English's Cave - oil on canvas 1840

Urban exploration in St. Louis, Missouri
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redox
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English's Cave - oil on canvas 1840

Post by redox »

Missouri Historical Society Art Collection


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SubLunar
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RE: English's Cave - oil on canvas 1840

Post by SubLunar »

Holy crap nice find!
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redox
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Re: English

Post by redox »

Yeah I'm confused
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Re: English

Post by Kit »

because all the men are walking like they are gay?
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redox
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Re: English

Post by redox »

Kit wrote:because all the men are walking like they are gay?
LOL no I'm confused because if the falgpole is the arsenal, and provided that it was painted during the afternoon, the postiton of the sun tells me the cave entrance was located north of the arsenal. The falg could be the brand new Western Brewery. In which case the position of the sun would make sense. The painting could be just romanticized making my examination of it silly.
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Re: English

Post by MONKEYMANN »

Very Cool Find!
I DIDN'T SAY THAT YOU SAID THAT I SAID THAT......
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redox
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RE: English's Cave - oil on canvas 1840

Post by redox »

I just found out the flagpole was actually within the beer garden. It was 98 feet tall!
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RE: English's Cave - oil on canvas 1840

Post by Blade Runner »

that's been hanging up in the History Museum for more than 3 years now where the hell were you guys? I'm happy someone finally digitized it - cheers Redox.

I've been told by a reliable source the flagpole might represent the old arsenal, where did you hear it was in the beer garden? To say the least that looks incredibly far away for that to be true...
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redox
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Re: RE: English's Cave - oil on canvas 1840

Post by redox »

Blade Runner wrote:that's been hanging up in the History Museum for more than 3 years now where the hell were you guys? I'm happy someone finally digitized it - cheers Redox.

I've been told by a reliable source the flagpole might represent the old arsenal, where did you hear it was in the beer garden? To say the least that looks incredibly far away for that to be true...
Nah I thought that too at first. The flagpole at the arsenal was/is over a half mile from the center of where the McHose English beer garden existed. Considering the distance and elevation, the flagpole at the arsenal would need to be gigantic (like taller than the arch) to be looming that large in the distance. Even if the painting is romanticized, foreshortening tells us the 98 foot flagpole was not more than 1000' from the entrace to English's cave and probably on the order of 3 to 5 hundred feet. My guess is the flagpole was positioned on the eastern end of the beer garden so as to be visable to traffic on Carondelet Ave (now Broadway) and the river.


Bulletin 1971 vol. 28

"...of 4 Main Street, was employed on Saturday last to ascend a flag staff, at English's Cave, ninety-eight feet in height, for the purpose of arranging the ropes by which the flag is raised and lowered..."
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redox
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Re: English

Post by redox »

also this...

"St. Louis - English's Cave
Liberty Weekly Tribune. May 20, 1859, Page 2, Column 4.
Robert Humphreys climbed the 100 foot flag pole at English's Cave in St. Louis"
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redox
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Re: English

Post by redox »

There's a good look at the painting here
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Re: English

Post by Scott2822 »

Found this picture, thought it was kinda cool, looks like an entrance to English cave?

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Re: English

Post by Scott2822 »

This one is cool as well, from inside the grotto!

[/img]http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/9647 ... 14.jpg[img]
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Re: English

Post by Scott2822 »

sorry

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Re: English

Post by Nicotti »

Cool finds!
More online investigation than onsite exploration these days.

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