If you look at maps of St. Louis County from the 19th century, you will undoubtedly notice the names of towns and settlements that are no longer recognized. Places like Quinette, Pond, and Centreton. This is especially true as you make your way into the western reaches of St. Louis County, where the municipality of Wildwood is today. Wildwood, as many are aware, is a fairly new creation, having only been incorporated in 1995. Prior to that, the area was defined by a scattering of small communities, most established in the 19th century. One of these communities is Glencoe. While it continues to boast only a small population relative to other regions of St. Louis County, the history of the area reaches into some fascinating places. It has long been home to two major religious orders, once contained what was likely the region’s largest producer of lime and concrete, and was a primary setting for one of the most popular novels of the early 20th century.
Detail from An atlas of St. Louis County in the State of Missouri by Berkley E. Johnson, 1893
At the nexus of all of these things is one man, James Yeatman, who built his country home not far from where the Missouri Pacific Railroad cut through the area around 1851.
Lithograph of James E. Yeatman from Sharf’s History of St. Louis City and County, 1883
Yeatman is remembered as one of the founders of Washington University, the St. Louis Mercantile Library, and a number of significant charitable efforts including the Western Sanitary Commission, which provided relief during the Civil War.1 Yeatman and his descendants resided in the Glencoe area for over 100 years, and their legacy continues to define the character of the region today.
The land on which the Yeatmans settled in 1856 was originally home to Ninian Hamilton, considered one of the earliest of the white settlers who began peopling the area in the early 1800s. In Hamilton’s case, he received a 640 acre land grant on which he was living in 1803. By 1819, he was operating a successful Gristmill in the area. Hamilton’s contribution to the area’s development is remembered today with a creek in the area bearing his name.2
After acquiring Hamilton’s Glencoe property, Yeatman built a home which was described in Thomas’s History of St. Louis County as ”the first in the neighborhood”3 of concrete construction, a building material that would have been particularly accessible for Glencoe residents due to the rich lime deposits in the area. These deposits would lead to the establishment of the Glencoe Lime and Concrete Company, founded in 1868 by John Oliver, a migrant from Pennsylvania. The company purchased huge tracts of property used today as the conservation area Rockwood Reservation.4
Operations of Glencoe Lime and Cement Company, ca. 1900
In 1872, Yeatman donated a portion of his property to the Catholic Church to run as an orphanage for children who had lost their family during a devastating cholera epidemic. The Christian Brothers began operating the orphanage in 1876, and it eventually became the LaSalle Institute, where young men could study to become Christian Brothers. The building, still standing on the site, dates to the 1880s, when it was rebuilt after a devastating fire. The site also holds a large cemetery for Christian Brothers or priests which contains dramatic shrines and grottos that date as far back as 1899, with most having been constructed in the 1930s.5 The institution continues to operate today as a Catholic retreat center.6
Following James Yeatman’s death, his daughter Angelica, who by this time had married Alfred Carr, took over the remainder of the estate.7 The Carr family expanded their original estate by purchasing an adjacent plot of land to the Southeast in 1891, which they then sold to their son Peyton Carr in 1896. The property was well known in the area as “Woodcliff”.8
Photograph of Woodcliff ca. 1950
As the 19th Century wound to a close, the Glencoe region became a significant summer and weekend getaway for St. Louis residents, with several prominent families building residences there.9 One person who may have visited was Winston Churchill. Not the British Prime Minister, but the author of the best-selling novel, The Crisis, published in 1901. The book explored the Civil War experience in St. Louis, and while fictional, borrowed heavily from the authentic history of the period. The central character is Virginia Carvel, who is sought after by a number of suitors on both sides of the approaching Civil War conflict. It was eventually revealed that Angelica Yeatman was the inspiration for this character, while James Yeatman himself was the likely inspiration for another character, Mr. Brinsmade. Finally, the Yeatman home in Glencoe was a major setting for the novel.11 In fact, chapter six of the book is titled “Glencoe,” and the community is mentioned dozens of times throughout the novel. In lines like:
“Councils of war were held over the advisability of seizing Mr. Carvel’s house at Glencoe…”
And
“That very afternoon they moved to Glencoe, and Ephum was left in sole charge of the store. At Glencoe, far from the hot city and the cruel war, began a routine of peace.”11
As the book’s popularity grew, becoming the nation's top-selling novel in 1901, interest in the small community of Glencoe grew as well. According to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the book created “an unusual and remarkable interest in the buildings and scenes in St. Louis and vicinity.” It goes on to say that two years after it was published “a day seldom passes that strangers in St. Louis or St. Louisans themselves do not visit the places mentioned in the book.” This drawing of the Yeatman home was included as part of the article.12
Drawing of James Yeatman’s home in Glencoe, published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1903
The famous house was still occupied by Angelica Yeatman Carr in 1920, when a “defective flue” caused a fire that burned it to the ground.13 Mrs. Carr passed away just a few years later.14 Her son Peyton continued to live part-time in Glencoe at his home “Woodcliff” until his death in 1943.15 The property was sold by his wife Josephine in January of the following year to the Brewers and Malsters Benevolent Association, who just a few years later sold it to the Society of Mary, a religious order which continues to use the property today as a religious retreat.16
The sale of “Woodcliff,” now often called “Marycliff,” marked the end of almost 100 years of large landholding by descendants of James Yeatman in the Glencoe area. However, over that century of residency, the Yeatman family fostered the settlement of what was a remote area of St. Louis County, launched it into literary fame, and helped establish homes for two religious orders that have spent a combined 212 years in the Glencoe area.
[1] “The Civil War in Missouri.” James Yeatman | The Civil War in Missouri, Missouri History Museum, 2011.
[2] Foster, Al. Glencoe: From the Beginning. St. Louis County Parks, 15 Mar. 1983. pg 4-5, Dupre, E. Atlas of the city and county of St. Louis: E. Dupre, 1838., Pitzman, Julius. Pitzman's new atlas of the city and county of Saint Louis, Missouri: constructed from actual surveys and official records/by Julius Pitzman. Phildelphia: A. B. Holcombe, 1878.
[3] Thomas, William Lyman. History of St. Louis County, Missouri: a Story That Attracts by Its Recital of Past Achievements, Its Record of Earnest Endeavor and Sure Development to Present Greatness and Its Future Filled with Roseate Promise. County Living Publications, 2011. pg 391; Other sources indicate that while concrete was used in the construction, it was primarily frame.
[4] Glencoe Valley Lime Works, Research from Wildwood Historical Society Archives, Wildwood Historical Society
[5] Beck, Jo. “La Salle Institute Remains Historic Landmark.” Eureka-Wildwood, MO Patch, Patch, 16 June 2011; “LaSalle,” Research from Wildwood Historical Society Archives, Wildwood Historical Society.
[6] Morris, Ann. Sacred Green Space: a Survey of Cemeteries in St. Louis County. A. Morris, 2000.
[7] Pitzman, Julius. Pitzman's new atlas of the city and county of Saint Louis, Missouri: constructed from actual surveys and official records/by Julius Pitzman. Phildelphia: A. B. Holcombe, 1878., Plat book of St. Louis County, Missouri. Des Moines, Iowa: Northwest Publishing Co., 1909, Historic Houses II Scrapbook. Missouri History Museum, pg. 3.
[8] Deed of Sale from Charles R. and Maggie A. Sanderson to Alfred Carrr, September 21, 1891, St. Louis County, Missouri, Deed Book 54, page 278. County Recorder’s Office, Clayton, Missouri. Deed of Sale from Alfred and Angelica Carr to Peyton Carr, January 2, 1896, St. Louis County, Missouri, Deed Book 88, page 42. County Recorder’s Office, Clayton, Missouri.
[9] Thomas, William Lyman. "History of St. Louis County, Missouri: a Story That Attracts by Its Recital of Past Achievements, Its Record of Earnest Endeavor and Sure Development to Present Greatness and Its Future Filled with Roseate Promise." County Living Publications, 2011. pg 391;
[10] "Visitors to St. Louis Seek Places Mentioned in The Crisis,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 25, 1903.; Historic Houses II Scrapbook. Missouri History Museum, pg. 3.; “Heroine of The Crisis is Dead in St. Louis,” The Daily Chronicle (De Kalb, Illinois) July 12, 1929.
[11] Churchill, Winston. The Crisis. HardPress Pub., 2012. pg 338 and 405
[12] "Visitors to St. Louis Seek Places Mentioned in The Crisis,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 25, 1903.
[13] Historic Houses II Scrapbook. Missouri History Museum, pg. 3
[14] Death Certificate for Angelica Yeatman Carr, 1929, sos.mo.gov
[15] “Peyton T. Carr Sr. Is Dead at 79,” St. Louis Globe Democrat, March 24, 1943
[16] Sale Contract between Josephine K. Carr and Brewers and Malsters Benevolent Assn., January, 18, 1944, Wildwood Historical Society; Resolution of Directors Brewers and Malsters Benevolent Association, July 7, 1950, Wildwood Historical Society
