Old Southern Hotel fire

Last updated

The old Southern Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States burned down on April 11, 1877, killing 21 people. [1] The building, located between Fourth, Fifth, Walnut and Elm, [2] was utterly destroyed by the catastrophe, leaving "jagged, smoking ruins." [1]

Two Irish-immigrant firefighters, Phelim O'Toole (of Hook and Ladder No. 3) [3] and Michael J. Hester, were credited with saving 20 lives. [1] Also, according to the St. Louis Dispatch the next morning, "A girl on Fifth Street, between Elm and Myrtle, had her dress set on fire by the falling cinders and would undoubtedly have perished had not a big German snatched off her outer dress and trampled it underfoot." [3] Among the survivors were the actress Katie Claxton, and, separately, Joseph Pulitzer. [4] Pulitzer had been staying on the third floor and he escaped "sans shirt, stockings, or anything else." [3] Amongst the dead was a vicar from Stockross, Berkshire, England, [5] an American reverend, a Masonic secretary, two female servants, and an executive of the Missouri Pacific Railway. [6]

The fire started about 1 a.m., [1] and the building may have been on fire for half an hour before the alarm was sounded. [7] it was surmised that the "immense draft of the baggage elevator" pulled the flames upwards through the building. [3] The thick smoke apparently extinguished the hotel's gas lighting so no one could see. [6]

The Southern Hotel had originally been constructed in 1865, and had reportedly cost US$1,000,000(equivalent to $19,117,391 in 2022). [3] It was a grand hotel, with some 400 guest rooms, thick brick walls inside and out, water pipes and fire hose on each floor, and an "annunciator" fire alarm. [2] A new Southern Hotel was built on the same location beginning in 1880. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Louis County, Missouri</span> County in Missouri, United States

St. Louis County is located in the eastern-central portion of Missouri. It is bounded by the City of St. Louis and the Mississippi River to the east, the Missouri River to the north, and the Meramec River to the south. At the 2020 census, the total population was 1,004,125, making it the most populous county in Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. The county is included in the St. Louis, MO–IL metropolitan statistical area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Pulitzer</span> Hungarian-American newspaper publisher (1847–1911)

Joseph Pulitzer was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World. He became a leading national figure in the Democratic Party and was elected congressman from New York.

<i>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</i> Daily newspaper in Missouri, United States

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the Belleville News-Democrat, Alton Telegraph, and Edwardsville Intelligencer. The publication has received 19 Pulitzer Prizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Burroughs School</span> Private school in Ladue, Missouri, United States; founded 1923

John Burroughs School (JBS) is a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school with 631 students in grades 7–12. Its 49-acre (200,000 m2) campus is located in Ladue, Missouri (US), a suburb of St. Louis. Founded in 1923, it is named for U.S. naturalist and philosopher John Burroughs.

Missouri's second congressional district is in the eastern portion of the state, primarily consisting of the suburbs south and west of St. Louis, including Arnold, Town and Country, Wildwood, Chesterfield, and Oakville. The district includes all of Franklin County and portions of St. Louis, St. Charles, and Warren counties. Following redistricting in 2010, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the district now included more Democratic-leaning voters than it had its 2001–2010 boundaries, but still leaned Republican as a whole. The latest U.S. Census Electorate Profile for the 2nd congressional district estimates there are 581,131 citizens of voting age living in 293,984 households. A primarily suburban district, MO-02 is the wealthiest of Missouri's congressional districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Historical Society of Missouri</span> Research facility in Columbia, Missouri

The State Historical Society of Missouri, a private membership and state funded organization, is a comprehensive research facility located in Columbia, Missouri, specializing in the preservation and study of Missouri's cultural heritage. Established in 1898 by the Missouri Press Association and made a trustee of the state in 1901, the Society is the official historical society of the state of Missouri and is located on the campus of the University of Missouri in Downtown Columbia, Missouri. The Society publishes the quarterly Missouri Historical Review, the only scholarly academic journal produced in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midtown St. Louis</span> Neighborhood of St. Louis in Missouri, United States

Midtown is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the city riverfront at the intersection of Grand and Lindell Boulevards. It is home to the campus of Saint Louis University and the Grand Center Arts District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutchtown, St. Louis</span> Neighborhood of St. Louis in Missouri, United States

Dutchtown is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It is called "Dutch" from Deutsch, i.e., "German", as it was the southern center of German-American settlement in St. Louis in the early 19th century. It was the original site of Concordia Seminary, Concordia Publishing House, Lutheran Hospital, and other German community organizations. The German Cultural Society still has its headquarters there. St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church towers over the neighborhood and is a symbol of the neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellendale, St. Louis</span> Neighborhood of St. Louis in Missouri, United States

Ellendale is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Its eastern portion is considered a part of Dogtown, which also includes four other neighborhoods north of Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gravois Park, St. Louis</span> Neighborhood of St. Louis in Missouri, United States

Gravois Park is a historic neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Roughly bounded by Jefferson Avenue, Chippewa Street, Grand Boulevard, and Cherokee Street, the Gravois Park neighborhood is a diverse mix of homeowners, renters, and businesses. The area's architecture reflects its settlement at the turn of the 20th century. The namesake park dates from 1812, and was praised for its beauty in the nineteenth century already, and in 1914 was part of a walking tour of the city meant to show off the City Plan Commission's "idealized view of the shape of the city."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Pleasant, St. Louis</span> Neighborhood of St. Louis in Missouri, United States

Mount Pleasant is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. The neighborhood's boundaries are defined by Compton Avenue on the west, the Mississippi River on the east, Meramec Street on the north, and Eichelberger Street on the south. The Mount Pleasant neighborhood is home to several landmarks, most notably St. Anthony of Padua Church and Mount Pleasant Park. Mount Pleasant Park is a major attraction to the neighborhood. It features a unique outdoor roller hockey rink in the southwest corner in addition to various standard playground equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Louis Place</span> Neighborhood of St. Louis in Missouri, United States

St. Louis Place is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It is bounded by Palm Street on the North, Cass Avenue on the South, North Florissant on the East, and North Jefferson on the West. It is home to National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's West headquarters

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millennium Hotel St. Louis</span> Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri

The Millennium Hotel St. Louis, more commonly known simply as the Millennium Hotel, is a defunct hotel complex in downtown St. Louis, Missouri that closed in 2014. The lower complex consisted of a plaza and several recreational facilities. Two towers, Millennium Hotel Tower I and Millennium Hotel Tower II, made up the hotel space. Tower I is 28 stories tall and was constructed in 1968. Tower II is 11 stories tall and was constructed in 1974. The building is adjacent to the Gateway Arch. The hotel had 780 rooms and 19 suites. It also featured a revolving restaurant called "Top of the Riverfront" on the 28th floor of Tower I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel R. Fitzpatrick</span> American cartoonist

Daniel Robert Fitzpatrick was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and an editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Dispatch from 1913 to 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chouteau Springs, Missouri</span> Unincorporated community in the US state of Missouri

Chouteau Springs is an unincorporated community in Pilot Grove Township, Cooper County, in the U.S. state of Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Hotel (St. Louis)</span>

The Southern Hotel was a historic hotel located at the corner of 4th Street and Walnut Street and stretching between 4th and 5th Streets in St. Louis, Missouri. The building was built at the location of the Old Southern Hotel which burned in 1877. This 1877 hotel fire and the loss of life that occurred here made this the worst hotel disaster in St. Louis history. The new Southern Hotel had white marble, extensive fresco work, a rotunda, and a wide promenade. The hotel was owned by Robert G. Campbell who had a close friendship with President Grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Nicholas Hotel (St. Louis)</span>

The St. Nicholas Hotel was a historic hotel located at the northwest corner of 8th Street and Locust Streets in St. Louis, Missouri. After the hotel was closed in 1905, it was turned into an office building and renamed the Victoria Building. The original St. Nicholas Hotel in St. Louis was located on 4th Street, but this building was destroyed by a fire in 1884. The fire was not a hotel fire as the building was only occupied by stores at the time. This January 4, 1884, fire is remembered as one of the most difficult for the St. Louis Fire Department as the temperature had fallen to 26 degrees below zero with ice reaching two-feet thick to the outside walls after water had been sprayed on the exterior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Hotel (St. Louis, Missouri)</span>

The National Hotel was a historic hotel located at the southwest corner of 3rd and Market Streets in St. Louis, Missouri. The hotel originally opened in 1832 as Scott's Hotel, but this building was destroyed with a new hotel building built in 1847. Other names for this hotel included the New Scott's Hotel, United States Hotel, Germania House, Atlantic Hotel, St. Clair Hotel, and Rice Hotel. The hotel was five stories high and was known as the St. Louis's most luxurious hotel at the time. The hotel was included in the federal Historic American Buildings Survey, but this did not prevent it from being demolished in 1948. Notable guests at this hotel included Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Webster, and Jefferson Davis.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 O'NEIL, TIM (April 11, 2023). "21 died, but 2 heroes emerged from a great St. Louis fire in 1877". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  2. 1 2 Tsichlis, Michael G. (April 2004). "Calamity and Glory: Phelim O'Toole, Mike Hester, and the Legacy of Heroism at the Southern Hotel Fire". Missouri Historical Review. State Historical Society of Missouri. XCVIII (3): 223–248. ISSN   0026-6582 via HathiTrust.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tragic fire reduces the Southern Hotel to embers - Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  4. Sampson, Francis Asbury; Shoemaker, Floyd Calvin (1924). Missouri Historical Review. State Historical Society of Missouri. p. 198.
  5. Club, Newbury District Field (1878). Transactions.
  6. 1 2 "The account of the burning of the Southern Hotel..." Weekly Kansas State Journal. April 19, 1877. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  7. Special Dispatch to The New-York Times (April 14, 1877). "THE SOUTHERN HOTEL FIRE". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  8. Marquis, Albert Nelson (1912). The book of St. Louisans; a biographical dictionary of leading living men of the city of St. Louis and vicinity. The St. Louis Republic. p. 20 via Yale University Libraries, HathiTrust.

38°37′27″N90°11′24″W / 38.6242°N 90.1899°W / 38.6242; -90.1899