Dear readers, I’m happy to announce that my new book, Adam Lemp and the Western Brewery is now out and available for purchase as a paperback and e-book. You can read about it at this link, and purchase it from my preferred local small business, Leviathan Bookstore. If you live out of town or are…
Tag: Lemp Mansions
In the Footsteps of Lillian Handlan Lemp
Many readers are no doubt familiar with Lillian Handlan, who would marry William Lemp, Jr., the heir to the Lemp Brewery. Later, their acrimonious divorce would make headlines around the country. But she also lived in many places around St. Louis, and I’ve identified several places she called home. There may be more, but for…
Alswel, January 2022
I also decided to head down the Meramec River and see how the view of Alswel, which was William Lemp, Jr.’s house that overlooks the Butler Lakes, was doing. His death certificate actually says he was a resident of the Chase Hotel in 1922 at the time of his suicide in the Lemp Mansion.
Cragwold, January 2022
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….
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…
Lemp History
Update: The link is now broken. Listen to the podcast where Martin Casas, director of the Saint Louis Swap Meet, interviews me about the history of the Lemp Brewery.
Lemp Impostor Exposed
I wanted to warn my readers that there is a man that had been going around claiming to be a member of the Lemp family, and was even making some modest money off of his reputed identity. Myself and many other professional historians in St. Louis had known for several years of his fraud, but…
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…
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,…
Reminder, South Side Brewery Tour Today!
Looking for something to do this afternoon? I?m offering the tour my walking tour of South Side breweries and owners’ homes October 19, 2013 at 2:00 PM. As before we will start at the entrance to the parking lot of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Sites on the walking tour include the Busch Brewery, the Lemp Mansion…