Bellefontaine Cemetery, St Louis, MO – 17 SEP 2011

It started as “Rural Cemetery Association” in 1849 with 138 acres including the Hempstead family farm and graveyard, but was soon changed to Bellefontaine after the old military Fort Belle Fontaine which had been located near by. 

In June of that year a horrendous cholera epidemic hit, claiming the lives of 10% of the City’s population by August. 

Three additional land acquisitions brought the size up to 314 acres by 1900.

I giggled at this name...my word association to blow was suck...a word that is both an antonym (as in exhale) and a synonym when you add 's' (as in bad luck).

Henry T. Blow (1817-1875)

The Blow family was prestigious...Henry was minister to Brazil during President Grant's term. He was the owner of the famous slave, Dred Scott. His daughter, Susan Blow (1843-1916) founded the first public kindergarten in the U.S.
Link to Susan Blow History

Charlotte Taylor Blow Charless, whose creation has been serving St. Louis for 158 years. It started as a home for indigent women, it is now housing for men and women.

James E. Yeatman (1818-1901) 

A St. Louis banker who served as the first president of Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Captain Isaiah Sellers (1802-1864)

He piloted steamboats on the Mississippi between St. Louis and New Orleans for over 40 years. The first man to use the pseudonym, "Mark Twain" it was after his death that Samuel Clemens adopted the name.

Yes, the above crypt that looks like a cathedral, is the Adolphus Busch of Anheuser-Busch beer industry. Inside:

And the other family:

Eberhard Anheuser had been a soap and candle maker who moved to America in 1842. He took over the Bavarian Brewery Company in 1853, changing it to Eberhard Anheuser and Company. In 1861, his daughter, Lily, married Adolphus Busch, a brewery supply salesman. Actually, it was a double wedding, two sisters marring two brothers. Adolphus joined his father-in-laws' business and in 1879 it became Anheuser-Busch.

Two and a half weeks after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Confederate Captain Given Campbell was in charge of escorting Jefferson Davis to safety. They were captured at Irwinsville, GA on May 10,1865.

Kate Bennett was regarded as the most beautiful woman in St. Louis when she died suddenly at the age of 37. Her very white complexion was the envy of many...turns out, her beauty secret was arsenic.  It gave her the desired paleness; however, she didn't know it was a cumulative poison. 

Kate Brewington Bennett (1818-1855)

Her elaborate Gothic canopy made of white marble, was once considered the finest memorial in the cemetery. Below is a close-up of the top:

Brigadier General Richard Barnes Mason (1797-1850)

General Mason was the first military and civil governor of California. The same man, John Struthers, who designed the marble sarcophagus for George Washington, created his brown freestone memorial.

George R. Taylor (1819-1880) 

A prominent businessman, his red granite tomb was designed by George I. Barnett, the country’s first licensed architect who designed more than 2,500 building in St. Louis.

Chris Von der Ahe (1851-1913)

He once owned St. Louis’ first baseball team, the St. Louis Browns. His statue was created by a relative in Germany and was erected long before he died. While living, he had the year of his death inscribed on his monument…it tuned out to be correct.

Anton Griesedieck (1829-1895)

His family once owned three breweries in the St Louis area: Griesedieck Brothers Brewery, Griesedieck Western Brewery Co (Stag beer) and Flastaff Brewing Corp.

A little boy and his twin brothers:

In the 1800's children under the age of five were outfitted in dresses.

Inside:

Inside:

Inside:

Egyptian style mausoleum built in 1907 by Frank N. Tate, who controlled most of the theater property in St. Louis:

Inside:

Below it look like a copy of President Arthur's grave:

Link to President Artur's Grave

(Sidney Rowland Francis 1857-1893)

Sidney Francis was a successful trader in grain and produce, building a large fortune, his brother was Missouri Governor David R. Francis.

David Rowland Francis (1850-1927)

Elected Mayor in1885, Governor of the State in 1889, Secretary of the Interior in 1896 and Ambassador to Imperial Russia in 1916.

Below the Taj Mahal of St. Louis, listed in 1970 on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Designed by Louis Sullivan, in 1892, who had just completed the worlds first skyscraper. Ellis Wainwright, a brewery millionaire, commissioned the tomb for his beautiful young wife, Charlotte Dickson Wainwright. 

Above and below, the Lemp family tomb: 

The Lemps were German immigrants who became one of St. Louis’ first families, making their fortune in beer. In 1897 William Lemp’s daughter, Hilda, married Gustav Pabst of the noted Milwaukee brewing family. 

Even with grandfather’s millions, the family was filled with tragedy…one grandson dies mysteriously, then his father (the son) commits suicide. Over the years, two more grandsons and a great-granddaughter all commit suicide…only one grandson dies of natural causes at the age of ninety.

 Just as I'm leaving I find this enclosed statue:

Herman Luyties (1871-1921)

A drug store owner. During the early 1900s, he meets a voluptuous model and falls in love. She refuses his proposal; heartbroken, he commissioned a sculptor to render a 12-foot marble statue of her. After several years in his mansion, he moves the several-ton statue to the family burial plot…when weather began to deteriorate it, he has it enclosed in a glass-fronted case. When he dies at the age of 50, he is buried at her feet.
   

See more of my cemetery art: Merrilee Adler on Flickr