SUNSET HILLS - Key Persons
Adolphus Busch built the stately White House facing Hadley Hill Road known as the Mill Hill Fathers home today for his wife, Mrs. Lambert. Mrs. Lambert had 2 sons, Stanford (Casey) and Martin; both of them avidly interested in aviation. Mr. and Mrs. Busch had 1 daughter, Marie Busch Condi. When Mr. and Mrs. Busch divorced, Mrs. Busch continued to live in the house until her death. At that time it was willed to the present owners. The slopping yard behind the house made a perfect landing field for an early biplane. Casey even earned the nickname "Crazy Casey" because he continued to fly in spite of accidents. One time the Heutels saw a wing fall off and then the motor fall into an orchard, but the plane and its pilot landed safely. Another time he landed on Swantner's garage and haystack. Both brothers were friends of Charles Lindbergh and helped him in his 1927 flight. Somewhere on this property there was a big rock fence. These rocks were big, round, brown rocks and were hauled by George Winter from the quarry on Kennerly Road to the building site on Gravois.
Alwal Moore served as Marshall until the post was eliminated in 1973. The Sunset Hills Police Department came into being in April 1973. Eric Dam has been the Chief of Police who organized and molded the department into the outstanding Police Department it is today.
Andy Bowman was a half-brother of Nicholas. He was old enough to join the Union Army in the Civil War, serving in 360 battles and skirmishes with out being wounded. Nick remembered seeing U.S. Grant haul wood along Denny Road, cutting most of his cord wood from the area now Ronnie's Acres and Robyn Hills Estates. Nick was in his nineties when the Rott School dedication book was written in 1931; in it they quote several interesting stories of Grant that Nick remembered. Nicholas married Fannie Cox, who came from England when she was 6 and died at the age of 95, and they had 7 children.
Soon after the Fair another brewer became interested in this area and he really made St. Louisans aware of Sappington. August Busch bought the acreage known as Grant's Farm. Sometime before this the company, Anheuser Busch, bought land out past Georgetown; the estate known as Grandview is on a plat map belonging to them in 1909. In the DeGrendele children, Mrs. Estelle Hansen remembers Mr. Busch coming to her father and telling him that the fence wasn't strong enough to hold back the Busch animals, mainly elk. Mr. Busch put up stronger fencing around the land that butted Degrendele and Weber property to the west. Grandview was given to the county for use as a park. This was destroyed when Interstate 270 was built through the middle of the property. Grandview was the first name of the Reorganized School district, later changed to Lindbergh.
Job Titles:
- City Engineer / Director of Public Works
Job Titles:
- Director of Parks & Recreation
Job Titles:
- Planning & Zoning Assistant
About the same time the Sappington group of families were settling in the Gravois District, Captain John Long, his wife Elizabeth and their married children moved into the area. John Long was Captain of a ship that sailed between Virginia and England. While in England he fell in love with Elizabeth Bennett. She eloped with him and they were married in Philadelphia June 15, 1782. Elizabeth's father disinherited her for eloping. In 1794, they joined his brother Lawrence in Kentucky, started for Missouri in 1796, and reached Kaskaskia before the spring thaw. They had to wait for the ice to melt before they could cross the Mississippi on the ferry. Captain John Long and his brother Lawrence received Spanish Grants of land; Lawrence owned Chesterfield and John owned Bellefontaine. In 1807, the Long family moved from Bellefontaine to the Gravois District and bought Survey #9, known now as Grant's Farm. The Long's were the first white settlers to own the property. John and Elizabeth had 4 children: Isabella married James Mackey; Nancy married Eli Musick; William Lindsay married Elizabeth Sappington; John, Jr. was killed by Indians at Cap Au Gris during the War of 1812.
Charles Eime had a fine white frame house built on his 100-acre farm in 1904. The house is to be torn down for a retirement center-between old and new Gravois.
In 1927, with help from prominent St. Louisans like the Lambert brothers, Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in "The Spirit of St. Louis" aircraft. Honors poured in from all over the world. The "Watchman Advocate", a newspaper, of St. Louis County ran a contest to see who could come up with the best idea for St. Louis County to honor Lindbergh. John J. Rott won the contest by suggesting that they make a highway completely around the city- county and call it Lindbergh Boulevard. This idea was accepted. Using Sappington Barracks Road, the road that led from Jefferson Barracks to Sappington; and Denny Road that led from Georgetown north past the Denny home in Ladue, Lindbergh Boulevard was completed in1931. An interesting sidelight is the story of how the Service Station came to be at Robyn and Lindbergh. It seems Mr. Meyer across the street paid someone surveying for the highway not to use his land. This took Mr. Westup's entire front yard. Mr. Westrup in turn used the rock discarded by the highway department to build a service station across from Mr. Meyer. This is a Fina Station today but it was formerly a Standard station ran by My.
Colonel Phillip Pipkin bought the David Fine Property in 1836, and built a lovely home on Southwick Drive off East Concord Road. This house had a tunnel leading from the basement for several miles. There has been much speculation as to what the tunnel was used for but we shall never know unless a diary or other record turns up somewhere. In the meantime, it is fun to dream up your own idea for its uses. Today it is boarded up, of course, because the ground has been subdivided. The flagstones leading to the patio of the old Pipkin house are interesting. It seems that the owners after the Pipkin family didn't like a family cemetery standing in their orchard; they took out the headstones and used them to lay a walk around the house.
Germans escaping tyranny of their homeland came to America in the 1830's. Many of them came to Missouri, drawn here by the beautiful descriptions of the land found in a book written by a German named Durin who had visited here. He spoke of how the Meramec Valley resembled the Rhine Valley. This book was published in Germany and was evidently fairly well read. Families with names like Rott, Theiss, Crecelius, Wohlschlager, Werner, Mueller, VonTalge, Mehl, Ochs, Schmidt, Happel, Wolf and Schneider filled the South County area.
At the corner of the Watson Road and Denny Road (Lindbergh Blvd.) stands the home built by D.C. Schultz in 1913. The family entertained lavishly and often. Many of the older citizens speak of the grand parties given by the Schultz family.
Job Titles:
- Public Works Superintendent
Business for the area in the mid-1800's was centered in Georgetown. The area around Gravois Road, Sappington Road, and Denny Road. George Sappington ran a black smith shop and owned a large portion of the land; the business district took his name. A commission house was on the corner of Sapppington Barracks Road and Gravois, ran by a man named Tautphaeus. This is where the farmers would bring their produce, sell it to the commissioner, who in turn would sell it to the grocer in other words a wholesaler. East on Gravois there was Heim's Inn, later Sappington Inn was located in the triangle of Denny, Gravois, and Sappington. These were half-way houses. The traveler to St. Louis could come in this far from out-of-state by evening. He would feed and quarter his horses, have a good meal and night's lodging for himself. By morning he would go into St. Louis conduct his business, and be able to get back to the Inn by the next evening. Again he would spend the night and get an early start for home the next morning.
Job Titles:
- Director of Parks & Recreation
J. E. J. Frederick owned 40 acres of valley land along Brush Creek. There was a spring on the property. The white frame house still standing today was used as a gristmill and home. In front of the structure was the room for grinding grain. A mule was used to turn the wheel. The miller was paid a certain percent of the flour he ground, usually 10% and he was then free to sell it or use it. By farming and milling the family always had enough food. Five boys from the family attended the log cabin school. They were Martin, Harry, William and Charles. Martin born in 1858, took over the farm and mill on Watson. Carl or Charles had a farm on Mentz Road; William lived in Oakville; Harry moved away.
Martin married a girl named Catherine. They had 5 children. After Catherine died Martin married Mary Weber Chastine, sister of Karl and Martin. Mary had 1child before she married Martin. Martin and Mary had 4 children. Henry and Charlotte Frederick live on the working farm today at 13126 West Watson Road.
Just to the west on Hadley Hill Road is the home originally built for Mrs. Hadley's mother. Jacqueline Busch Jones married Willis Hadley and lives to the west in the estate down the hill that bears their name. Mr. Hadley was one of the first Aldermen of Sunset Hills.
James Mackay and his wife, Iasbella Long, bought land granted to Hugh Graham under the Spanish. This is now Grantwood and Forest Haven. James Mackey was quite an all around man. He had explored the Missouri River in 1793, and drew the maps for Lewis and Clark; in 1804, he was Judge for the St. Louis region (which covered land from St. Louis west through all Louisiana Territory); he served in the Territorial Assembly of 1816. A big greystone house called "Mansion House" stood close to the St. Louis Bridge on Gravois and Grant Road; when he died in 1860 he left it to his wife and son, Xeno Mackay.
Judge Joseph Sale bought farmland along the Gravois and Watson Roads from Gabriel Cerre in the early 1800's. His family home and cemetery were located across from Lindbergh High School at Stevenson Drive. Judge Sale was one of the founders of Concord Baptist Church. The Sale family farmed the rich bottomland all through the 1800's, and even today a small section of the territory is still owned by Sale estate. This is the property so rich in Indian artifacts along Old Gravois Road. Supposedly, his cemetery is also on a burial mound. There are only a few remnants of tombstones to be found of the Sale family cemetery on Stevenson.
Job Titles:
- Athletics Recreation Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Grounds & Facilities Manager
The Louis Rott home on West Watson by South County Technical High School was built in the 1840's. In the1950's Mrs. Edmund of Edmund's Restaurant owned this; her restoration of the home made the Rotogravure in 1952. There was an outside oven and a winery as well as a smoke house in the backyard. The house is built of frame and limestone, quarried across the street behind Murphy's. The beams inside are white oak.
Mayor Alex Kitun served until 1965, when he resigned because his business transferred him. A Special Election was held and Arthur DeGrand was elected Mayor. He was re-elected in 1966. Joseph Redel served as Mayor from 1968 to 1974. Arthur was elected in 1974 and 1976. Robert Schuetz has been City Collector since 1960. George D. Pittman, Jr. has been Municipal Court Judge from 1962 through 1976.
Nancy Long and her husband, Eli Musick, had a farm on Musick Road and are remembered for having help found Concord Baptist Church on Baptist Church Road in 1809.
Oswald Sturdy settled his family on land along the Watson Road in Crestwood. The 110-year-old house was torn down to make way for the subdivision known as Sturdy Estates. However, the family cemetery was preserved on the north side of East Watson Road at Gayle. It must have someone buried there every 25 years to keep it a functioning cemetery. Here you will find "the first St. Louis policeman killed in the line of duty, 1875," according to the head stone.
Job Titles:
- Public Works Building Inspector
Public Works Building Inspector Scott Reed has been with the city since November of 2002. Scott is married and a father who enjoys home improvement and architecture, antique car restoration and riding motorcycle on and off road. With the whole world as his "buddy," Scott implements the city's Occupancy Permit Program, enforces city code and helps in other areas of inspection in the city.
Thomas Eddie was a Scotsman that came to St. Louis seeking adventure. He would eventually settle in Sunset Hills and Crestwood, but in 1823, he joined a great adventuresome group heading west to seek their fortune in furs. Early historians labeled the group the Seven Trappers. This group was headed General Ashby and in it were Jim Bridger, John Coulter, the Sublette Brothers, Bill Gordon and Thomas Eddie. Among other things, this group discovered the Great Salt Lake. Eddie returned to St. Louis in 1829, and bought the Green Tree Tavern with money made from his furs he trapped. He married Margaret Clark Campbell, October 27,1833. It was rumored that he traded his store bought boots for the parcel of land in southwest Crestwood and East Sunset Hills. Since his plantation was on the East Side of the trail and Jonah Parke's plantation was on the West Side of the trail the street came to be known as Eddie and Parke Road (the Parke spelling has been changed to Park today). Eddie Cemetery remains in the Eddie family, the gravestones of early 1800's are lovely examples of that time.
Job Titles:
- Aquatics Recreation Supervisor
William Lindsay Long married Elizabeth Sappington in 1808, and is supposed to have built the home White Haven for his bride. In 1821, Colonel Ferderick Dent bought the land called "White Haven" now the home of Mr. Albert Wenzlich. In 1818, Long bought Survey #373 and laid out the town of Fenton, named for his mother's mother. The family lived their 2 years and then moved back to the Gravois District. He built a log home on Pardee and Garber Roads. This home had now been purchased by the City of Crestwood for restoration. William ran a grist mill on the property. He was also appointed Post Master to Sappington in 1827. He died in 1849, of Cholera. William and Elizabeth had 12 children.
Gravois Road was an on a map in 1804, as the road that led to Clamorgan's spring. William Lindsay Long, surveyor, had laid out the town of Fenton in 1818. The first families of Fenton were named Long, Herbert, Vandover, Sigler, Bowles, Rudder and Ferris. Sam Vandover bought land on both sides of the river so that he could run a ferry at Fenton in 1833. The ferry landing was at the foot of Ferry Street. By 1854, a covered toll bridge was erected at the ferry site. By 1833, the people of Fenton were beginning to get a little worried about the growing settlement down river by Boli's Ford and petitioned the City of St. Louis to run Gravois Road through the town of Fenton instead of downstream. This was passed by the highway board and Gravois Road moved north to about where the old Gravois is today. The road has been used as a covered wagon trail, a farm to market road and a cattle trail as well as stage line. It has the distinction of being the first county road to be paved in the entire state, done in 1914. Gravois Road was very important to the growth of the area.
Zephaniah Sappington's home seems to be the oldest. This is the John Dressel property on Gravois. Begun in 1805, chimney built in 1811, the house was finished in 1815. There was another house that was larger than this 1 on the same farm. Resin Sappington ran a grist mill from that house and his brother Jack had a tannery of 45 vats on the same property. There was a spring house, smoke house, slave cabin and a big barn. When Southwoods Apartments were built, the barn was torn down. The old mill stone used in the grist mill was moved into Mr. Dressel's beautiful garden and may still be seen today. The Sappington House maintained by the City of Crestwood is the Thomas Sappington home, completed in 1815. Thomas Sappington and Mary Ann Kincaid obtained the first marriage license issued in the region in 1807 and the house was started. It was built by slaves. The Joseph Sappington home off Baptist Church Road owned by the Lubbock family might have built as early as 1805. Mark Sappington's home, called the Arban house on Old Sappington at 366 was built in 1845. The 17 children all married.