a feed
store at the corner of New Hampshire and Gravois (in fact, if
you remember, the old building was just torn down a few years
ago). A telegraph exchange was operated by Louis J. Keller on
Gravois Road between Brenda and MacKenzie. Affton also had a
lumberyard, a dry goods and a hardware store, a coalyard and
even an ice cream parlor.
By 1915 Affton also claimed
more churches: Eden Evangelical, Salem Lutheran, and St.
George’s Roman Catholic Church. An interesting note about the
church services at Eden was that they were conducted regularly
in German and only occasionally in English.
TOP
The
Affton of Today
As recently as 1931 Affton had only about 800 people. True,
there were many small stores and the community was developing,
but the Affton area still claimed a very small number of people,
mostly truck farmers. With the paving of more streets by the
county, subdivision after subdivision began to replace the truck
farms. With the development of a more urban population there
came the desire for an urban type of government. In the early
1930's there developed a movement to incorporate the area. As a
result of the recognized need, Affton became incorporated as a
village and employed a policeman and an assistant.
However, the little city was doomed almost before it got started
due to its inability to meet the financial responsibilities
attached to the maintenance of police, court, sanitation and the
other agencies of government. Thus, in 1935 the people of Affton
voted to disincorporate and the area has remained without a
local government ever since. Small areas within Affton have
incorporated since for the purpose of protecting their own
immediate sections. The greater part of Affton remains under the
direct supervision of St. Louis County.
In spite of the failure to meet
the needs of incorporation, the citizens recognized the need for
community action for fire protection. The Affton Civic League
and the Westbrook Fire Protective Association joined forces to
canvass the area to raise the necessary funds for fire
protection.
Through carnivals, dances and
subscriptions the group was able to raise enough money to
organize and maintain the Affton Fire Association, Inc. In April
of 1946 the people of Affton took a further step when they
elected to establish a fire protective district as set forth
under the laws of Missouri. Thanks to the work of this small but
dedicated group who recognized the need and worked toward its
realization, we today have the fine Affton Fire District.
With the disappearance of the
farms, the growth of the Affton area since 1945 is hard for
anyone to visualize. It has just sprung up all over. Now in the
21st Century most of the few remaining farms and landmarks of
the Affton of Yesteryear have disappeared. The ice cream cone,
that once stood in front of Velvet Freeze at Weber &
Gravois, was restored by the Affton Fire Department & now
stands in front of Mesnier Primary School. But even though the
visible signs of their existence may be gone, the standard and
habits they have set for us and for those of the future will
shine to keep Affton the community we have all grown to love.
The Federhofer's Bakery sign and the Phil's BBQ sign are both
recognized by St. Louis County as historic signs.
Since 1998, when facade
improvement money was available to businesses to make
improvements with the money spent by the business being matched
with grant money, many businesses along Gravois have made
improvements. In 2003 Commerce Bank built a new building and in
2004, there was a noticeable increase in new buildings, as
Pioneer Bank and Kenrick's Meat & Catering both put up new
buildings. With a TIF (tax increment financing), renovations
were started in Grasso Plaza with a St. Louis Bread Company
opening in September and a Walgreens to open at year end. With a
$1 million donation by Bill and Nancy Thompson, Affton School
District graduates, a new Commons Building was added next to the
existing the cafeteria, and thru wise investing of the funds
from a previous tax increase, the school district was able to
renovate the athletic fields and add lights to the football
field, giving the community a place to meet on Friday nights.
Residents are able to use the field when the school is not using
it. After 9/11, the residents voted a tax increase for the
Affton Fire District so they could build two new buildings and
they were completed in 2004.
In 2005, MoDOT resurfaced
Gravois Road before it became a "gravel road" again.
TOP
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