ST. LOUIS – Lafayette Square is one of the oldest neighborhoods in St. Louis and is among the city’s 27 historical neighborhoods. It traces its origins to 1836, when the city’s board of aldermen passed an ordinance designating approximately 30 acres from the St. Louis Commons to become the city’s first public park.

A few homes were built around the park, but it wasn’t until the mid-to-late 1850s that residential building took off. By then, the park had been dedicated and named in honor of Marquis de La Fayette, the famed French general who came to the colonies’ aid during the Revolutionary War.

Among the early homebuilders in Lafayette Square was steamboat pilot Horace Ezra Bixby. Born in Geneseo, New York, in 1826, Bixby went on to become a prodigious pilot, securing pilot licenses for the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers.

The Man

In 1877, Bixby used his earnings over the years to construct a marvelous Second Empire-style Victorian townhouse at what is now 1532 Mississippi Avenue for his second wife, Mary Sheble, and their children. It was one of the first homes in Lafayette Square with indoor plumbing and a clawfoot tub.

Bixby was notable in his day as a riverman, but his legacy and reputation endure because he had a hand in mentoring a young man with dreams of becoming a pilot himself, a fellow by the name of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain.

Bixby met Clemens in February 1857, some two decades before he lived across the street from Lafayette Park. Bixby agreed to take Clemens, then 21, on as a cub pilot or apprentice in navigating the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans, in exchange for $500. Clemens paid $100 up front and the remaining $200 came out of his first wages. Bixby said he eventually forgave the remaining debt after the U.S. Civil War began in 1861.

Clemens spent two years under Bixby’s guidance before receiving his pilot’s license. While piloting up and down the Mississippi, Clemens developed his famous nom de plume, which itself has differing origin stories.

The two men parted ways with the outbreak of the Civil War. Clemens went to the West, while Bixby served in the Union River Services as the pilot of the 202-foot ironclad gunboat USS Benton, built in St. Louis by engineer James Eads. Bixby is credited as the chief pilot of a squadron of Union vessels during the First Battle of Memphis.

Several years after the war, Bixby would write Clemens—who was now going by Mark Twain—and tell his friend that he could entertain the author next time he’s in St. Louis because he now owns one of the nicest homes around Lafayette Park. The two met in New Orleans in 1882 and rekindled their friendship, with Twain venturing upriver to St. Louis with Bixby to collect more interviews and material for an upcoming book detailing his days as a cub pilot and returning to the Mississippi River some two decades later.

That book, “Life on the Mississippi,” was released in 1883. Twain took some liberties with the story, portraying his mentor as wise and good-natured but quick-tempered and prone to outbursts of profanity. Bixby’s friend took umbrage with Twain’s descriptors, but Bixby himself did not hold that against the writer. Over time, however, the notoriety of being a character in Twain’s book wore thin, and Bixby grew weary from receiving letters from strangers or interview requests from reporters.

Bixby continued piloting vessels until his dying days. His final command, piloting the federal snagboat Horatio G. Wright (built in Carondelet in 1880), ended on July 30, 1912. He died two days later, on August 1, at his home in Maplewood.

An autopsy revealed Bixby died of apoplexy, more commonly described as a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke. According to the obituary published in The Bryan Times, he got up early and dressed, awaiting word from the government about piloting the tugboat Nokomis. Mary found Bixby lying dead on their bed. He was 86.

As his obituary noted, “he died as he often had said he wished to die, ‘in the harness.’”

Bixby was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery on August 3, 1912, to the left of Susan Weibling, his first wife. When Mary died in September 1921, she was buried to the left of Bixby’s grave.

The Horatio G. Wright remained in service until the 1930s. It was dismantled in 1941.

Twain preceded his mentor in death. The renowned author died in Redding, Connecticut, on April 21, 1910, of a heart attack at age 74.

Eventually, Bixby’s grave was updated with a more modern marker, identifying him as an accomplished river pilot and mentor to Twain, along with his military service. The gravestone also includes Bixby’s words of wisdom to his famed protégé: “There’s only one way to be a pilot, and that is to get this entire river by heart.”

The Home

The Bixbys moved out of the home in the early 1890s and Rev. Samuel Palmer and his family moved in by 1892. The Palmers were at home at the time of the St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado of 1896, which killed at least 255 people and injured over a thousand others. The tornado, which tore through the Lafayette Square and Compton Heights neighborhoods, remains the third-deadliest tornado in U.S. history. The tornado destroyed the third floor, where the Palmers’ son was watching the storm. The child was not seriously injured.

1532 Mississippi remained a two-story home for another 80 years. Former owners Tom and Lynne Keay finally rebuilt the third floor in 1976. Current owners, Larry and Andrea Heugatter, have maintained the home for the past 15 years and consider their stewardship a labor of love. They’ve added some modern amenities, like a deluxe garage with a rooftop deck and solar panels on the roof, and renovated the kitchen with 19th-century French antiques.

Despite the updates, nearly all of the original finishes remain in the house, including five marble fireplaces and a painted iron fireplace. There have been no changes to the layout since it was built. Many of the home’s original ceiling medallions or plaster moldings are intact, with a notable exception in the first-floor dining room. That was made by Bob Cassilly, a sculptor and the founder of City Museum. The front parlor features a unique piece of history on display: the ship’s wheel from The Hungarian, one of the earliest boats Horace Bixby piloted.

The 4,752-square-foot home has 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms over three floors. The first floor is fit for entertaining and dining, while the second floor is only bedrooms and bathrooms, and the third floor is a private quarters containing the primary bedroom and bedroom, along with a secluded screened veranda. The basement has ample storage area and a room fit for a workshop or office.

The millwork has been restored over the years, the light fixtures are all original, and the stairwells have been rebuilt using original materials.

This spectacular piece of local history is listed for $960,000.

See the full listing here.

Additional Information
Realtor: Jenn Schoemehl, Circa Properties
Photography: Front Door Media & Circa Properties