How I met Frederick Stoddard

About me: Dawn Power

I'm a wife, mom, and Nana from the St. Louis area. My weekdays are spent working in supply chain logistics negotiating contracts and tracking down shipments for my retail customers. When I'm not working or tending to family matters I'm researching. All things history and genealogy related are fascinating to me. I am the family historian to both sides of my wonderfully eccentric, and obnoxiously huge family. I collect family stories, documents, and photos in an effort to make them accessible to everyone. Museums, libraries, and old archives are my favorite playgrounds. I love to organize the information that I find and build stories that , hopefully, people will enjoy.

One of the things I love to do is adventure out to estate sales. These sales can be every bit as interesting as the exhibits in the local museums. There's art, there's period antiques, there's old original photographs! It's a visual catalog of items from someone's life, offering hints about them as a person, and their history. Because family history is so dear to me, I'm heartbroken every time I stumble upon old family photos and documents at a sale. I often wonder how someone could let go of such precious heirlooms. So, I started rescuing any old photos (pre-1940) that had names on the back. Once home, I would research the names to see if I could locate another branch of the family that would be interested in having the photos. I have been able to rehome several special pieces, including this beautiful marriage certificate from 1879 that I was able to mail to their great-grand daughter in Arkansas. She was so grateful to receive it.

On March 13th, 2020, just a week before the country went on full lock down for Covid-19, I went to an estate sale in Chesterfield, MO where I purchased a framed print of a sketch of the old St. Louis courthouse by Roscoe Misselhorn and a manila envelope of old letters and correspondence from the early 1920's-30's. While standing in line waiting to check out I found myself staring at a frame on the wall. It was matted, and without my glasses on, it looked as if it were several sepia tinted photographs. It was a Sunday, so the $15 price tag was reduced to $7.50. Soon, I was called up to the register so I snatched the frame from the wall and would give it a closer look once I had the frame home.

That night I was admiring my haul from the day, sifting through the old letters and carefully wiping down the frames. I was most excited about my Misselhorn print. I love his work and like to collect the prints that I find frequently at these sales for just a few dollars. As I tilted the frame to the side to wipe down the ends, the light caught the shimmer of silver pencil lead. Wait!...Stop! To my surprise, what I thought was a Roscoe Missellhorn print turned out to be an original sketch! What a find! I was over the moon!

This immediately made me curious about the other items. In sorting through the letters, Most of them appeared to be correspondence from folks across the country writing into local radio station KMOX regarding their thoughts on the music played by two young ladies during "The Steinway hour". STIFEL. Where do I know that name? Stifel Nicholas? Stifel Bank? The Stifel theater? After a bit of research I discovered the estate sale that I attended that day was the grandson of Otto Stifel, owner of Union brewery in St. Louis during the early 20th Century. One of the young ladies playing piano on KMOX was Alma Stifel, Otto's daughter-in-law.

Now it was time to give my mystery piece a closer look. After some inspection (glasses on this time!) I realized that these were not sepia tinted photos. I shook my head and laughed ("Dawn, you dummy"). Now, more intrigued, I attempted to figure out what it was I was looking at. The signature at the bottom right of the frame showed Compliments of F L Stoddard. "Who is F L Stoddard", I wondered. A quick google search revealed that there was an artist that went by that name living in St. Louis at the turn of the 19th century. He was commissioned by the mayor of St. Louis, in 1905 to paint the murals inside City Hall, downtown. Fascinating! I'd never been in city hall before. My friend Jen lives in the city and always complained about having to go to City Hall in person to pay her property taxes. She had a love hate relationship with the place. Having to pay out money to the tax man was a necessary evil, but according to her, the people watching there was second to none.

In the piece there are 3 separate vignettes. A distinguished, George Washington looking fellow is dominant figure in each one. He was clearly someone very important. "Who is he"?!!!!

Vignette #1

The old gentleman is sitting at a desk listening intently to a woman across from him as a young girl balances on her tippy-toes to the side. Meanwhile there are a couple of frustrated looking characters in the background. Is George Washington ignoring them? I'm beginning to think this is a sketch of the DMV. This is definitely a watercolor painting, and doesn't appear to be a print. I've never seen a watercolor painting of people in such amazing detail before. I can almost see the pleats the girls dress swaying as she struggles to wait patiently. The curls of her hair bounce as she fidgets. Look how lovingly George rests his hand on the little girls hand! This one has some water damage, which which makes me sad.

Vignette #2

Riverboat in the background, which makes me feel like this may be set in St. Louis. Some folks who appear to be hurt or wounded, and there's George...reaching out to hold the hand of a young man being carried through the riverfront on a stretcher. He's a truly caring man. Did the wounded folks come off that boat? Is this a rescue of some sort? Again, with the flowy pleated fabrics. There's a story being told, I just wish I knew the details behind it.

Vignette #3

Old George is starting to feel like a celebrity of some sort. These children appear excited to meet him. Little girl in the center has a perfect Nelly Olsen curl down the back of her hair. The soft faded textures contrast with the amazing detail of the figures themselves.

I needed to figure this out. I just bought this crazy detailed watercolor painting from the estate of Otto Stifel's grandson for $7.50. It's signed by an artist who painted murals in the mayor's office down town 120 years ago and they are still intact today. There must be scads of information out there on him!

I was shocked to find that there was not.

After weeks of scouring the internet looking for some history on F. L. Stoddard, I was able to glean a few bits of information hidden several archives online, I realized one thing that I had not done. I had researched Stoddard and Stifel individually but hadn't found much. Finally, I decided to search for documents that mentioned both names together........GOLD!

Both F. L. Stoddard and Otto Stifel are mentioned in the 1905 Report of the St. Louis Board of Education. it was there that not only did I find the details behind the piece that I had purchased, but a photo that matched my painting exactly! In my hands was a significant piece of St. Louis history tying Frederick Stoddard, Otto Stifel, and James Yeatman! Amazing! This set me on a mission to uncover more about Stoddard. Does the mural still exist somewhere? What other works has Stoddard done that have faded into the forgotten pages of history? These questions have led me on an adventure that continues today.

OTTO F. STIFEL

Otto F. Stifel (Nov 4, 1862 - Aug 1920)

Otto Stifel was born in St. Louis, MO to Colonel Charles F. Stifel and Louise Caroline Stifel. Otto's parents were second cousins, born in Germany. They immigrated to the United States and settled in St. Louis, MO in 1849. His father, Charles, opened his own beer brewery, and was was appointed Colonel of the 5th Regiment of the U.S. Reserve Corps in 1861.

Otto graduated from Washington University, and would subsequently study abroad at a School of Technology in Stuttgart, Germany. Once back in the U.S. he traveled to Chicago, Milwaukee, and New York studying the Beer brewing processes there. Upon his return to St. Louis he took over his father's brewery at 14th and Howard Streets. Eventually that brewery became a part of the St. Louis Brewing Association, to which his father was a listed member, and Otto would eventually become it's President.

He later helped form Union Brewing Company at Michigan Ave and Gravois. The name would later be updated to Otto Stifel's Union Brewing Company.

Carl G. Stifel (May 24 1894 - February 23, 1969)

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