Plan your own tour

Local gravestones tell of area's lively history

St. Louis author Kevin Amsler has written a book that's a perfect resource to help kids plan their own local historical tours. And you'll go to places you aren't likely to have seen before-the area's old cemeteries.

The book is titled: Final Resting Place: The Lives & Deaths of Famous St. Louisans.

Before you say, "Yuk, cemeteries!" try reading this:

In the author's note, Mr. Amsler said, "Most people visit cemeteries only following the death of a loved one or friend. They don't appreciate these burial grounds as earthly museums that are free to visit every day of the year."

St. Louis is an old city by New World standards. The first missionary settlement along the River Des Peres was over 300 years ago. The official founding of St. Louis by Auguste Chouteau was before the Revolutionary War.

And many of the area's oldest cemeteries are filled with famous or infamous people.

Many members of the Chouteau family are buried in Calvary Cemetery.

Calvary and Bellefontaine cemeteries are two that have the biggest number of famous St. Louisans buried there. Some graves are marked with huge markers. Others have simple stones flat with the surrounding ground.

In Bellefontaine, Adolphus Busch's grave is close to that of Henry and Susan Blow. Adolphus is of the beer family while Susan Blow started the country's first kindergarten.

Among those buried nearby were William Clark and Samuel Hawken.

Clark had some of his biggest impact on the area after the famed Lewis & Clark exploration of the Louisiana Territory in 1804-06. Clark settled in St. Louis and was named superintendent of Indian affairs and a brigadier general of the territory militia.

In 1813, President Madison appointed Clark governor of the territory.

Hawken's name isn't as well known nowadays. But, the St. Louis gunsmith invented the most advanced rifle of his time. It was the one used by mountain men like Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill Cody as they explored the country.

Others buried in the Calvary Cemetery with the Chouteau family include people of more varied fame, including Tom Dooley, Robert Hyland, John Mullanphy, Dred Scott and Tennessee Williams.

Tom Dooley earned his fame with medical service to aid refugees both during and after the Vietnam War. He was the author of three best-selling books with virtually all the proceeds going into his humanitarian efforts.

He died at age 34. Then president Eisenhower said, "There are few if any men who have equaled his exhibition of courage, self-sacrifice, faith in his God and his readiness to serve his fellow man."

Robert Hyland was the long-time manager of radio station KMOX and helped to nurture a host of radio personalities such as Harry Caray, Jack Buck and Bob Costas.

Mullanphy was St. Louis' first millionaire and philanthropist.

The Dred Scott court fight in St. Louis was the first legal challenge to slavery. Although he lost in court, Scott later gained his freedom.

Tennessee Williams was a noted playwright with hits such as "The Glass Menagerie," "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

Two chapters in Mr. Amsler's book don't involve cemeteries.

The first was about a sandbar in the Mississippi River that became known as "Bloody Island." That's because it was the popular site for bloody duels. Some of them did involve famous people such as Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Lucas.

At the time, both were noted St. Louis attorneys who had a bitter dispute. Back in the early 1800s, dueling was still an accepted way of settling arguments.

In the Benton and Lucas dispute, it involved in two duels. In the first one, no one was killed and the dispute remained unsettled. On the second try, Benton finally killed Lucas. Benton went on to become one of Missouri's first members of the U.S. Senate.

The other chapter involved what Amsler said was a "disaster year" for St. Louis. In 1849, the city suffered a horrible outbreak of cholera and a huge fire in the downtown area.

With Amsler's book as background, you could set up a series of cemetery tours to sample some of St. Louis' richest history. He's even got maps of the cemeteries with the famous graves marked.

You're almost certain to get a better understanding of the people and events that shaped St. Louis' history.

Amsler's book is available at local bookstores or on-line at www.STL-books.com.