Lenore K. Sullivan Born 110 Years Ago Today

If you’ve spent anytime by the Arch or riverfront you’ve likely walked, biked or driven along Lenore K. Sullivan Blvd. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself who was this woman? If so, here’s your answer:

Leonor Kretzer Sullivan (August 21, 1902 in St. Louis, Missouri – September 1, 1988 in St. Louis) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri. She was a Democrat and the first woman in Congress from Missouri.

Sullivan attended Washington University in St. Louis and was a teacher and director at St. Louis Comptometer school. She was married to John B. Sullivan, who served four terms in Congress, and she served as his administrative aide. Following her husband’s death in 1951, she served as an aide to Congressman Leonard Irving until she left to run for Congress herself in 1952. She was re-elected eleven times. In Congress, she served for many years as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus.

Sullivan helped create the food stamp program, which was opposed by Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson and became law in the 60s during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Sullivan was one of very few members of Congress, and the only woman member of Congress, to vote against the Equal Rights Amendment for women in the early 1970s.

She did not seek re-election in 1976, and was succeeded by Dick Gephardt. The former Wharf Street in front of the Gateway Arch in Downtown St. Louis was renamed Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard in her honor. (Wikipedia)

Sullivan was 49 years old when she became a widow then she served 24 years in Congress.

Here’s a quote attributed to her:

“A woman with a woman’s viewpoint is of more value when she
forgets she’s a woman and begins to act like a man.”

Her congressional bio:

SULLIVAN, Leonor Kretzer, (wife of John Berchmans Sullivan), a Representative from Missouri; born Leonor Alice Kretzer, August 21, 1902, in St. Louis, Mo.; attended public and private schools; attended Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.; teacher and director, St. Louis Comptometer School; served as administrative aide to her husband, John B. Sullivan, 1942-1951, and as secretary to United States Representative Irving of Missouri until May 1952, when she resigned to campaign for congressional nomination; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-third and to the eleven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1953-January 3, 1977); chair, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries (Ninety-third and Ninety-fourth Congresses); was not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-fifth Congress in 1976; died on September 1, 1988, in St. Louis, Mo.. (US Congress)

So next time you’re on Lenore K. Sullivan Blvd. you’ll know a little bit more about her. Maybe at a St. Louis themed trivia night some information here will help you team. Oh yes, 110 years ago today was her birthday.

— Steve Patterson

Fire Cleared Forest Park Highlands, St. Louis Community College Forest Park Opened 7 Years Later

The site of St. Louis Community College at Forest Park was a popular amusement park since 1896, but it came to a dramatic end 49 years ago today:

July 19, 1963: St. Louis’s most popular amusement park went up in flames as a fire of unknown origin swept through Forest Park Highlands, leaving only scorched debris.  Located just south of Forest Park on land now occupied by St. Louis Community College, the Highlands had been a favorite site for picnics since before the turn of the century.  It was a place to enjoy the roller coaster, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and fun house, with its maze of tipsy floors and disorienting mirrors. The park also had an excellent pool and a dance pavilion where, in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, leading bands performed.

Always a respectable resort, the Highlands enforced strict rules for dress and behavior. In 1913, for example, the management banned the tango, the turkey trot, the bunny hug, and the grizzly bear on grounds that these dances were “indecent, immoral, and detrimental to public morals.” The only new dance to pass the decency test that year was the hesitation waltz.   (From the book St. Louis Day By Day by Francis Hurd Stadler).

A year before the fire voters approved establishing the “Junior College District of St. Louis-St. Louis County and a board of trustees”, a 1961 Missouri law made this possible. Meramec and Florissant Valley came first with temporary facilities in 1963. The Forest Park campus on the Highlands site opened in 1970 (see STLCC history).

The carousel from the Highlands survived the fire and is located in Faust Park:

The St. Louis Carousel is home to an original carousel created by the Dentzel Company of Philadelphia in the 1920’s. The Carousel was installed in 1929 at the Forest Park Highlands. When the Highlands burned to the ground in 1963, the carousel was the only thing left standing. Howard C. Ohlendorf purchased the carousel to prevent it from being dismantled and donated it to St. Louis County Parks in 1965. The department operated it during the summer months at Sylvan Springs Park until 1980. The St. Louis County Historic Buildings Commission and Faust Cultural Heritage Foundation raised enough money to restore the carousel to its original beauty and installed it in a climate controlled building in Faust Park in 1987. (St. Louis County Parks & Recreation) 

Additional resources:

• A Look Back • A raging fire in 1963 ended 67 years of fun at the Highlands (with 15 excellent images)
• ForestParkHighlands.com — impressive resource!
• Video from KETC

I can’t help but wonder what would’ve become of the Highlands had it not been destroyed by fire. Would it still be open and popular? Would it have died a slow death?

— Steve Patterson

Where’s The African American Cultural Center?

Located in University City and St. Louis, the Delmar Loop is a vibrant street. New venues have been added like The Pagent, Pin-Up Bowl, Moonrise, Regional Arts Commission and the St. Louis African American Cultural Center.  As of last Saturday the Visit the Loop website says the latter is “opening in 2011”:

It’s 2012 and the center is not open and nothing appears to be happening at the proposed site, the project was proposed in 2006.

In 2011 the project DeclareItArt.com posted the following on the wall and online:

This piece is designed to serve as a metaphor for the innumerable empty promises laid at the feet of a once-subjugated minority. In building this non-building, a wooden barrier with a large, ostentatious sign reading “African American Cultural Center,” the artist references an uncomfortable truth.Not unlike the post-emancipation pledge of 40 acres and a mule, this work evokes the United States’ propensity to trade actual product or progress for the emptiness of ‘good intentions.’The wall, complete with a quintessentially multicultural mural, satirically espouses a commitment to a Center the community is unable or unwilling to construct. A microcosm of minority race and religious relations, this piece embodies both the best and worst of “mainstream” American priorities.Other “forever-under construction” projects proposed by the artist include a “Native Americans: Here’s Colorado Back” installation and a thrilling piece that “promises” to allow the Iraqi Army to invade and “liberate” Washington D.C., with the guarantee of a meager and underpowered defense from the U.S. military.

Interesting statement.

— Steve Patterson

Lambert Field Dedicated 1930

Lambert Field, now Lambert International Airport, was dedicated on this day in 1930. At the time it was way out in the countryside.

Nearly 20 years later the impact

Within a decade air transport has become a major consideration in the planning of the urban areas. The volume of traffic, passenger, freight and express, will increase manifold during the next twenty years.

It is reasonable to assume that the developments in air transportation during the next few decades will parallel that of automobile transportation, which really started about three decades ago. St. Louis must be prepared to accept and make the most of conditions that will arise. Provision of the several types of airfields required must be on a metropolitan basis. The recently prepared Metropolitan Airport Plan proposes thirty-five airfields. (1947 Comprehensive Plan)

Thirty-five?  Because the city is so small only three of the thirty-five would be located within the city limits: two minor fields “for non-scheduled traffic, commercial uses and for training” and one private airport for, logically, private aircraft. See a diagram of all 35 airports here.

A lot has changed since 1930 and 1947. I’m traveling now by not by air, by train.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: High Density Development or Save the AAA Building

Nearly thirty-percent of the readers that voted in the poll last week felt the iconic AAA building on Lindell should be protected from demolition for “any and all development that calls for its demolition.” That’s a strong statement about the feelings for this building. I think it’s worth exploring developing only the west half the site and reusing the AAA for an ad agency or hip restaurant.

Sixty-percent think it should only be razed for a high density development. Just over five-percent selected the answer supporting a typical CVS.

Oh I’m sorry, per the CVS presentation before the Preservation Board,  the proposed CVS isn’t their prototype — it would have a tower over the entry and more brick. BFD. It, and a new AAA building, would be “beautiful”, they said.  I’ve yet to see a CVS, Walgreen’s or any other big chain pharmacy that I’d describe as beautiful…except for a few built inside an existing historic building.

On Monday June 25th “The city’s Preservation Board Monday shot down plans to demolish the round, glass-walled structure near the corner of Lindell and Vandeventer and build a new CVS drugstore on the site.” (stltoday)

Here are the poll results:

Q: AAA building on Lindell: Save, Raze or?

1. The AAA building is interesting, it should only be razed for high density mixed-use development 69 [60%]
2. The AAA building is a great asset and should be protected from any and all development that calls for its demolition 34 [29.57%]
3. The AAA building is obsolete and CVS is ready to build – raze it 6 [5.22%]
4. Other: 4 [3.48%]
5. Unsure/No Opinion 2 [1.74%]

The four “other” answers:

1. Reuse don’t destroy! Why can’t CVS use the AAA building?
2. There is no urban strategy, do we really need another chain pharmacy
3. Don’t raze the building to put something worse there.
4. Like everything else, if you can afford to buy it and tear it down, then…!

I don’t subscribe to the idea if you can buy it you can do as you damn well please. I believe in the greater good when consideration is given to a corridor, district, city and region — not just the selfish thoughts of property owners at a given point in time.

Washington University students Rasheda Bowman & Jessica Manning looked at the AAA building for a Historic Preservation and Urban Design course. I’ve seen their full report but I don’t have permission to publish it in full. They did say the following as an alternative use as a restaurant:

The structure of the building is still in very good shape as the building has been well maintained by the AAA company (its only occupant). It is possible to rehabilitate the AAA Building.

A restaurant/lounge would require minimal changes to the buildings distinctive features and require little changes to the buildings character.

Only the addition of exterior glazing and a centralized kitchen and service area would be required. This would further add to the original design intention because it would allow for more exterior views. Thus bringing more of the exterior to the interior. Furthermore additional landscaping elements, such as the addition of trees and lush gardens will further enrich the environment.

Locating the kitchen and services in the center would allow for seating all around.

This has the potential to become a popular hangout for Saint Louis University students. The issue isn’t going away since AAA owns the building but doesn’t appreciate what they have. Vanishing St. Louis has a site plan showing a CVS on the site with the AAA here. I’d like to see a multi-story building on the site with the AAA.

Happy Independence Day!

— Steve Patterson