MINUTES OF THE DOGTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
April 14, 2007

CALL TO ORDER: – President John Corbett called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. in the St. James Rectory. Ten members were in attendance: Bob Corbett, John Corbett, Tom Haller, Henry Herbst, Geraldine Kaegel, Rose Kennedy, Bill Miller, Gerry Miller, Kay Richard, and Sally Sharamitaro.

Minutes of Last Meeting - A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the March 10, 2007 meeting. A vote was taken, the motion passed and the minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report - Bob Corbett, Treasurer, presented the March-April treasurer’s reports. The beginning balance was $3,300.00, deposits for the month totaled $4000.00, mostly for benches, bringing the ending balance as of April 14, 2007 to $7,130.90.

A motion was made and seconded to approve the treasurer’s report. A vote was taken, the motion passed and the treasurers report was approved.

Archives/Donations– -Tom Haller brought to the meeting, (the bottom portion of) a piece of crockery that he unearthed in his backyard. It was a bottle-like container with these markings; _lan’s Ginger Beer, Montreal (possibly Alan’s?). Henry Herbst urged Tom to do additional research on the crockery, as it could be 100 years old or older. Henry also announced that the Missouri Historical Society is currently showing a brewery exhibit at the History Museum in Forest Park.

Bob Corbett shared with members that his family is soon to be proud owners of a Rudi Torrini statue. Its called “The Irish Immigrant Boy”. Bob’s eldest son ordered the 2 foot sized replica of an original statue owned by Torrini. The plans are for the replica sized statue to be housed at the Corbett family home at 1419 Tamm. Bob said he would be happy to bring it to future DHS functions whenever our DHS archives are on display.

Civil War Re-Enactment – No Report

Henry asked if it was the Arcadia Publishing Company and Tom said it might be. Henry said he is familiar with the company and knows their publications. He and Bob have both been approached by that publishing company asking if they were interested in writing books on Dogtown and/or Breweries in St. Louis. Both declined at the time.

OLD BUSINESS

Bench Project - Bob presented the current situation on the DHS benches. At present there are 7 benches installed, with 13 new ones ready to be ordered. He has a listing of the donors and the locations that have been approved by the landowners. John submitted the paperwork for all the city permits.

The order will be placed sometime next month as both John and Bob will be out of town for the next few weeks.

Bob passed around a sample plaque made of a new plastic material that he is recommending as replacements for the current plaques. The new plaque is from Johnny Mac’s Sporting Goods in Crestwood. The material, a double layered plastic, is said to last longer (5-7 years longer) than our current plaques which have already faded. The cost is reasonable at $10.68 per (2 x 7 inch) plaque.

Members approved the new plaque. Bob will follow up.

Dogtown Street Banners – – John shared information that he gathered at recent neighborhood meetings on the “new” Dogtown street banners. This generated much discussion about the new banners.

Several suggestions discussed were; that it be mostly green with no red on it at all, and that there be a bench pictured on it along with the gazebo. John said plans are for all the banners to have the local neighborhood’s name on them, ie., Hi-Point, Franz Park, Clayton-Tamm, etc.

The Dogtown Name – Tom Haller told members that in his last email, Mike Gittens told Tom that he has permission to go ahead and write the essay on the naming of Dogtown using the newest information that they both gathered. Tom will follow up.

Geraldine Kaegel said because she was so impressed by the research that has been done on the naming, she wondered if the DHS ever thought about putting out a newsletter.

Discussion followed on the difficulties of publishing a newsletter, ie., getting volunteers, time constraints, cost, etc. Bob spoke up and offered his email list as an alternative to a newsletter, for a more current and comprehensive ‘publishing’ of DHS activities and research.

Tom Haller mentioned again that we look into doing a pamphlet similar to some of the other neighborhoods, and that it could include the naming along with the history of Dogtown along with information about the DHS.

More discussion on this subject is welcome.

Discussion on Future Mayor of Dogtown Elections – The Clayton-Tamm Community Association (CTCA) has had the charge or obligation for many years of selecting the “Mayors of Dogtown”. John feels that the DHS might want to submit names to the Association for consideration in this matter. In fact, John opened the discussion to see how the members felt about the DHS suggesting to the officers of the CTCA that they open the process to all of the neighborhood associations in the Dogtown area.

Bob suggested a representative from all the neighborhood associations meet to discuss and then bring their ideas and suggestions of benefit to the neighborhoods of Dogtown, to their specific associations.

He suggested too that each association propose at least one name each year for a future Mayor of Dogtown and submit the names whenever the CTCA opens the process for names.

Possible future DHS events – John brought up an idea for a possible street musician’s festival to be held in the summer in Dogtown. He says that in St. Louis there are a lot of talented street musicians and they are all required to have permits to perform on the St. Louis streets. Therefore there is a data base of these performers and it would be possible to obtain their names, and contact them.

John also feels that a judging of the performers might be fun, with a three legged prize (win three times and you get to keep the prize)

He mentioned that either the DHS sponsor the event or tie it in with the Dogtown businesses. John will look into the possibility and of scheduling it between St. Patrick’s Day and the fall St. James Carnival.

Other - Bill and Gerry Miller wanted to let the members know that a cave has been discovered in the basement of a home in the 6500 block of West Park. Bill contacted Joe Light the man who is the cave expert.

Dawn Owens of the Clayton Tamm Association is looking into showing movies on the screen in the St. James play yard.

Note: A motion was made to cancel the May 12, 2007 meeting as several of the officers will be out of town, a vote was taken and the motion passed.

The meeting adjourned at 10:55 a.m. The next meeting will be Saturday, June 9, 2007, at 10:00 a.m., St. James Rectory, 6401 Wade Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63139

Respectfully submitted
Sally Ryan Sharamitaro
Secretary, Dogtown Historical Society