Oops, I didn’t see that tree branch in the way when I took this photo of Cragwold, Edwin Lemp‘s estate on the bluffs overlooking the Meramec River. The large windows overlooking the valley must have provided stunning views for the reclusive bachelor who took his million dollars and retired from brewing at an early age….
Search Results for: Cragwold
Valley Between Two Ridges, Cragwold Estate
Across what is clearly an old ford over a creek that feeds just to the left of the picture into the Meramec, my father and I found an interesting discovery. Beyond a doubt, there are the well-preserved remnants of an earthen dam, like one that would create a lake in a steep valley. There is…
Western Ridge, Cragwold Estate Animal Park
Proceeding south from the field surrounding the mansion, the original animal park that Edwin Lemp used to breed and keep exotic animals is largely intact, and the crags that gave the name to his estate still awe visitors along the ridge line, which looks out over the Meramec Valley. It drops down steeply to the…
Cragwold, December 2015
Continuing a somewhat regular Christmas tradition, my father and I took a drive on the holiday out to look for more remnants of the Lemp estates out along the Meramec River. We returned to our search for more ruins or other structures left from Cragwold, Edwin Lemp’s estate, one of four beer baron estates in…
Cragwold, Revisited Christmas 2014
Seven years ago, I traveled to the southwestern corner of Kirkwood, where it abuts Sunset Hills to search for the home of Edwin Lemp, the last heir of William Lemp Sr. Edwin’s magnificent country house sits high above the Meramec River, but traces of his estate also lie east of I-270. But first, this barricade…
Cragwold, Revisited
One of my most popular posts concerned Cragwold, the estate of Edwin Lemp on the bluffs above the Meramec River. I went back and got a couple of new pictures this last weekend.
Cragwold
In Search of Cragwold continues to be my most popular post on Saint Louis Patina, judging by number of comments. Just this week, I received another informative comment that sheds more light on the story of this fascinating house. Just goes to show the Lemp family is alive and well both biologically and in the…
In Search of Cragwold
Update: See additional photographs from later visits. It came to my attention recently that the Lemp family had a western outpost in St. Louis County named Cragwold, now in Kirkwood. You can read about the Lemps here in my archive of St. Louis Magazine articles; Edwin Lemp, the last son, built the Cragwold Estate. The mansion overlooks…
Parks College, Revisited
A reader graciously sent me some more images of Parks College, as well as one postcard of what the school looked like in better days. My original post about the college has elicited the most comments, up there with the former Deaconess Hospital and Cragwold. It clearly is still very dear to many people in…
Lemp Mansion, Revisited
That crazy bend in I-55 just south of the brewery was not planned; it was added later to save the DeMenil Mansion, which in turn saved the old Lemp Mansion and several buildings of the Lemp Brewery to the south. There are still a lot of crashes along this stretch of interstate, I’ve been told,…