MINUTES OF THE DOGTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
March 14, 2015

CALL TO ORDER – President John Corbett called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. at 6314 West Park, St. Louis, MO. Ten members were in attendance; Bob Corbett, John Corbett, Terri Corbett, Tom Haller, Rose Kennedy, Robert Messel, Bill Miller, Gerry Miller, Carol Nemeth and Sally Sharamitaro.

Meeting Minutes - A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the last meeting, October 11, 2014. A copy of the minutes is posted on the Dogtown Historical Society webpage. See http://faculty.webster.edu/corbetre/dogtown/dhs/minutes/minutes-10-14.html The motion passed and the minutes were approved. /

Treasurer’s Report – – Bob Corbett presented the most current treasurer’s report. The DHS had an ending bank balance as of February 28, 2015 of $9,398.94. A copy of the treasurer’s report is posted on the Dogtown Historical Society webpage. See http://faculty.webster.edu/corbetre/dogtown/dhs/financial/2015-feb.html 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.

Memorial Day Paver Project – John reported on the Memorial Day pavers. We need at least 10 pavers to be engraved to cover the cost of the engraving trailer used by the monument company. We have orders for 6 now, but will need at least 4 more. Discussion followed on the concept of “Donor bricks”, where someone, a friend or family member donates a brick for a deserving veteran. The pavers are a wonderful tribute to our Dogtown veterans who tend to be reluctant to put their own name forward.

Street Musicians Festival 2014 – – John announced that the 2015 Music Festival will honor Mrs. Bernice Murphy, organist (unpaid) at St. James the Greater Church for 40 years. Bob, who gives tours of the church, shared with the group that the current organist, Tony Dolce, participates also and is responsible for information about the organ as well as the selections of music performed there. At a recent tour, Tony had surprised Bob when he reported information about the organ at St. James. The original cost of the current organ was $7000.00, and that today, per Tony, would cost $400,000. Bob never knew that about the organ, and wonders how many other parishioners know about it.

Ghost Sign Project - 2015 – – John brought the members up to date on the newest Ghost Sign Project. This ghost sign is located on the Pat Connolly Tavern building. He began his report with a little history of The Pat Connolly Tavern. Pat Connolly himself opened and ran the tavern for two decades from 1942. After that, the tavern changed names and owners several times, but the good news for the neighborhood is that ownership of this favorite gathering place has been returned to the Connolly family. Theresa Connolly, daughter of Pat, and her son Joe are the current owners of the tavern. John has had conversations with them about the condition of their Ghost Sign, which is located on the Tamm Avenue side of their building and what could be done to restore it. The sign is a Griesedieck Brothers Beer Sign and has been there since the 1940s. John explained that the DHS had funded two other Ghost Signs in the neighborhood and asked if they would be interested in working with the DHS to re-do their Ghost Sign. Their answer was yes.

Lonnie Tetaton, the wonderful artist who restored the two other ghost signs in Dogtown has died, but John was lucky to locate and contact Craig Downs who painted the current wall sign located on the north outer wall of Seamus McDaniels building. Downs is no longer living in St. Louis, but told John that he is willing to travel here in April 2015 to evaluate the sign and to sign our agreement if all works well.

John also mentioned that he has spoken to the alderman for the 24th Ward, Scott Ogilvie, who said he would be willing to work with the DHS in terms of the permits necessary.

A motion was made approving the DHS to fund the reconstruction of the Griesedieck Brothers Beer Sign, located on the East wall of the Pat Connolly Tavern, 6400 Oakland, St. Louis, Missouri 63139. Funding would include the payment to the artist, Craig Downs and the rental of a large “lift” for him to stand on while doing the restoration. The motion was seconded, a vote was taken and the motion was passed.

Bob said he has plans in progress to document the archives. He recently discovered an old program that he had on his computer. He said he was disappointed that all the data he had entered years ago was gone. The program, however is there and will allow him to go back and document each of the thousands of archive items that are separate from his website. The DHS archives is a major collection of photographs, framed items, binders, films, articles, DVDs, CDs, etc., etc.

Bob then spoke about one of the collections in the archives that he says will need more than documentation. This is the collection of recorded interviews with older Dogtowners who were willing to tell stories about their families. The media format that we used at the time worked well for the recording, however there is no equipment that the DHS has that would allow any of us to listen to the interviews. Somehow the DHS needs to find a way to update those recordings. John and Bob will follow up.

A motion was made and seconded to explore future storage areas for the DHS archives. A vote was taken and passed. John and Bob will follow up.

GOOD OF THE ORDER/NEW BUSINESS –

Facebook - Dogtown Neighborhood Group - John reported that there are 1420 members of the current Dogtown Neighborhood Facebook Group. It is only one of many Facebook groups that mention Dogtown in their title. But this one is full of young residents of Dogtown who are active and who post information about the neighborhood on this page. John plans to begin posting selected items pertaining to the history of the Dogtown neighborhood to this Dogtown Facebook page. His plan is to copy and share some of the Dogtown history pages from Bob Corbett’s Dogtown website.

DHS Elections - Bob reported that there are two officers whose term limits have been fulfilled and their positions are open for election/re-election.

• Officers – Two (2) Officer positions are open for re-election, Vice President: Carol Nemeth and Treasurer: Bob Corbett

  Vice President. A motion was made and seconded to re-elect the current Vice President; Carol Nemeth. A vote was taken, and by acclimation Carol Nemeth was re-elected.

  Treasurer. Current Treasurer Bob Corbett announced that he would not be a candidate for re-election.

  Nominations from the floor were taken. Following the nomination of Terri Corbett a candidate for the office of Treasurer, and with no further nominations offered, nominations were closed. A vote was taken and by acclimation Terri Corbett was elected as the new Treasurer of the DHS.

  Bob Corbett turned over all current files and folders pertaining to the office of Treasurer to the new Treasurer, Terri Corbett.

Fund Raising Ideas -

There was discussion regarding the various ideas and methods to fund future DHS projects. Bill Miller mentioned a program that has been used successfully by the St. Louis Senior Center and by St. James parish church. The program is a “call-in card” type. John mentioned that the Firefighters Group used one similar to that and they were very successful.

Bob mentioned that he is paid to conduct his “History” tours of the Dogtown Neighborhood and wondered if the members thought that tours of St. James the Greater Church would be of interest.

Questions were asked of Bob regarding the tours he was suggesting for the young families who are new to Dogtown and comments followed. Most of our young parents, it was pointed out, have jobs, therefore would the tours need to be offered at night? Summertime might be best for “walking tours”. Bob’s current tours end at Seamus McDaniels where the group has lunch (included in the price of the tour). What would an evening tour require, and is the church open at night?

The meeting adjourned at 11:10 a.m. The next meeting will be June 2015 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