Interest has renewed lately to place a plaque commemorating the infamous last location of Lynch’s slave pens at the northeast corner of Clark Street and South Broadway, now the location of the Stadium East Garage. Lynch operated this location for a relatively short time from around 1860 to 1861 or 1862 when the Union Army seized and converted it into the Myrtle Street Prison for imprisoning Confederate sympathizers. The famous photo, above, which has been circulating in media reports is actually from Lynch’s main location where he had been in operation since at least the early 1850s on Locust Street in between 4th and 5th streets, the site of the Federal Reserve.
As I argued in my St. Louis Magazine article in January of 2021, I think the Locust Street location needs a plaque just as much as the Stadium East Garage does. Recent research by others has determined there was a third location of Lynch’s business, as well, but I do not know where that is.
I’ll have to admit I’m suspicious of the photographs circulating that claim to show the “dungeons” at the Stadium East Garage site. What is the proof that these were in fact related to the Lynch period of occupation? The Meyer Drug building constructed on top the site was quite large; I find it hard to believe that the builders of that warehouse would have left the much smaller and weaker foundations of the former slave pens behind. Honestly, the “dungeon” photo looks to show nothing more than a coal bunker. For comparison, below is a photo of an actual, documented slave pen from Alexandria, Virginia. Regardless of the provenance of the brick vaulted chambers in the photos in St. Louis, to reiterate, I support the placing of commemorative plaques at all sites related to Lynch’s business.
Wow. Thank you for posting. Those places need more than a plaque, they need some sort of sacred energy cleansing. Sage, prayers, ceremonies and something beautiful and lasting.
Chris, an astute observation. I thought the same seeing that photo of the brick cellar. It looks much too substantial in contrast to the shack like wood frame structure seen in the above ground photo.
Thank you Chris! I knew that there were several locations that Lynch operated out of. I wonder if anyone has ever done a deep dive into Lynch, this photo, and the evolution of all of the buildings used during the Civil War. Didn’t the Jailhouse for the City of St. Louis get used by the City/Confederates to hold slaves for their enslavers to retrieve them from as well? Because of the Fugitive Slave law, Confederates insisted upon that. Yet, Missouri being under Martial Law, the Union took properties like McDowell’s Medical College and turned them into prisons. All of this is an important history that needs acknowledgment. However, that requires the current property owner’s permission to erect such a sign and they are unwilling to acknowledge and allow the site’s history to be told. Some of them, where it seems such history could be said, are owned by the City of St. Louis itself. Yes, its time. Thank you.
I have been working for over five years along with others to erect a sign. The project is moving forward, thankfully. Support has come from the Missouri History Museum along with the St. Louis Cardinals and InterPark Garage. We are in the process of completing the design.