Hand dug beer cave under St Louis park?

[redox]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/reales ... enDocument



"For instance, a hand-dug, former beer-storage cave in what’s now Seibert Park at Manchester and Sulphur Springs roads became a hideout for many residents who feared confrontations with — and becoming part of work details for — the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War."

[silverstreak]

This was I think part of the Heim Brothers Brewery. They owned and operated a brewery in East St. Louis (located at 10th and State Streets, and later a Sears & Roebuck site).The same guys that opened Electric Park in Kansas City next to their brewery in the East Bottoms, boosting both beer sales and their streetcar business. It features a German biergarten, bathing facilities, boating, rides, concerts, and a 2,800-seat theater for vaudeville and light opera.
Then they moved to 46th Street and The Paseo and opened the New Electric Park or "Kansas City's Coney Island"

[silverstreak]

Oh almost forgot...and at their location at (10th & State Sts.) there was a large cave under the old Heim's Brewery.


I checked the business records, and in the 1892 records it is labeled as: Heim Brewery, 10th St. and Illinois Ave.; Henry C. Griesedick, Manager, sameguy as the old Griesedick Brewery I believe

[Chris]

I was looking at a Google Earth of Manchester and Sulphur Springs, and Manchester's website lists the park at 14448 Manchester Road.

There's a creek running through it with some odd looking walls and such along it. If I'm in the area I'll check it out.

[redox]

I know, that threw me for a loop too, because that park address is near S. Hanely. Yeah I saw that odd building foundation or wall or whatever too. Something to look into. So how did you connect this with the Heim Brothers Brewery?

[redox]

Oh almost forgot...and at their location at (10th & State Sts.) there was a large cave under the old Heim's Brewery.


I checked the business records, and in the 1892 records it is labeled as: Heim Brewery, 10th St. and Illinois Ave.; Henry C. Griesedick, Manager, sameguy as the old Griesedick Brewery I believe

That is very interesting.

[silverstreak]

After looking at the business records I came across the name then researched Heim, and found this clipping...Ferdinands brother Michael joined him in Missouri after turning fifteen, and the brothers soon entered into the dairy and cattle business. During this time they were also briefly involved in the beer business, operating a small brewery in Manchester, Missouri (today part of suburban St. Louis), from 1857 through 1859.

The Heims lagered the beer from this brewery in a cave, dug in the early 1850's into a hillside near Grand Glaize Creek, north of Old Sulphur Springs Road. Legend holds that the cave later served as a hiding place for townspeople during the Civil War whenever Union or Confederate army troops marched through the area. The cave and surrounding ground was eventually donated to the city of Manchester, and the site is now called Seibert Park. In 1862, the Heims moved to the community of French Village, Illinois, located at the foot of the bluff between the towns of East St. Louis and Belleville.

[redox]

I found the cave. It's actually on the south side of Manchester Rd just on the other side of the creek. It's off Sulphur Springs Rd. at the base of a hill . The cave is really small (~25'wide X 50'deep) but definitely very cool to find. I took a picture with my phone and will post it when I figure out how to transfer images to my computer from the cell phone. There is a sign just off the road that gives a brief history of the cave.

[Chris]

What? You've got to be kidding me! No passages leading hundreds of feet underground connecting to a vast, maze-like network of manmade cellars and cave passages that lead for miles in sevaral directions? What a rip! That guy was a slacker!





Gonna have to check it out this weekend.

[silverstreak]

It's still a cave which is nice, I'll have to stop by next time I am out that way

[redox]

Hey Silverstreak, where did you do your research on this topic sir? ...if I may ask

I wasn't able to locate either the intersection of State and 10th or Illinois and 10th (present day). The streets names have been changed a bunch over the years.

[silverstreak]

My best resource is this one....Heim is under Breweries,

http://www.eslarp.uiuc.edu/ibex/archive ... s-1892.htm

Also located in this section under Sears and Roebuck (thats what was built there later in Il.

http://www.riverweb.uiuc.edu/IBEX/english/chapter11.htm

[redox]

Ah thanks. Good links there. Illnois Ave was eluding me. It has been changed to MLK Dr. Here is the location of the Heim Bros. Brewery after they moved it to Illnois. As per the Sears and Roebuck building location-:

Who wants to bet there's a "large" cave under there? [/img]

[redox]

Here is a picture I took with my cell phone of the Heim cave in Manchester: