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ST. LOUIS' OLD COURTHOUSE STOOD VIGIL OVER SIGNIFICANT U.S. EVENTS
The Old Courthouse is probably the most misunderstood attraction in St. Louis. Many visitors mistake it for a state capitol building which it is not and never was. With the Courthouse's imposing dome and stately appearance, it's an easy mistake.
And many visitors, captivated by the sweeping shape of the awesome Gateway Arch, just overlook it.
It's too bad because the Old Courthouse is an attraction worthy of its own spotlight. For more than 150 years, the courthouse has stood in silent vigil over some of our country's most significant events.
In fact, it was the scene of one of the most significant court cases ever heard in this country - the Dred Scott case. It was, some experts say, that case and the ultimate Supreme Court decision in that case which led to the Civil War.
Scott was born into slavery in Virginia around 1799 as property of the Blow family. In 1830, the Blows moved to St. Louis where, because of Blows' financial woes, Scott was sold to Dr. John Emerson, a military surgeon stationed at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis. Emerson took Scott to forts in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory where the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery. When Scott met Harriet Robinson, another slave, Emerson allowed them to marry and bought Harriett so the two could stay together. After Emerson himself married, the Scotts returned with him and his wife to St. Louis. Emerson died the next year, and his widow hired the Scotts out to other households.
In 1846, the Scotts sued for their freedom at St. Louis' courthouse - the building known today as the Old Courthouse. Freedom suits were not unusual in St. Louis at that time and most were brought with the same grounds - that previous residence in a free territory entitled the slave to be freed. And it was not unusual at that time for the plaintiffs to win their suits. The Scotts' first suit was not brought to a conclusion due to a legal technicality, and a second trial was held. The Scotts, who were backed financially in their quest by the Blow family, Dred Scott's original owner, won the 1850 suit.
However, Mrs. Emerson won a reversal of that decision on an appeal to the Missouri State Supreme Court. It is thought the changing political climate, with slavery becoming a divisive issue, was at the root of the reversal of the original decision.
Four years later, Scott filed another suit in St. Louis federal court. This time it was against John F. A. Sanford, Mrs. Emerson's brother and executor of the Emerson estate. The case wound up in federal court because Sanford lived in New York. That suit was heard not at the Old Courthouse but in the Papin Building near where the north leg of the Gateway Arch is today.
Sanford won the suit, but Scott appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court, which in 1857 decided Scott was still a slave. The court also ruled that Scott was not a citizen, that he had never been free and that he had no right to bring suit in federal courts on any matter. The decision said the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and the federal government had no right to prohibit slavery in new territories and helped to split the nation on the question of slavery and move the country toward war.
In an ironic twist of fate, Mrs. Emerson married Calvin C. Chaffee, a northern congressman opposed to slavery, in 1850. Following the final court decision, Chaffee gave Scott to the Blows who gave him his freedom in May of 1857.
Tragically, Scott's life as a free man was short-lived - and he did not live to see the war the court decision in his case helped to hasten. He died in September of 1858 and was buried in St. Louis. In the 1860s Scott's remains were moved to Calvary Cemetery where visitors can view his grave today.
The Old Courthouse was also the scene of another case significant in American history but with less dramatic results. In 1872, Suffragist Virginia Louisa Minor sued for the right to vote. She lost.
Through the years since the original structure was built, the courthouse was a meeting place and a venue for public forum, political speeches and debates on current issues. Here are some of the events the Old Courthouse has seen:
Emigrants headed for Oregon rendezvoused and organized at the Old Courthouse before setting out in their wagon trains.
Rallies for volunteers when the war with Mexico began were held here, and troops were quartered in the rotunda.
Slave owners gathered in the Rotunda in 1846 to demand "protection of slave property against the evil designs of Abolitionists and others."
St. Louis residents met here to discuss relief for famine victims in Ireland in 1846.
Sen. Thomas Hart Benton made an impassioned plea in the courthouse rotunda in 1849 for establishment of a transcontinental railroad here.
Ulysses S. Grant freed his only slave at the courthouse in 1859.
The last slave auction was held on the courthouse steps as part of a property settlement in 1861 after an anti-slavery crowd refused to bid on human beings.
During the Civil War, rallies to recruit soldiers were held at the Old Courthouse, and a special ceremony was held to honor President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination.
In 1878 Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant, bought the St. Louis Dispatch and the Evening Post on the steps of the Old Courthouse. He later merged them into the St. Louis Post-Dispatch beginning a powerful newspaper empire.
In 1887, a reception was held at the Courthouse for President Grover Cleveland.
With a history as long as the Old Courthouse, is it any wonder that a number of myths surround the venerable old building?
One myth is widely regarded at truth is that slaves were bought and sold on the courthouse steps, says Rick Ziino, supervisory National Park Service ranger at the Old Courthouse.
That's just not true, Ziino said. Slaves were not routinely traded at the courthouse, but they were sold on the courthouse steps when they were being disposed of as part of a probate action, he said.
Barred rooms in the basement are also fodder for many myths about the building. Rumor is that slaves were imprisoned there as they waited to be sold on the courthouse steps. That's another misconception, Ziino said. There are rooms with bars on them in the basement of the building but nothing more than records were stored there over the years. The bars were installed not to make a prison but to allow for air circulation of the very damp basement, he said.
Standing majestically at the eastern end of St. Louis' Gateway Mall with the beautiful Gateway Arch framing it from behind and a fountain in Kiener Plaza in the foreground, the Old Courthouse is one of St. Louis' signature landmarks. The Old Courthouse is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial which includes the Gateway Arch. The National Park Service operates the Memorial as part of the federal government's memorial to President Thomas Jefferson and the city's role as a gateway to the west.
The Courthouse has a long and interesting history. The land where the courthouse stands today was used for public purposes almost as long as St. Louis has been in existence.
In 1816, Auguste Chouteau, one of St. Louis' founding fathers and J. B. C. Lucas, another civic leader, donated the land where the Old Courthouse stands today for use as a public square "on the condition that the ground should be used forever as the site on which the Courthouse of the county of St. Louis should be erected." Prior to that, a Baptist church, a tavern and the commandant's house in the city's old Spanish fort was home to the courts.
Construction was begun on the first courthouse, a building in the federal design, in 1826. Two years later, the building was completed. Construction on the existing Greek Revival style building was begun in 1839. When the rotunda and the west wing were opened in 1845, the building soon became the gathering place for public forums. Debates were staged in the building on the escalating tensions between North and South and later the problems of new immigration.
In 1852, the original courthouse was demolished to make way for a new east wing and seven years later construction began on the cast and wrought iron dome. The Italian Renaissance-style dome, modeled after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and designed by William Rumbold, was the first of its kind. Another dome, designed by Thomas Walter for the Capitol in Washington, D. C., was under construction at the same time.
When the courthouse was completed in 1862, it was soon bustling with activity. Various local criminal and probate courts were housed here as well as the Circuit Court, the Land Court and the Missouri Supreme Court.
In 1877, the city of St. Louis officially separated from St. Louis County ending the county's presence in the courthouse, and in 1930 the Old Courthouse ceased its official function when most of the courts moved to the new Civil Courts Building.
The same year the heirs of Chouteau and Lucas sued the city demanding the return of the property since, they said, it had been donated to the city with the stipulation that it be used forever as a courthouse site. The Missouri State Supreme Court ruled against them. The city deeded the building to the federal government in 1940 and the National Park Service began its restoration as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Monument.
In a lighthearted note, visitors may be interested to learn why there is a turtle in the design of the fence surrounding the Old Courthouse. The metal turtle commemorates a real one that used to reside in a fountain there. And why would anyone take pains to immortalize the amphibian? Because it was once hailed by wags of the time as the only thing connected with the building which did not require taxpayer's money.
Visitors to the Old Courthouse today can view "Gateway to the West," a film which traces St. Louis' history from its origin as a fur-trading post to its development as a center of commerce. They can learn more about St. Louis' past in the four rooms that make up the St. Louis History Galleries, view the stately rotunda which once drew large audiences to the debates and orations that were held there and visit the restored courtrooms on the second floor.
An unusual iron spiral staircase, built in 1854, climbs from the basement to the third floor where visitors can get a closer look at Charles Wimar's four historic murals on the rotunda ceiling.
And, one of the best secrets in town is the gift shop at the Old Courthouse. Tucked into one of the building's alcoves, the shop features interesting books on St. Louis history and the opening of the West as well as St. Louis souvenirs and items relating to 19th century history.
Each year the Old Courthouse is the site of an observance of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday in January and various events celebrating Black History Month in February.
The building is decked out in Victorian décor and charm for an old-fashioned Fourth of July and for the holidays in December.
With the Courthouse steeped in fascinating history and all of the special events held there, why do people overlook it when they visit St. Louis?
Ziino is philosophical about that question. "The Old Courthouse is just one of those things you don't think about," he said. Some would say that's too bad.
The Old Courthouse is just one of many interesting attractions awaiting visitors to St. Louis.
MEDIA NOTE: For more information or photography of St. Louis, send an e-mail to pr@explorestlouis.com or call Becky Sharp at 1-314-992-0652. For up-to-date information about St. Louis, your readers should call the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission at 1-800-916-0040 or check out our website at www.explorestlouis.com. This news release is also available in electronic form. To obtain an electronic version, e-mail your request to pr@explorestlouis.com or go to St. Louis’ online media center at www.explorestlouis.com/media.
