MINUTES OF THE DOGTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
June 11, 2005

CALL TO ORDER: – President, John Corbett, called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. at the St. James Rectory. Eleven people were in attendance: Nina Kassing Bryans, Bob Corbett, John Corbett, JoAnn Emmerich, Henry Herbst, Virginia Lopez, Bill Miller, Gerry Miller, Kurt Odendahl, Kay Richard and Sally Sharamitaro.

A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the last meeting.

Treasurer’s Report – Sally Sharamitaro gave the treasurer’s report in the absence of treasurer, Didi Gardner. The beginning balance was $4,322.91. There was income of $275.00. Expenses came to $467.33. Ending balance is $4,130.58.

John Corbett reported on the benefit funds collected for his and Terri’s medical expenses. All their medical expenses were covered by their respective insurance companies, therefore, all donations received from non-profit organizations are being returned to those organizations.

1. Century Home Committee – Bill Miller informed the members that a Century home at 6502 West Park is in the process of being sold to a developer, and may be torn down. As a Century Home plaque was purchased for the home, Bill plans to contact the owners to ask if they would agree to donate their plaque to the DHS for the Archives.

   Bob Corbett reported that the owner of the O’Gorman Century home, the oldest house in Dogtown, has agreed to display the historic Century Home plaque that was purchased and donated by the DHS.

2. Speakers Series - Nina Kassing Bryans presented the report on the second Speakers Series for 2005, held on May 22, 2005, entitled “The St. Louis Zoo – The Way We Were” a video narrated by Charlie Hoessel, former Director of the St. Louis Zoo. The one hour and twenty minute video traced the history of the Zoo from its earliest beginnings in the late 1890’s to the present day. Many photos illustrated the early buildings, animals, personnel, trainers, and directors, as well as the elephant, lion, and monkey shows. The St. Louis Zoo will provide a copy of the video for our DHS Archives.

   After an intermission, Sharon Kassing, sister of Nina, and Coordinator of the Center for Inquiry in Science Teaching and Learning at the Zoo, explained the various educational programs available to the St. Louis and International communities. One of the highlights of the evening was the participation of the audience and those that shared interesting stories of their memories of the Zoo.

   Thirty-five people signed the attendance sheet, and one new DHS member paid her dues. Comments from attendees validated that we have established the proper set up for viewing and sound. The vast majority felt the presentation met their expectations, and the program was of interest to them. The largest number of responses said that they had found out about the program through the mailed out flyers, friends and Neighborhood Associations. Email, DHS website, St. James Bulletin and Post Dispatch followed.

   Suggestions from the attendees for future programs included: Charles Lindberg, Brewery Industry, Aircraft Industry, The Earliest Settlements in the Area, Vintage Automobiles, Civil War History, St. Louis Architecture, St. Louis Landmarks, and Redevelopment of St. Louis (especially Downtown), general St. Louis History, The Arena and Walsh Stadium.

   Next Scheduled Series – At the present time the Speakers Series Committee has no program scheduled for either the summer or fall 2005 dates. Discussion followed with suggestions from the members.

   Bob Corbett offered to give a fall lecture titled: “The Role of the Haitian Revolution and the Louisiana Purchase: Establishing the Conditions which Allowed Cheltenham/Dogtown to come to be”. The October 15th date however, may need to be changed.

   Historic Preservation was suggested as another option. Henry Herbst recommended that the DHS contact the Landmark Association for a possible speaker. Another suggestion was that someone in the neighborhood, knowledgeable on the topic, might agree to speak. Bill Miller recommended the local Neighborhood Stabilization Officer, Michele Boston David. Bob offered to contact Carolyn Toft at Landmark and Ms. David. He also suggested that a committee be created to follow up on this topic and its impact on Dogtown.

   The Speaker Series Committee will meet next month and will discuss the suggestions offered today.

3. Living History – – John Corbett informed the members that he is available now to resume the Living History Interviews on video tape. Someone suggested that the three Corbett Brothers be added to the list of future interviewees.

4. Ghost Signs – Henry Herbst reported on the progress made on the Ghost Sign Project. Henry spoke with William Stage, the author of the book on the subject, who knows the history of the Alpen Brau sign, but said he had no idea what the cost would be to do the restoration. Henry then contacted Lonnie Tettaton, a retired sign painter, who agreed to look at the Dogtown Alpen Brau sign and offered his estimate of $2500.00 for the restoration.

   After much discussion regarding the sign restoration, costs, paperwork required, etc., it was decided that a Committee be created to work with Henry on the project. The Committee will be comprised of Henry Herbst as Chairman, Bob Corbett, John Corbett and JoAnn Emmerich, members.

   OTHER BUSINESS –

   Historic District Designation - There was further discussion on the change in designation for Dogtown and the local Alderman, Tom Bauer, who passed on the opportunity to designate Dogtown as a Historic District John contacted Alderman Bauer and invited him to attend today’s DHS meeting. There was no response from Alderman Bauer.

   Yearly Fund Raiser - Henry presented the information he gathered on the possibility of the DHS printing a calendar as a fund raiser. He reported that the Eureka Historical Society (EHS) had spent a total of $2500.00 on expenses, of that $800.00 was spent for the graphics, $1700.00 for the printing. The EHS was able to collect that entire amount in advertisements before the calendar was printed. Although Bob was concerned that the DHS would have trouble finding photographs that would be of the quality needed, Henry felt it could be done.

   John recommended that we look into the possibility of a T’shirt printed with “Historic Pubs of Dogtown”. John will follow up on that idea.

   Good of the Order – John brought forward for discussion the necessity of monthly meetings and the option of changing to bi-monthly meetings.

   As part of the discussion that followed, it was suggested that were we to have bi-monthly meetings, more could be expected of the DHS committees. There was a question about the current committees and the lists of members. No official list is available.

   At present our By-Laws state that the DHS will meet every month on the second Saturday of the month. It would require a By-Law change to move to bi-monthly meetings. After further discussion it was decided for the present time to cancel the July meeting and resume the discussion on the By-Law change at a later date. A motion was made and seconded to cancel the July 9, 2005 meeting. A vote was taken and passed, the July 2005 meeting will be cancelled.

Meeting adjourned 11:15 a.m. Next meeting will be Saturday, August 13, 2005 at 10:00am in St. James Rectory, 6401 Wade Avenue.

Respectfully submitted
Sally Ryan Sharamitaro,
Secretary, Dogtown Historical Society