Campbell House Museum Open For 70 Years

The Campbell House Museum at 1508 Locust Street opened 70 years ago today.

Since opening on February 6, 1943, the Campbell House Museum has served the greater St. Louis area as one of the region’s premier historic property museums.

The Museum not only preserves the Campbell’s house, but also their collection of original furniture, fixtures, paintings, objects and thousands of pages of family documents. Included in these documents is a unique album of 60 photographs of the interior of the house taken in about 1885. In 2005 the Museum completed a meticulous five-year restoration that returned the building to its opulent 1880s appearance, when the house was one of the centers of St. Louis society.

How many museums do you know that have been open for 70 years?  Like the Scott Joplin House, the Campbell House is a look at how people lived in earlier times, wealthy in this case.  Regular hours resume on March 1st, well worth a visit.

 — Steve Patterson

Readers: Name New Bridge After Stan Musial

As expected a majority of readers think we should name the new Mississippi River Bridge after baseball legend Stan Musial, but he barely got more than 50% of the vote:

Q: Name New Bridge After Dred & Harriet Scott, Stan Musial or…?

1. Stan Musial 100 [53.19%]
2. Dred & Harriet Scott 30 [15.96%]
3. Don’t name it after a person(s) 22 [11.7%]
4. Other: 13 [6.91%]
5. Sell the corporate naming rights 12 [6.38%]
6. Unsure/no opinion 7 [3.72%]
7. Wait until the bridge opens to decide 4 [2.13%]

Hardly a consensus. The other answers were:

1. Mullanphy Bridge
2. Sacagawea
3. Mounds Heritage. The footprint of the bridge on both sides are mound sites
4. geographic name
5. President Barack H. Obama
6. General Pershing
7. Andy Gammon, worker who died on the bridge (His family is hoping for this.)
8. “Taxpayers” – we’re paying for it!
9. The Gateway Bridge
10. Bob Cassilly Bridge. Love Stan, but too much emphasis on sports in stl.
11. Nikola Tesla
12. Dred Scott seems appropriate since the bridge links two areas mostly AA occupied

A couple of comments on the original post referenced the PSB (Poplar Street Bridge) being formally the Bernard F. Dickmann Bridge, named after former Mayor Dickman.

Will be interesting to see what formal name is given to the bridge and what we end up calling it over the years.

— Steve Patterson

Staying Informed And Engaged In 2013

Continuing the theme from Saturday (Political Engagement & Social Media) I want to talk more about engagement. Many people are working hard to make a difference in St. Louis, each doing their best. Some are involved in more than one effort.

Some seemed upset that last week’s City Affair panel discussion on political engagement wasn’t mentioned in the places they check, so they didn’t know about the event in advance. To help out here is how you can contact some local mainstream media:

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• KMOX
• Fox2
• KMOV (4)
• KSDK (5)
• KPLR (11)
• KDNL (30)

This may come as a complete shock, but the people who work hard to put together events like City Affair, Pecha-Kucha STL, etc. don’t actually get to dictate what ends up on mainstream media. Media outlets have consultants, market research and assignment editors that decide what to tell you about.

Here at UrbanReviewSTL.com I’m the only one responsible for what is, and isn’t, presented here. I generally don’t blog about an event before it happens, I like to attend, take a pic or two, then maybe post something about it afterwards. That’s what I did on Saturday.  That said, I do share additional information via the UrbanReviewSTL Facebook page and Twitter account. When event organizers send me ads for upcoming events I run those for free. For example: Wall Ball 2013, an fundraiser for Saint Louis City Open Studio  and Gallery.

Not on Facebook or Twitter? Sorry, I can’t call or mail you a postcard to tell you about everything going on in the city you might find of interest. Those who spend hours putting together interesting events also don’t have the time to call you. Another way to stay informed is to stop into places where much activity originates, such as St. Louis Curio Shoppe and STL-Style, both on Cherokee St. RSS is the best way to stay current with many blogs/websites, see What is RSS? to help you get started.

The biggest problem with many of these events is you’d think by those attending the city was 98% white middle class. Last week I told a couple of other gay friends how well represented gay men were at the event, females comprised at least half the crowd, that’s good. But racial minorities were very few, not remotely close to our demographics, not good at all.

Not sure why these events are overwhelmingly white.  According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project blacks use Twitter at twice the rate of whites, hispanics have a slight lead over whites too:

Several demographic groups stand out as having high rates of Twitter usage relative to their peers:

• African-Americans — Black internet users continue to use Twitter at high rates. More than one quarter of online African-Americans (28%) use Twitter, with 13% doing so on a typical day.
• Young adults — One quarter (26%) of internet users ages 18-29 use Twitter, nearly double the rate for those ages 30-49. Among the youngest internet users (those ages 18-24), fully 31% are Twitter users.
• Urban and suburban residents — Residents of urban and suburban areas are significantly more likely to use Twitter than their rural counterparts.

I suppose the fact the last tweet from the City Affair Twitter account (@CityAffair) was on October 7, 2011. Looks like they need to review this wikiHow on How to Link Tumblr to Twitter. But even once tweeting again I realize the composition of those in attendance isn’t going to change without more effort.

But it’s 2013, don’t check your postal mailbox for a newsletter.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: What Outcome Do You Want With The Rams And The Dome?

On Friday arbitrators ruled in favor of the St. Louis Rams — the CVC’s proposal was insificient to make the Edward Jones Dome a “top tier” facility. They didn’t create a new plan but favored a proposal put forth by the Rams last year:

If the CVC does not meet that plan, however, the Rams and CVC will go to a year-to-year agreement, but the team could still leave town after the 2014-15 season. (KSDK)

So now what? Many options still exist:

• The CVC could try to get city/county/state funds to rebuild the dome per the Rams proposal, though highly unlikely
• A new stadium could be built somewhere else in the region funded by taxpayers and/or the Rams
• The Rams could pack up and leave the St. Louis region in two years.

The poll question this week wants to know what outcome you’d like to see happen. I personally want to see the Rams use their own money to build a facility in the region, the site of the former Chrysler plant in Fenton is often suggested.

Why? I don’t want the Rams to leave because I don’t want to hear the moaning about us not having an NFL team, heard enough of that in the early 1990s. But I also don’t want taxpayers to foot the bill for another facility, especially since the current facility hasn’t been used for even 20 years yet.

The poll is in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson

Political Engagement & Social Media

Real action is needed to bring about change, it doesn’t happen on Facebook and blogs. That was the message at the City Affair panel discussion on political engagement held Thursday evening. Didn’t here about it? I knew because I got invited via a Facebook event (link). I posted a pic on my personal Facebook timeline when I checked into the event as well as on UrbanReviewSTL’s Facebook page and twitter account.

Yes, being on social doesn’t create change but it does a great job of making connections. But it is true, until like-minded people get tother in the same space nothing much happens. Social media also expands the awareness of an issue, increasing the likeliness of reaching enough people to ignite action.

Earlier this week an Intercontinental hotel in Egypt tweeted when it came under attack (story). Two years ago the world watched as people toppled the government of Hosni Mubarak. Tweets by themselves aren’t going to create sustained change.

But back in St. Louis I find Twitter is the simplest way to report a problem to Citizens Service Bureau (@stlcbs). Ok, it isn’t overthrowing a 30 year dictatorship but it is a citizen getting his government to respond.

The discussion of action items after Thursday’s event is taking place on…Facebook.

— Steve Patterson