From Missouri - A Guide to the "Show Me" State - St. Louis
section:
The ROBERT CAMPBELL HOUSE, 1508 Locust St., an ante bellum, three-story, gray
painted-brick structure with stable, outbuildings, and summer house in the side
lawn, primly views the modern world about it through a cast-iron fence.
The long, narrow residence is the last house to remain of many which made Lucas
Place a fashionable residential area during the 1850's.
Robert Campbell, the builder, was born in North Ireland in 1804, and came
to St. Louis in 1824. the following year he went to the Rocky Mountains,
where he remained as an associate of General William Henry Ashley in the fur
trade. When Ashley retired about 1830, Campbell and a partner William
Sublette, remained in business as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In 1835,
Campbell returned to St. Louis, where besides continuing to direct the affairs
of his fur and Indian trade, he served as president of the Bank of Missouri and
later of Merchant's Bank. In 1846, he aided in the preparation of Kearny's
expedition to the Mexican War, and, in 1851 served with Father de Smet, famed
Indian missionary, as representative of the United States government in the
great Indian Council at Horse Creek.
Following his death in 1879, his two sons, Hugh and Hazlett k., continued
to live in the home, and maintained it as it has appeared during both died
recently [Hugh 1931, Hazlett 1938], leaving an estate totaling more than
$3,000,000, for a share in which several hundred people are suing.
After Hazlett's death the house was willed to Yale University. Yale was
not interested in keeping a building halfway across the country and immediately
place the home up for sale and the furnishings were put up for auction at the
Selkirk Gallery. Stix, Baer and Fuller, a local department store,
purchased the home and gave it to the Campbell House Foundation, a group which
wanted to open the house as a museum. The Foundation was also able to
raise enough funds to purchase most of the furnishings from the Selkirk Gallery.
The house was opened as a museum in 1943 and continues as a house museum
operated by the Campbell House Foundation.
The museum hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and
Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The admission and guided tour is $6.00 per
person, children 12 and under are free. Tours usually last about an
hour.