Originally installed in St. Louis Place Park in 1898, the statue commemorating Friedrich Schiller was moved to one of those squares of greenspace in the Gateway Mall in the 1970s. Schiller is one of the most famous poets in the German language, having written what would become the lyrics of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
The monument is actually a copy of sculptor Ernst Rau’s work in Marbach, Germany, the poet’s birthplace. That is not to diminish its quality, however.
It was donated by Colonel Charles G. Stifel, owner of the City Brewery, whose house is well known to many people as the former home of the Polish Falcons on St. Louis Avenue.
Update: A fence has been erected around the monument to keep loiterers and vandals away.
When I was a boy, the family would drive by the intersection of Delmar and McKnight. As I looked off the the north, there was a store and I remember my talking about Stifel lamps or furniture or such.
So I am removed from my home for 50-ish years. A new baseball season starts and I am a Cardinals fan. Much to my wonder, the patch on the players’ uniforms says “Stifel”. I look that up, as to my naive mind this is a furniture store I knew as a boy of 10 or 12 years. More to my surprise they are now some finance business.
From little acorns comes the mighty oak.
Thanks Chris.
Give us freedom of thought! “Geben Sie Gedankenfreiheit!” I’m unaware of any Goethe statues, but I grew up a street over from Goethe Avenue, the pronunciation of which we massacred in numerous ways. Great post!
My pediatrician in Michigan was Dr. Goethe, which we pronounced “Go-thee!”