CALL TO ORDER: – President, John Corbett, called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. at the St. James Rectory. Thirteen people were in attendance: Bob Corbett, John Corbett, Didi Gardner, Tom Haller, Henry Herbst, Rose Kennedy, Virginia Lopez, Bill Miller, Gerry Miller, Leonard Naeger, Carol Nemeth, Sally Sharamitaro and Dorothy Tarne.
A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the February 11, 2006 meeting with one correction. The sentence in question should read “Sister Marie Lee lived on Victoria in Dogtown”. A vote was taken and the minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report - Treasurer Didi Gardner gave the treasurer’s report for February 2006. The previous balance was $2,635.91. Deposits for February included donations of $118.00, Membership of $240.00, century home plaques of $100.00 and a money order written in error to DHS in the amount of $410.00. Expenses for February totaled $868.00. The ending balance for February was $3,169.81. A refund check will be written and mailed in March for $410.00.
A motion was made and seconded to approve the February 2006 treasurers report. A vote was taken and the report was approved.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Speakers Series – Sally Sharamitaro presented the Speakers Series report.
The first event in our DHS Speaker Series for 2006, “The History of the Muny Opera”, was held on Sunday, February 19, 2006 in the St. James School Cafeteria. Forty eight members and guests signed our attendance sheets.
Our speaker was Laura Peters Reilly, the Director of Marketing for the Municipal Opera Association of St. Louis (The Muny). She brought with her a slide show that traced the history of THE MUNY from its humble beginnings on that hillside in Forest Park to it’s becoming the oldest and largest outdoor theater in the country. The slide show closed with the “Cavalcade of Stars”.
Ms Reilly was a delight and well versed in the history of the Muny from the early years up to and including their most recent renovation, the Lichenstein Plaza. Our guests had many questions for her after the program and several had stories to tell about former friends and classmates who were members of the Muny chorus.
We did all we could to position the projector so that the slides could be seen by all, however, even placed on the last row of tables with several trays under it, there were some slides that guests in the back row struggled to see.
Comment Sheets
A comment sheet was circulated to the attendees and 40 guests responded as follows:
68% circled 9 or 10 (highest rating) that the presentation met their expectations.
63% circled 9 or 10 (highest rating) that they could see the presentation adequately.
A few of the written comments were:
Thank You!, You’re doing fine – I enjoy all, enjoyable, (projector) set too low, had to stand, Keep up the good work, Better if she had come to front for questions, I really enjoyed the Muny topic.
A few of the written recommendations and topics for the future were:
Early History, 1904 Worlds Fair, Railroad/Streetcar related, St. Pat’s in Dogtown, Collect pictures of families that grew up in Dogtown, Route 66.
Archives
Many thanks go out to Rose Chirraro Kennedy and retired alderman Dan McGuire for adding some “Muny” memorabilia to the Dogtown Archives. Rose donated several Muny programs from the years 1942, 1943 and 1944. Dan McGuire donated a number of items that included several books and pamphlets from the Muny.
Bob Corbett brought for display that evening, the current collection of framed photos and memorabilia that make up the Dogtown Historical Society Archives.
Autumn Eaton – Audio/Video
Autumn Eaton informed me the night of the Muny program that within two weeks she would be moving to New York. The Muny would be her last videotape for us.
She was able, however, to process our Muny video before she left and got it to me the very next day. I approved it, notified Didi Gardner, Treasurer, and she sent the DHS check to Autumn for the videotaping and supplies.
I thanked Autumn and wished her the very best of luck from all of us in the DHS. Autumn offered to contact the director of the Webster Audio/Visual Department regarding other students who might be interested in the opportunity to videotape our DHS programs. As of this date I have not been contacted by anyone from Webster University.
Thanks
Special thanks are extended to all those involved in making this event such a great success.
St. Patrick’s Parade – Fundraising – Bob Corbett reported on a mailing that he received advertising St. Patrick’s Day “trinkets”. He said a gross of beads was priced at $14.00. It may be too late for this year, but if sales were good for beads this year we might consider buying beads to sell next year.
John suggested that we plan a Speakers Series event on the History of St. Patrick’s Day in Dogtown.
Bob Corbett’s Street Data Project - Bob shared several developments regarding his Street Data Project.
Funds for the project are coming in, in response to Bob’s plea on the Dogtown list.
One of the list members, George Jones, suggested in one of his email notes that Bob take advantage of a service by the City Public Library for requesting xerox copies of certain pages of the City Directory for 25 cents a page which makes the process much quicker than transcribing each entry by hand.
Bob also wanted the members to know that more Family stories are uploaded to the website, and he encourages everyone to read and enjoy them, and if possible create a family page of their own to post onto the website.
Charles Lindberg residency in Dogtown update -- Bob shared that George Jones, a member of the Dogtown email list, is following up on the suggestion that Charles Lindberg actually resided for a time in Dogtown. Mr. Jones feels that 1926 may be the only possible date and that, alas, the stories of Lindberg’s residency in Dogtown may turn out to be just myth.
Membership Update – Henry Herbst announced that as of this date he has received dues for thirty (30) members.
JOHN CORBETT’S REPORT –
Benches along Tamm Avenue – John has done some checking for benches in the St. Louis area but found none he believes would be sturdy enough. He feels that those benches made of Plastisol that he found on the internet are our “best bet”. The benches will be green and bolted to the ground. The Plastisol benches run approximately $400.00 each.
The next step will be to contact the Street Department who will install the benches. There are already several businesses interested in having a bench installed in front of their establishment. And several DHS members have shown interest in funding a bench in memory of either their parents or a family member.
John will follow up and report at next meeting.
Tom Haller’s interview of Mrs. Rupp - Tom Haller interviewed Mrs. Rupp and was delighted that she shared several photos of her late husband as a child with two other boys, one of which is Harry Caray. The photos will be given to Bob for scanning and posting to the Dogtown Website.
A discussion followed on the various schools in the Dogtown area and their picnics and carnivals, some at St. James, others at different locations, one said to have been held at Clayton and Berthold.
It was recommended that Catherine Corbett be added to the list for future Living History interviews.
Ghost Signs - John spoke with the painter of the sign on the north wall of Seamus McDaniels, whose estimated price for the Ghost Sign project was $2300.00, with an estimated timeframe of two weeks.
Henry brought samples of the Alpen Brau logo. A discussion then followed on a possible target date for the project.
There has been a change of date for the St. James Homecoming. For 2006 it will be held in September, not in June as in past years. According to Gerry Brady Miller, it will be held on the day of the Forest Park Balloon Race. She also told the members that there will be no flea market in the gymnasium as in past years.
OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS – 2006 -
CURRENT OFFICERS OF THE DOGTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CURRENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE DOGTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Term expires 2007
Term expires 2008
Term expires 2010
NEW BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR
Speaker Series Chair Position – Rose Kennedy has indicated that she may be interested in the position.
Grant Application for digitizing – Nina Kassing Bryans and John Corbett will follow up on Dan McGuire’s suggestion to make application for a grant for digitizing the DHS archives. According to the email from Dan, the University City Library was able to get a new scanner with the grant money awarded to them.
Bob informed the members that Jimmy Venincasa from Seamus agreed to let Bob scan several of the framed photos taken down from their walls for safekeeping over the weekend of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Bob said it would be a great boon were the DHS to be given grant money to purchase a larger scanner for the larger photographs and possibly a digital camera.
Bob spoke of another project that he would love to see the grant money fund, and that is the 10 to 15 maps of Dogtown that could be scanned so that they could be made to overlap and show the changes from year to year of the various locations in the neighborhood. Bob said that Joe Light had done several old maps using that method and they were very impressive.
The meeting adjourned at 11:08 a.m. The next meeting will be Saturday, April 8, 2006, at 10:00 a.m., St James Rectory 6401 Wade Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63139
Respectfully submitted
Sally Ryan Sharamitaro
Secretary, Dogtown Historical Society
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