A Publication of Lindenwood University Press Spring/Summer 2012 Vol. 3, No. 2 Twelve Dollars ® Spring/Summer 2012 | The Confluence | 1 Proud winner of the Missouri Humanities Council’s 2011 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Literature L indenwood University’s Regional Studies Journal Each issue contains thought-provoking articles written in a lively style with interesting illustrations on our region’s history, art, politics, architecture, ecology, and more. It’s all in The Conuence. Check it out for free. Request a complimentary issue by email at [email protected]. 2 | The Confluence | Spring/Summer 2012 ® A publication of Lindenwood University Press Spring/Summer 2012 Vol. 3, No. 2 CONTENTS COVER 4 “Luther Ely Smith: Father of the Gateway Arch” IMAGE By Mark Tranel Eero Saarinen’s Arch may be among the most recognized works of public art, but the vision that led to the Jefferson National Expansion Eero Saarinen’s Memorial was that of Luther Ely Smith. Mark Tranel looks at Smith’s first proposal for tireless work to have the warehouse district razed and a national memoral built on the St. Louis riverfront. the Gateway Arch seems futuristic even 14 “American Bottom: The Floodplain between the Bluffs and the Levee” today, with its glass- By Quinta Scott fronted observation The bottomland bluffs between the bluffs and levees along the area overlooking Mississippi have been farmland for centuries. In this second of three photo essays, Quinta Scott documents the manmade environments on the Mississippi the floodplains. River. For more on the plan for 32 “Anatomy, Grave-Robbing, and Spiritualism in Antebellum St. Louis” the Jefferson By Luke Ritter Dr. Joseph Nash Smith’s Missouri Medical College was a leading National Expansion school for physicians and part of the professionalization of medicine Memorial and the before the Civil War. He also required human dissection that, along with being a St. Louis character, made him one of the period’s most role of Luther Ely controversial figures as well. Smith, see Mark Tranel, “Luther Ely 46 “Missouri Through Soviet Eyes” Smith: Father of the By Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov Gateway Arch.” In 1935, Russian satirists Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov bought a Ford and drove across the United States and back; their observations shaped the ideas of Russians about the United States for some three decades. One of the places they visited was Hannibal, Missouri. Here is their account, including their own photos. 54 “The Gilded Age Hair Trade in St. Louis” By David Straight Much can be learned about industries from the envelopes and letterheads of companies. Take the sale of human hair in the Gilded Age, for example. The Confluence is a regional studies journal published by Lindenwood University and dedicated to the diversity of ideas and disciplines of a liberal arts university. It is committed to the intersection of history, art and architecture, design, science, social science, and public policy. Its articles are diverse by design. Spring/Summer 2012 | The Confluence | 3 EDITORIAL BOARD STAFF FROM THE EDITOR Mark Abbott, Harris-Stowe State University Editor Jeffrey E. Smith, PhD Christopher Duggan, Lindenwood University Art Director Paul Huffman Beth Thompson Kehl , Lindenwood University Marketing Assistant David Knotts, Lindenwood University Marta Kulik Archivist Paige Mettler-Cherry, Lindenwood University Paul Huffman Assistants/Interns Robert Rubright , Independent Scholar Cassandra Douglas Jeffrey E. Smith, Lindenwood University Lydia Langley Adam Stroud Kris Runberg Smith, Lindenwood University Mark Tranel, University of Missouri-St. Louis John Troy , Lindenwood University SUBSCRIPTIONS Jann Weitzel , Lindenwood University ISSN 2150-2633 The Confluence is a Pernell Witherspoon, Lindenwood University nonprofit semiannual publication of Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Missouri. All rights reserved. The Confluence and Lindenwood University are not responsible for statements of fact or opinion expressed in signed contributions. Requests to reprint any part of The Confluence should be sent to Editor, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Confluence, c/o Lindenwood University, 209 S. Kingshighway, An undertaking like The Confluence doesn’t happen without the help of St. Charles, Missouri 63301, or via e-mail many people, both within Lindenwood University and beyond. We owe to [email protected]. particular thanks to President James Evans, Provost Jann Weitzel, and the Board of Directors at Lindenwood for supporting this venture. We’d © Lindenwood University 2012 like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the following Manuscripts. Any manuscripts should people, institutions, and companies for their contributions to this sixth be sent to Editor, The Confluence, issue of The Confluence; we could not have done it without you. c/o Lindenwood University, 209 S. Kingshighway, St. Charles, Missouri 63301, Julie Beard Mark Twain Home Museum or via e-mail to confluence@lindenwood. Jennifer Clark National Park Service edu. Print submissions should be double- Chris Duggan St. Charles County Historical Society spaced, but will not be returned. For Tim Fox John St. John submission guidelines, citation format, and Steven Gietschier St. Louis Public Library other particulars, consult Kyle Glover St. Louis University http://www.lindenwood.edu/confluence. Peter Griffin Adam Stroud Paul Huffman Washington University in St. Louis Have you moved? Let us know if you have Lydia Langley Washington University School of Medicine or will be changing your address so you Library of Congress don’t miss an issue of The Confluence. Subscription Rates. One year, $20. Individual copies, $12. Visit us on the Web. Be sure to visit our website at http://www.lindenwood.edu/ confluence. 4 | The Confluence | Spring/Summer 2012 FROM THE EDITOR You probably noticed that our inside cover is different this time. We’re taking space to announce that The Confluence won the Missouri Humanities Council’s Distinguished Achievement in Literature Award. We are, of course, most honored to receive such recognition. Most of all, it is recognition of all those who are behind The Confluence. It’s really the work of many hands—those who write for the journal and share their scholarship; those who edit and proofread and design it; and most of all, those at Lindenwood University who have been its greatest advocates—our Provost Jann Rudd Weitzel and our President James Evans. Ultimately, the role of the humanities and publications like The Confluence is to enhance the quality of our lives by informing the conversations about them. That’s what gives us the perspectives of time (and change across the great span of the human experience), the power of ideas, the roles of people great and small in shaping the course of human events. It is what allows us to make sense of the world—and the nation, and our community—around us. Our authors seek to answer such questions as, “Why are things the way they are?” and “How did they get that way?” When all is said and done, the humanities are about starting, nurturing, and perpetuating a collective conversation. Like all conversations that can wander and cover a wide range of topics, so too it is with The Confluence. We are, we have said only half-jokingly, eclectic by design. With the publication of The Confluence, we at Lindenwood want to help facilitate those conversations that are essential to building a sense of community and understanding of places in it, eclectic as they might be. We have intentionally steered clear of the old and tired topics, and sought articles that give fresh perspectives of our community. Our job as a university is not just to educate young minds, but to play a role in our community as well. It is efforts like The Confluence that connect all of us, and the humanities that connect institutions like mine with communities like ours. We’re proud to receive such an award, but we’re especially proud to play some small part in the great regional conversation about who we are and why we’re that way. With every issue, we reiterate Linda Richmond’s comment on Saturday Night Live’s “Coffee Talk” — “talk amongst yourselves.” Spring/Summer 2012 | The Confluence | 5 LUTHER ELY SMITH: Father of the Gateway Arch “If somebody doesn’t agree with you, you didn’t explain yourself well enough.” Luther Ely Smith1 BY MARK TRANEL When standing at the Arch grounds today, it’s hard to imagine that it was almost completely empty space like this for more than two decades after the old warehouses and businesses were razed during the New Deal. (Image: National Park Service-Jefferson National Expansion Museum) 6 | The Confluence | Spring/Summer 2012 As St. Louis pursues an initiative established a Civil Service to frame the Gateway Arch with more Commission in 1941, he was active and esthetic grounds, and with appointed to leadership roles, first as a goal of completing the project by vice-chairman until 1945 and then 2015, the legacy of Luther Ely Smith as chairman until 1950. From 1939 and his unique role in the creation to 1941, Smith was chairman of of the Jefferson National Expansion the organization committee for the Memorial (the national park Missouri non-partisan court plan, surrounding the Arch) is a reminder of which successfully led an initiative the tenacity such major civic projects petition to amend the Missouri require. What is today a national park Constitution to appoint appellate was in the mid-nineteenth century the court judges by merit rather than heart of commerce on the Missouri Trained as a lawyer, Luther Ely Smith political connections.3 He was also and Mississippi rivers; forty years (1873-1951) was at the forefront of urban president of the St. Louis City Club.4 later it was the first dilapidated urban planning. As chairman of the City Plan A national movement, city clubs development district in St.