Lemp Mansion

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The 33-room Lemp Mansion is a house in St Louis, Missouri. It was built in 1868 by St. Louisian Jacob Feickert. William J. Lemp and wife Julia moved into it in 1876. The ghosts of several Lemp family members are said to haunt the mansion.

Contents

[edit] Architectural history

In 1911, the house underwent major renovations including conversion of some space into offices for the Lemp Brewery. The Lemps lived in the house until 1949 when Charles Lemp committed suicide.

In 1950, the mansion became a boarding house and throughout the next decade, lost much of its ornate charm. The construction of Interstate 55 during the 1960s led to the destruction of much of the grounds and one of the carriage houses.

The current owners, the Pointer family, purchased the house in 1975 and have since renovated much of it as the Lemp Mansion Restaurant and Inn.

[edit] Family History

[edit] Adam Lemp and the Western Brewery

The original patriarch of the Lemp Family was Johann "Adam" Lemp, born in 1798 in Gruningen, Germany[1]. He became a naturalized citizen in November 1841[2]. In the St. Louis city directory of 1840-41, he is listed as a grocer. He arrived in the United States in 1836, eventually settling in St. Louis in 1838, starting a grocery store at Sixth and Morgan (located where the middle of the south side of the Edwards Jones Dome is now).

Besides typical groceries, Lemp also made his own vinegar and beer to sell, and by 1840 he focused solely on the manufacture and sale of the beer, forming Western Brewery at 37 South Second Street (about where the south leg of the Arch is now). Eventually sales become so strong, that large storage space became necessary and a cave in south St. Louis was used for this purpose as it provided natural refrigeration. This cave is below where the Lemp and DeMenil Mansions, and Lemp Brewery are today.

By the 1860s there were 40 breweries in the St. Louis area taking advantage of the caves along the Mississippi, with the Western Brewery emerging as one of the most successful.

[edit] William J. Lemp Sr. - the first suicide

Adam's son William J. Lemp was born in Germany in 1836 and after completing his education at St. Louis University, began work at the Western Brewery until he left the company to form a partnership with another brewer. In 1861, he enlisted in the United States Reserve Corps, and achieved the rank of Orderly Sergeant. On December 3, 1861 he married Julia Feickert.

On August 23, 1862, Adam Lemp died, leading to William's return to the Western Brewery as owner and operator. In 1864 he began building a larger brewery above the caves where Western had been storing its goods.

Soon, the Western Brewery was the largest brewery in St. Louis, and then, the largest outside of New York with a single owner, brewing and bottling its beer in the same facility...a rarity at that time and an example of William's sense of innovation in business, particularly to meet a growing demand.

His business sense continued to improve the brewery when, in 1878, he installed the first refrigeration machine in an American brewery, extending the idea to refrigeration railway cars in a successful attempt to be the first beer in the United States with a national reach. Soon Lemp Beer was sold worldwide.

In 1892, the William J. Lemp Brewing Company was founded from the Western Brewery with William as President, William Jr. as Vice-President and Louis as Superintendent.

William J. "Billy" Lemp, Jr. was born on August 13, 1867. Like his father, he went to St. Louis University and then studied the art of brewing. However it was Frederick Lemp, the fourth son born in 1873 who William Sr. was hoping to hand the company off to. However a myriad of health problems, unknown to his father and the rest of the family, ended his life short on December 12, 1901. William Sr. was crushed by this and slowly deteriorated. On the morning of February 13, 1904 at approximately 9:30am he shot himself in the head in his upstairs bedroom. He died at approximately 10:15am.

[edit] William J. Lemp Jr. and the "Lavender Lady"

On November 7, 1904, William J. "Billy" Lemp Jr. took over as president.

Billy had married Lillian Handlan, the "Lavender Lady", five years earlier and they moved to a new home at 3343 South Thirteenth Street.

However, any marital bliss was to be short-lived as Lillian filed for divorce in 1908, charging Billy with desertion, cruel treatment and indignities. The divorce proceedings took on a "trial of the century" atmosphere lasting 11 days. The verdict: a full grant of the divorce and custody of William III, their only child, to Lillian with visitation rights to Billy.

After the trial, Billy built "Alswel", his country home overlooking the Meramec River in what is now the western edge of Kirkwood. By 1914 he lived there full-time and started to lose interest in the brewery.

[edit] Elsa Lemp Wright

The second Lemp suicide was Elsa Lemp Wright, youngest child of William Sr. In 1910 she married Thomas Wright, president of the More-Jones Brass and Metal Company. However they separated in 1918 and in February, 1919, Elsa filed for divorce citing, amongst other things, damage to her mental and physical health. The divorce was granted in a trial without much ado.

However, the two soon reconciled and remarried in March of 1920. Later that month, on March 20, while suffering from insomnia, Elsa shot herself in the heart while in bed at their house at 13 Hortense Place.

Brothers Billy and Edwin later arrived at the house where Billy is reported to have commented, "That's the Lemp family for you".

[edit] Prohibition and the suicide of Billy Lemp

The Lemp Brewery was suffering in the 1910s. Billy's reduced interest had decreased sales. When Prohibition began, rather than keeping the brewery going, he simply gave up and shut the plant down, never to reopen. The Falstaff trademark was sold to Lemp friend "Papa Joe" Griesedieck. The brewery itself was eventually sold at auction to International Shoe Company for pennies on the dollar.

The events depressed Billy, whose behavior began to change. On December 29, 1922 he shot himself in the heart in his office (now the front left dining room where a painting of his ex-wife hangs).

[edit] William Lemp III and Lemp Beer's Last Breath

In 1939, William J. Lemp III, sole son of Billy, licensed to Central Breweries of East St. Louis the Lemp name. Renaming themselves as the WIlliam J. Lemp Brewing Company, Central began a grand marketing campaign resulting in phenomenal sales of the new Lemp Beer. However this was short lived and soon the contract was terminated by Ems Brewing who bought out Lemp in 1945.

[edit] Charles Lemp, the Fourth Suicide

Charles Lemp was the final Lemp to live in the mansion starting in 1929. He was the third son of William Sr.

After leaving the brewery in 1917, he went into banking and finance as well as dabbled in politics, influencing many south side wards. He never married and lived alone in the mansion with two servants, a married couple.

On May 10, 1949, he shot himself in the head, leaving the following note: "St. Louis Mo/May 9, 1949, In case I am found dead blame it on no one but me. Ch. A. Lemp". This is the only suicide note in the family history.

[edit] Edwin, the final Lemp

After Charles' death, there was one final son of William Sr. (Louis Lemp, the second oldest son died of natural causes in 1931). Edwin Lemp, the youngest son, had worked in the brewery until 1913, retiring at that point at the estate he had built overlooking the Meramac in 1911. "Cragwold", in western Kirkwood, had an observation tower, two servants' houses, and a collection of birds, antelope, sheep, yaks, buffalo and other animals.

Edwin never worked another day in his life but dedicated himself to many charitable organizations, primarily the St. Louis Zoo.

In 1970, Edwin died at the age of 90, having been quiet about his family's tragedies for years. His final order to his caretaker: to destroy his art collection and family heirlooms perhaps to ensure that his family's curse died with him, the last descendant of a beer dynasty to bear the name Lemp.

[edit] Ghosts

The mansion is famous for being one of the nation's most haunted buildings. In the 1980s, it was ranked in the top nine haunted places by Life Magazine. Several paranormal occurings are said to happen in the mansion. Doors are said to open, shut, lock, and unlock on their own. Candles have lit on their own. Visitors to the mansion have reported feeling as if they are being watched, as well as a feeling of sadness in the mansion. In one instance, when the mansion was being restored, a painter was painting a mural, and felt that he was being watched. He is reported to have immediately fled the mansion, without washing his brushes, or taking out his equipment and never returned. Another instance is that a glass suddenly just flew off of the bar, and crashed on the floor.

Apparations of the members of the Lemp family have reportedly been seen. Various groups have held seances in the mansion, and reported most of the activity to be related to the ghost of Charles Lemp. Ghosts of other family members, including Lillian (Lavender Lady) have also reportedly been seen.

MTV once used the tunnels below Lemp Mansion and the former Lemp Brewery as a location on their short-lived reality show FEAR, disguising it as "The Boettger Brewery".

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rise of the Lemp Dynasty
  2. ^ Lemp Family Papers, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis