Photograph of Chestnut Street in St. Louis looking west from Fourth Street. The court house is on the left and the Planter's Hotel is on the right., This image of the Planter's Hotel matches another looking north on Fourth Street in 1872. By 1874, the hotel was renovated and expanded.
In the 1870s the great American tradition of bird's eye views became a popular way of depicting the seemingly limitless potential and growth of the great American cities. St. Louis was no exception and several documented the city's prominence in this period. Bird's eye view of the city of St. Louis from the waterfront stretching west. Important places are listed at the bottom of the view: Carondelet, Shaw's Botanical Garden, Compton Hill Reservoir, Market, Insane Asylum, Gas House, R. C. Convent, St. Louis & Iron Mt. R.R. Depot, Pacific and Missouri R.R. Depots, City Hall (Four Courts), St. James Hotel, Southern Hotel, Washington Sq., Masonic Temple, Jewish Synagogue, Laclede Hotel, Court House, Planters House, New Post Office, Missouri Republican Bldg., Missouri Park, New Post Office, St. Louis University, Odd Fellows Hall, St. Louis Life Ins Co, Union Market, New Reservoir, Mississippi Bridge, Fair Grounds, Hyde Park, St. Louis Kansas & Northern R.R., Elevator, Northern Park, Water Works. Many steamboats and much commerce can be seen in the foreground., Statement of responsibility: Sketched & Drawn on Stone by Parsons & Atwater.
20x16 in photograph of the Cracker Castle at the corner of St. Ange and Chouteau in 1870. The house was built in 1868 for Jonathan O. Pierce, who gained his wealth through the selling of hardtack during the Civil War. Within a few years, the home was sold to Fidelio C. Sharp, a lawyer and partner in the firm of Sharp & Broadhead.
Front Page of Frank Leslie's Illustrirte Zeitung from the 13th of July, 1872, depicting a concert hall and its auditorium where a singing festival was held. The caption below the auditorium specifically mentions the reception concert. The illustrations were done by Joseph Ferdinand Keppler. The text is from "Herrn Mahlhuber's Reiseabenteuer" by Friedrich Gestäcker (Gestaecker).
Illustration of St. Louis levee along North Market Street. Steamboats docked in foreground. Warehouses visible behind steamboats. Manufacturing and office buildings visible in background.
A political cartoon featured on the front page of Frank Leslie's Illustrated newspaper, published on January 8,1876. The cartoon depicts the formal discharge of special prosecutor General John Brooks Henderson from the case involving the indictment of General Orville E. Babcock. General Babcock served as private secretary under President Ulysses S. Grant from 1869-1877 and during that time was accused of and indicted for his alleged involvement in the political scandal known as the Great Whiskey Ring. Babcock was acquitted of the charges brought against him after a defense provided by President Grant.
16x20 in photograph of the first public high school in St. Louis at the corner of Fifteenth Street and Olive Street in 1870. The building was built in 1855 in the Lucas Place neighborhood.
In the 1870s the great American tradition of bird's eye views became a popular way of depicting the seemingly limitless potential and growth of the great American cities. St. Louis was no exception and several documented the city's prominence in this period. This view is not drawn to scale, but does include an index to points of interest and two inset illustrations, of the "view of bridge from East St. Louis" and the "entrance to tunnel from Union Station."
Index: 1. U. Depot; 2. Four Courts; 3. Ent. Tunnel; 4. Post Office; 5. Court House; 6. Chamber of Commerce; 7. Genl. Office ST L. K.C.&N. RY.; 8. MO. Park; 9. Lafayette Pk.; 10. Shaws Gard; 11. Forest Pk.; 12. Fair Grounds; 13. North Park; 14. Bellefontain Cemetery; 15. Water Works, Statement of responsibility: Entered according to an Act of Congress in the year 1870, by C. K. Lord, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
Emil Boehl was a St. Louis photographer who primarily focused his camera on St. Louis streets, buildings, and locales. Born in Calvoerde, Germany, in 1839, Boehl immigrated to St. Louis in 1854. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Boehl returned to St. Louis in 1864 and opened a photography studio with Lawrence Koenig that spring. With Koenig focusing on portraiture, Boehl became one of the most prolific St. Louis scenic photographers active in the latter half of the 19th Century. The Boehl/Koenig partnership lasted until 1897. Boehl retired from photography in 1919 and died later that year on the 12th of December.
The Emil Boehl Collection consists of three series. The collection contains images dating from 1850 to ca. 1906. The collection’s archival materials include photographic prints and negatives. According to historians Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Boehl’s career was from 1864 to 1919, and he was known to sell prints of Thomas Easterly’s daguerreotypes. In light of those facts, some dates in the Boehl Collection may be labelled incorrectly and/or some images may not be Boehl’s.
A lithograph of the interior of the Mercantile Library Hall in St. Louis, Missouri. A crowd is gathered to watch the Fourth Inter-state Collegiate Oratorical Contest. The figures on the stage stand beneath a very large pipe organ. Based on a sketch by F. J. Howell.
Photograph of the steamer MONTANA. "Carried 1000 tons Pittsburgh to St. Louis on maiden trip. Could have easily carried 500 tons more. Greats carrier on shallow water."
"Built at California, Pennsylvania in 1879 of finest Pennsylvania oak. Some of the fine boards were 60 feet long. She was extreme shallow draft - 7" forward - 11" amid ship and 14" on the stern when light. On her maiden trip - Pittsburgh to St. Louis - she brought around 1000 tons and carried it with the greatest ease. She could have easily carried 500 tons more. The Montana, Dacotah and Wyoming were sister boats. The Wyoming was slightly larger in tonnage. Each of these great boats went to Fort Benton, Montana in the Mountain trade, but the came to late to reap the golden harvest in that trade. They were to big for the upper Missouri and the wind up in the country made them very difficult to handle. When they came down they never went back again. The wreck of the Montana lies at the St. Charles bridge. These hulls were as fine as any ever built, and those skilled ship carpenters did it all without any blueprints as sternwheel boats go they ranked as the finest."
20x16 in photograph labeled "Old Jail 6th + Chestnut. 1870." The picture is of a two story building with different facades on each floor. The second floor appears to be older as it is made of large limestone blocks and has narrow windows. The first floor is covered in brick and has larger windows. It is topped by a cornice supported by brick corbels.
This lithograph illustrated the destruction of the steamboats "Grand Republic" and "Carondelet" from September 19, 1877 when the steamboats caught fire and burned to the shore. The boats were shown shrouded in smoke and engulfed in flames as men rushed back and forth along the shore in an attempt to extinguish the fire.