You Are Here: The Bissell House and Fort Bellefontaine

Please prepare yourself by watching both programs in their entirety before showing it to your students.

Overview: Grade Level: 4 through 8

Time Allotment: Activities may be used as a complete unit or select and utilize individual lessons.

Learning Objectives:  To explain why St. Louis was founded on the and the important role the city played in the westward expansion movement  To identify and describe historic structures in their own community  To develop skill necessary to use scientific tools, like a sextant

Show Me Performance Standards: Goal 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Goal 2: 1, 2, 3, 7 Goal 3: 1, 5, 6, 7 Goal 4: 1, 5, 6

Social Studies Knowledge Standards – 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 Communication Knowledge Standards – 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Fine Arts Knowledge Standards – 5 Mathematics Knowledge Standards – 2, 3 Science Knowledge Standards – 4, 7

Lesson Plans:

Title: You Are Here: The Bissell House

Prep for Teachers:  Study and select activities for your students  Prepare to tape the documentary so that the students may recheck information  Copy necessary materials from this curriculum. If necessary, print website information cited for research

Introductory Activity

The story of the founding of St. Louis is an interesting one. Alexander the Great may have conquered much of the known world by age 33, but tradition has it that St. Louis was founded by a thirteen year old, Auguste Chouteau. In 1762, Chouteau’s stepfather, Pierre Laclede, was awarded, along with Antoine Maxent, the exclusive right to trade with the Indians of the Mississippi and Rivers. They agreed to build and maintain a trading post in the Upper Louisiana Territory, a vast tract of land, generally west of the Mississippi and east of the Continental Divide.

Chouteau and Laclede began traveling upriver in August 1763. It took many months for their batteaus to be rowed and poled up river. Finding the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers too marshy and low for building, they chose a site on the bluffs south of that area to establish their trading post. The site chosen had several attributes to recommend it; the bluffs were well above the Mississippi’s flood plain; a ravine from the river to the top of the bluff allowed easy access between the two; there was a good supply of timber and stone for building materials; and several springs provided fresh water.

While wintering in Fort de Chartres, near present day Chester IL, Laclede and Chouteau learned that the east bank of the Mississippi had been ceded to Great Britain. Considering themselves French, with no desire to be ruled by Great Britain, several people from the area urged Laclede to build not just a trading post, but a town, on the still French held west side of the Mississippi. They would establish homes there, to populate his town. Chouteau led his crew back to the site in February 1764 to begin building St. Louis, which was named for King Louis IX of France.

The town itself was platted similar to most French colonial cities. A grid pattern was formed by three long streets, parallel to the river, and three short streets perpendicular to these. Although blocks in town were generally 240’ by 300’ rectangles, the outer fields followed the French long-lots pattern of long, narrow, parallel rectangles of land.

Early residents of St. Louis included fur traders and trappers, rivermen, voyageurs, laborers, slaves and Indians. Most of these people were of French descent although St. Louis was being administered by Spain at that time. France had chosen to cede the Louisiana Territory to Spain in 1762. France had recognized that it would lose the French and Indian War, so rather than allow Great Britain to gain control of the area, they gave it to Spain. French claim to the area began following the exploration of Fr. Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet in 1673, who came into the Mississippi from the Wisconsin River. When the first Spanish Governor, Pedro Piernos, arrived in St. Louis in 1770, many French settlers had moved from the east bank as well as from Canada, New Orleans and Europe. Under the Treaty of San Ildefonso, control of the territory was returned to France in 1800. This treaty was kept secret, though, and Spain continued to administer the territory until a transfer of power to France occurred, just three weeks before the cession to the United States.

The , crafted by President Thomas Jefferson, added nearly 830,000 square miles to the United States and cost $23,213,568. Although Jefferson, a strict constructionalist, felt there was no constitutional provision for acquiring territory, he was more concerned about France or Spain having the ability to block our access to the mouth of the Mississippi River. On April 30, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed in Paris, France turning New Orleans over in late December and the entire territory on March 10, 1804.

Fort Belle Fontaine, the first U.S. military post located in the Louisiana Territory, was established in 1805 by General James Wilkinson. He chose a location on the about four miles west of its confluence with the Mississippi. Nearby Cold Water Creek provided a safe mooring and the spring, after which the fort was named, provided ample fresh water. Actual construction was directed by Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Kingsbury with troops from three companies of the First Infantry.

The fort served as the jumping off or ending point of several expeditions. Famed explorers Lewis and Clark stayed there on the final night of their expedition and Lieutenant Zebulon Pike left for two of his western explorations from the post. Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Bissell took command of the fort in 1809. He found that the area had flooded several times, the buildings were in disrepair, and unsanitary conditions existed due to poor drainage. Bissell received permission to rebuild the fort on top of the bluffs. Buildings and a palisade were completed by 1811.

During the , several military operations against the British and Sauk- Fox Indians were conducted from Fort Belle Fontaine. Soldiers from the fort provided security for the Indian council at Portage Des Souix in 1815. Representative from 11 different Indian tribes as well as Governor William Clark and Auguste Chouteau attended this peace council. Fort Belle Fontaine was a prominent command and supply point for several new military posts that had been established farther to the west and the fort served as a starting point for Colonel Henry Atkinson’s Yellowstone Expedition in 1819.

Fort Belle Fontaine remained in service until 1826, when it was replaced by Jefferson Barracks, near the village of Carondelet. The Daughters of the American Revolution saw to the relocation of graves from the fort to the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in 1904. In 1913, the City of St. Louis acquired the property and constructed a detention home and training school for boys on the site. This is now managed by the Missouri Division of Youth Services as a home for both boys and girls. The Works Progress Administration built a Grand Staircase from the top of the bluff to the riverfront, in 1936. Portions of the area are now a St. Louis County Park.

While in command of Fort Belle Fontaine, Lt. Colonel Bissell acquired property along what became known as Bellefontaine Road and built what is presumed to have been a log cabin. In 1815-16, a stone house followed the cabin. After the War of 1812, General Bissell resigned from the military and returned to the St. Louis area. His home, the two story brick Bissell House, known at the time as the Franklinville Farm, was completed between 1817 and 1819. It is known from military record that troops were used to build this home and since Bissell was a slave owner, it seems likely that his slaves also participated in the construction. By the time he died in 1833, his farm encompassed 2300 acres. This federal style home was owned by the Bissell family for over 140 years and is filled with furnishings from his life and times.

Learning Activity: The Five Themes of Geography – Location, Place, Human Environment Interactions, Movement, Regions

Activity Set One: Location, Movement, Regions

Materials Needed: Road, topological, flood, recent and old maps, and aerial photographs of St. Louis City and County; maps of the various trails, explorers and expeditions that started in St. Louis, i.e. the Lewis and Clark, Sante Fe and Oregon Trails, Lt. Zebulon Pike, and Colonel Henry Atkinson’s Yellowstone Expedition. Many of these can be found on line and from libraries; computer, internet access.

Have your students review these map sources and answer the following questions:

What made St. Louis’ location attractive? Possible answers include the height above the flood plain and several rivers in the area. Why were the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers so important to our nation’s development? Possible answers include access to fur trade upriver and markets downriver. What made Fort Belle Fontaine’s location attractive? Students should include Cold Water Creek, in their answer, as well as proximity to the confluence of the two great rivers. How have floods altered the landscape? Have your students study the maps for changes in the rivers and streams through the years. The location of the original Fort is now in the middle of the Missouri. See if your class can find other areas that have significant changes. Why was St. Louis pivotal in western explorations? Possible answers include proximity to rivers, largest town west of the Mississippi, seen as the edge of the frontier. How did geographical features drive the routes taken by trails, explorers and expeditions? Possible answers include rivers, low mountain passes, and availability of grass and water. Through what regions did routes taken by trails, explorers and expeditions go? Possible answers include plains, deserts, forests, mountains, etc.

Activity Set Two: Place, Human Environment Interactions and Regions

Materials Needed: Road, topological, flood, recent and old maps, and aerial photographs of St. Louis City and County, Census Reports, computer, internet access, books on St. Louis history

Divide your class into thirds, with one third responsible for each section of this activity.

Bellefontaine Road got its name because it was the trail between St. Louis City and the fort. Have your students find other streets, areas or neighborhoods that are named after famous St. Louisans. Have your class create reports on these people and places. They may use plays, PowerPoint, posters or any other media to present the information to their classmates.

Using old maps and Census data have your students track the development of St. Louis City and County. Using this information, they should be able to discern patterns of immigration, flight from the inner city, and post World War II development. They should also note that as the population grew and moved, the landscape was altered; creeks channelized, mounds destroyed, hills flattened, etc. Have them talk to parents, grandparents, older relative and neighbors about memories of older places and times. As above, have your class create reports using a variety of media to present the information.

Since regions can be defined by any number of characteristics including area, language, political divisions, religions, or vegetation, ask your students to look at the neighborhoods in St. Louis City and County and in your school district. Have the students consider why those neighborhoods developed where they did; was there a church, business or lake? Now have your class list all of the different regions in which they might place their community. As above, have your class create reports using a variety of media to present the information.

Learning Activities:

Activity Set Three: Historical Preservation

Materials Needed: Books on St. Louis history and historic homes and buildings, computer, internet access

Ask your students to list as many historic building, homes or sites as possible in a two minute period. You may chose to have this list written on the board or at their desk. Now, talk about the places they listed; are these local or national, is the place of great national significance or only significant on a local scale. Lead the children to the understanding that historical places may indeed include both. Ellis Island holds great national significance to immigration but the Mullanphy Emigrant House in St. Louis also played an important role. It was constructed in 1867 to help newly arriving Irish immigrants establish themselves by providing a temporary place to stay.

Have your students research historic St. Louis City and County sites, and if possible obtain pictures of these places. These may be places that are already recognized or structures local to their own area. Have your class create either a timeline or act as a travel guide, based on their research. The timeline can circle the walls of the classroom, with pictures added at the appropriate spot, along with an index card of information about the structure as well as events that happened at that time. Tape or record the travel guides, as they explain the significance of the spot they chose. Mapping skills will come into play here, also, as the students will need to explain how to get to their place.

Learning Activities:

Activity Set Four: Sextant

Materials Needed: Protractor, jumbo paper clip, 20 cm string, clear plastic straw, tape, scissors, metric ruler

As we’ve seen, many explorers and expeditions left from the St. Louis area. The early explorers, like Lewis and Clark, were charged with mapping the country. These explorers needed to find their latitude by the North Star, and to do that, they needed a sextant. The determination of latitude is based on the formula (latitude of any place in the northern hemisphere) = (latitude of the North Star at same place).

Have your students build their own sextants with the following directions:

1. Tape the straw across the middle of the protractor so that the straw goes through the 90 degree and center mark. Equal lengths of the straw should extend on either side of the protractor. 2. Tie the string to the paper clip, then tape the other end to the center mark of the protractor. The string should go through the O degree mark if the straw is held parallel to the ground. 3. Pick an object high on the ceiling or outdoors above ground. Sight this object through the straw, press the string against the protractor and read the scale on the protractor. This is the angle of the object above ground. Repeat this step two more times, averaging the results. 4. Pick 1 more object and take three readings, averaging your findings. 5. Go outside on a clear night, locate the Big Dipper, the pointer stars, the Little Dipper and then the North Star. Take a reading on the angle of Polaris above the horizon. Repeat this step two more times, averaging the results.

Find the latitude by using the formula: (latitude of any place in the northern hemisphere) = (latitude of the North Star at same place).

Useful Links to Websites www.hectv.org www.showmecable.org

Missouri Heritage Project, http://dese.mo.gov/moheritage/About.htm

Teaching with Historic Places, the , http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/9stlouis/9about.htm

Mound City on the Mississippi, http://stlcin.missouri.org/history/

A History of St. Louis Neighborhoods, http://stlouis.missouri.org/neighborhoods/history/

Heritage and History, http://stlouis.missouri.org/heritage/index.html

History’s Time Portal to Old St. Louis, http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/

The History of St. Louis and the Immigrant Irish, http://stlfire4.loudclick.net/

Landmark Association of St. Louis, http://www.landmarks-stl.org/

St. Louis County Parks, http://www.co.st-louis.mo.us/parks/