CALL TO ORDER –President John Corbett called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. at 6314 West Park, St. Louis, MO. Eight members were in attendance; Bob Corbett, John Corbett, Terri Corbett, Tom Haller, Rose Kennedy, Robert Messel, Carol Nemeth and Sally Sharamitaro, along with our guest Francine Case.
Meeting Minutes - A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the last meeting, March 14, 2015. See for March Minutes . A vote was taken, the motion passed and the minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report – Terri Corbett presented the most current treasurer’s report. The DHS had an ending bank balance as of October 1, 2015 of $24,551.15. She added that the increase in funds was due to the generous donation for the new Dogtown sign project. A motion was made and seconded to approve the treasurer’s report. A vote was taken, the motion passed and the treasurer’s report was approved.
Unknown Soldier Stone – John refreshed our memories regarding the story of the partial grave stone found by Mrs. Virginia Bohler in her backyard garden. As most of us recalled, the information available on the stone did not include the soldier’s name. To this day, despite the research done by both John and Dan McGuire, that soldier’s name remains unknown.
John now presents the plan for placing that stone onto the Dogtown Veteran’s Memorial Site, at what John calls “the perfect place”. For security purposes it will require a concrete pad as well as a plaque. With engraving the cost has been estimated at $430.00.
A motion was made and seconded to approve the costs for placing this stone encased in concrete with a plaque. The plan is for the installation ceremony to be held on Memorial Day Weekend, 2016. A vote was taken and the motion passed.
New Dogtown Sign Project - 2016 – John brought the members up to date on the status of the new Dogtown sign project planned for the garden area between Felix’s and Lehman’s. The sign is a joint project between Steve Cole, Felix’s owner, and the Dogtown Business Association and will require the collecting of approximately $20,000. John has been meeting with various artists discussing proposed designs. John will follow up.
STL 250 Cakes Project - Sponsorship – John introduced Francine Case, a local Dogtowner from the local Franz Park Neighborhood Association. Francine was given permission to give this presentation to our November DHS meeting. Francine spoke about how she had been inspired to start her own project “STL250 Cakes”, after joining a sister organization, the “St. Louis Cakelovers”. It all began with the 250 cakes that had been created for the “250 in 250” project, the yearlong 2014 celebration of the Founding of St. Louis.
As a member of the main “250 Cake Organization”, she had been involved in the collecting and auctioning of the 250 cakes, purchasing 5 of the cakes at the auction herself, for her own group.
The cakes, she reminded us, are 4 feet tall, two tiered, and made of fiberglass. Francine hoped that the DHS might want to become involved in the project. She informed the members that many of the cakes had already been purchased, including the Dogtown cake. The price per cake is $500.00 and the cost of sponsorship is $1500.00. Sets of 254 postcards are also available for $75.00, each a color photograph of those completed cakes.
Historian/Archivist – -DHS Historian Bob Corbett reported on the surprise package he received from former Dogtown resident and historian Lou Schmidt. Bob first retold the story of how he first met Lou. That he was taking a walk around Dogtown and came upon a yard sale, and that a brick pit got his attention right away. He was interested, and wanted to ask if they were Dogtown bricks.
The owner of the home was Lou Schmidt who said that he and his wife were packing up and moving from their Dogtown home to Branson in two days. The two had a lively discussion about the history of Dogtown and Bob begged Lou to lend him his two binder collection full of the research material he had been meticulously documenting. Bob was delighted to be able to take the binders to Webster University and copy the entire collection, getting them back to Lou in time. Later posting them onto his Dogtown website.
The two kept in touch, and sadly, though Lou’s wife died after a lengthy illness, he managed to gather together all of his family and Dogtown historical research for organizing and re-writing.
Bob then told how very touched he was when he received the DVD from Lou Schmidt but how he just didn’t have the energy to transfer the new text into html language which is necessary to upload it all to his website.
Please see Lou Schmidt's Beginning of Cheltenham/Dogtown
Please see Lou Schmidt's William Sublette's Death, Will and Legacy
Please see Lou Schmidt's Bill Sublette and his Cheltenham Property
Bob took this opportunity also to discuss the current state of the DHS archives and to announce his retirement as both DHS historian and DHS archivist. He then suggested that a search begin for the position of archivist as well as for another location for the DHS archives. Currently the archives are housed in his home.
There was much discussion of the location and size of the current archives, and suggestions of locations that might be available, the cost of storage and the future of the DHS website itself. John and Bob will follow up.
Bob then made a motion, which was seconded, to begin the search for a new archivist and for a new storage area for the DHS archives. A vote was taken and the motion passed.
GOOD OF THE ORDER/NEW BUSINESS –
Fund Raising Ideas - John announced that there will be a meeting with Joe Jovanovich from the Pat Connelly Tavern this coming Tuesday to discuss future DHS lectures held at his party room as fundraisers for the DHS. There was further discussion on fundraisers, as well as other options that might be available.
The meeting adjourned at 12:00 a.m. The next meeting will be February 2016 at 10:00am. An email will be sent to all list members announcing the meeting, date and location.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally Ryan Sharamitaro
Secretary
Dogtown Historical Society
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