MINUTES OF THE DOGTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

January 10, 2004

CALL TO ORDER

Dogtown Historical Society meeting was held on January 10, 2004 at St. James The Greater Rectory.
President Nina Bryans called the meeting of The Dogtown Historical Society (DHS) to order at 10:08 a.m. at the St. James Rectory. Seven people were in attendance: Nina Bryans, Bob Corbett, Henry Herbst, Rose Kennedy, Tom Lenartson, Virginia Lopez, Bill and Gerry Miller, Sally Sharamitaro, and Kelli Vincent.

MINUTES were read by Virginia Lopez and approved.

TREASURER’S REPORT -- No Report

GENERAL BUSINESS

1. Speakers Series – The next lecture of the DHS Speakers Series will be on the “1904 World’s Fair” in the St. James Cafeteria on January 18 at 7:00 p.m. Elaine Lopez of the 1904 World’s Fair Society will be the speaker. Flyers have been sent out to new and renewed member and past Attendees, as well as Father Johnson. The Press Release was sent to approximately 35 clubs and newspapers. We need POCs for Forest Park S.W. Community League, HiPoint Neighborhood Association, Tamm Clayton Association, and Dogtown Merchants Association. Bill Miller will check this out. Autumn Eaten has been contracted to videotape the presentation. Duke McVey has donated $200.00 to underwrite the presentation to honor the memory of the McVey families that have lived in Dogtown. Ed Cody has supplied the waivers for videotaping the speaker.
   
   
2. Membership Drive Henry Herbst reported a good response to the DHS membership drive. There are 14 new members and 52 renewals so far for 2004. Nina said that she would send Thank You notes to the 66 members.
   
   
3. Century Homes Bob Corbett showed the Century Home logo recommended by the committee. Bob moved and Bill Miller seconded that the logo be accepted for the Century Home plaque. Motion carried. The committee will now proceed to send letters to the residents of the century homes. Nina will contact John Corbett and ask him to order 500 sheets of stationary for this project.
   
   
4. Marketing Ideas
   
   Nina reported that John Corbett has contacted the printer who made the tee shirts last year for St. Patrick’s Day. Bob Corbett suggested that we order 125 green shirts with white lettering of various sizes and charge $15 per shirt. It was also suggested that children’s sizes also be ordered. Suggested prices ranged from $10 to $15 for the children’s’ shirts.
   
   Henry Herbst presented a number of ideas for marketing DHS. He suggested that we develop a tri-fold brochure that can be used for various occasions and placed in local business. Nina said that she would address that issue. Henry was extremely enthusiastic about having a Dogtown Calendar with a starting date on March 17 2005 to March 17 2006. The calendar would contain Dogtown pictures of old businesses, sports teams, class pictures, etc. Included during the days of the month would be important dates relating to the history of Dogtown. He suggested that we could possibly sell ads to off set the cost.
   
   Henry also suggested other specialty advertising items such as enamel pins, hats, pens, stationary, and tote bags. Specialty items could be sold at St. James Homecoming, St. Patrick’s Day, Dogtown Days, etc. There was also a discussion of a Dogtown Quilt to be raffled on St. Patrick’s Day. Bob Corbett stated that we would not be able to advertise on our Web Site as it is under the auspicious of Webster University.
   
   
5. Special Event -- Civil War Days in Cheltenham Nina reported that John Corbett contacted Emmet Taylor on January 5 and all dates and events from the last meeting minutes are confirmed. John will contact Father Johnson to get permission for the reenactors to attend Sunday mass in uniform. John has contacted Bill Kennebeck for use of the hall. He will confirm with Bill on the dates. Bill Kennebeck has volunteered to build a hitching post for the horses outside of St. James. Tom Lenartson mentioned that Emmet Taylor said there was a chaplain amongst the actors and possibly he could give the homily at mass. Bob will meet with Alderman Tom Bauer to secure the necessary permits in a timely fashion. Next committee meeting will be the second week in February. Date to be announced.
   
   
6. Dogtown Web Site Has now been updated with current activities.
   
   
7. Other Business
   
   
   1. Donations Bill Vorbeck has donated some great pictures for the Web Site and the DHS Achieves. They include “The Giant Wheel” from the 2004 New Year’s Celebration, The Grand Basin, Art Hill, and the statue of St. Louis.
      
      
   2. Board Resignation Bill Vorbeck has sent a letter of resignation from the Board due to his wife’s failing health.
      
      
   3. Nomination Committee Bob Corbett has joined Nina on the Nominations Committee. They will be soliciting nominations for the March slate.
      
      
   4. Other Business
      
      Nina appointed Tom Lenartsom as DHS liaison with the Dogtown Merchants Association.
      
      Bob Corbett showed the group a book, “Letters from Dogtown,” that he had received. Margaret Gierer Buccat and Patricia Gierer Mills, granddaughters of the Helen Schwetizen, compiled the letters that Helen wrote to her daughter Alice during the 1940s. Bob cited many names and events that were familiar to us from the book. We hope to obtain a copy for our achieves.
      
      Bob also mentioned that he would be helping Julie Duane with a book of poetry in the near future. Many of our members were interested in having a copy.

Meeting adjourned 11:40 am

Next meeting will be February 14, 2004 at 10:00 a.m., St. James The Greater Rectory, 6401 Wade Avenue entrance.

Virginia Lopez
Secretary
Dogtown Historical Society