Arsenal Island

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Public School Use

Acts of the US Congress in 1812 and 1824 gave the island to the City of St. Louis as part of an educational grant (need more research here).

Arsenal Island

The island was located directly across a stretch of the Mississippi from the St. Louis Arsenal. It was used as a burial place for soldiers who died at the Arsenal.^[1]

Quarantine Island

On May 4, 1850, a St. Louis ordinance moved the City's quarantine station to Arsenal Island as a result of the 1849 Cholera Epidemic.^[2] Travelers who wanted to land in St. Louis were subject to a medical examination, follwed by approval or rejection. For a time, maps of the area showed the name of Arsenal Island only as "Quarantine Island."

From a letter written by an unknown lady named Mary, June 12 1850:

"We left Cincinnati about dark (on Saturday on the Steamboat Mount Vernon) and were at St. Louis the next Wednesday night or should I say Thursday morning about 12 or 1 o'clock. The quarantine was about four miles below the city - when we were near - our boat gave every signal to the officers in their power - but it was storming dreadfully - the night was very dark - and as none made their appearance - and the Capt. could not find the place - he decided to go on - But as soon as we reached the city - he was arrested - and back we had to go - amid thunder, lightening and rain - and submit to an examination - which was so thorough - that the Dr’s came to even the door of the ladies cabin - with a bow and a 'good morning ladies how do you all do? - pretty well here?' and off they went - We might have had fifty cases of cholera - and they been none the wiser - well - that performance over - we returned to the city - the Capt. all the while remaining in custody - and then the matter was taken to the mayor’s office and the Capt. honorably discharged as having done his duty - That was the way I decided also - I think they should at least have been compelled to pay for our breakfast - as the Capt. had all of us to feed that morning - when he expected to have landed us long before - and it is no small allowance that satisfies three or four hundred."^[3]

City Cemetery was the cemetery that housed many of those who died during the 1849 Cholera Epidemic. City Cemetery was emptied of these bodies, as they were moved to the Quarantine Island burial grounds to make way for the new Benton Park on the same land.^[4]

Hospital

Between the years 1861 and 1865 a military hospital was in operation on the island..^[5]

The End of the Island

In 1858 the Island, in low water, extended to and adjoined the main-land on the Missouri side of the river. At some time between the years 1853 and 1863 the greater portion of Island washed away.^[6] According to Supreme Court documents from the case of St Louis v. Rutz, the during flooding each spring, the Island lost "from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet." The same case went on to say that Augustus A. Blumenthal, Jr. lived in a house on the Island. By 1865 the island had eroded to such a degree that Blumenthal had to deconstruct and move the house more inland on the island. The erosion continued, and in the spring of 1873 the foundation of the house had been washed away. The rapid erosion of the island had been caused by the City of St. Louis building dykes on the western side of the Mississippi that had changed the flow of the river.^[7]

Legal Battles over the Island

Arsenal Island has had two US Supreme Court battles fought over it.

1886 - Carrick v. Lamar

W. Willoughby brought a case against the US Secretary of the Interior for refusing a request to have an official survey of the island. By this time, the island had eroded, and deposits had formed approximately 1,700 feet from the original Arsenal Island that was the site of the quarantine. Willoughby argued that he and his family had settled the new land, improved the area, and constructed a home. As there was no prior official survey of the new land, he wished one to be completed so he could lay official claim to the area and receive a deed. His request was denied by two Secretaries of the Interior,under the conclusion that "it would be improper to order a survery, inasmuch as the war department, under appropriations for the improvement of the river, was operating upon the island."^[8] Willoughby also argued that since it was not the same land as the original island, that the City of St. Louis could lay no claim to it, despite the original land being given to the City Public Schools by the US Government in 1812 and 1824. The court ruled against Willoughby for two reasons. The first was that given the moving nature of the island, "it was useless to establish corners and monuments, which would be subject to immediate obliteration."^[9] The second reason was that the US government had erected walls in an attempt to stablize the island. The court ruled that the government was spending far more to stablize the island than it would get from selling the land, therefore the land must be intended for some "special uses" and not settlement.^[10]

1891 - St Louis v. Rutz

In the US Supreme court case St Louis v. Rutz, Edward Rutz argued his property rights over the island. At this point, the island had "caved", and any remaining part of the island was now underwater, or imperceptably part of the mainland on the western side of the river. The Court ruled that since the City of St. Louis had laid claim to the island (by the land being granted to the St. Louis Public Schools by the US Government), and had used it as a quarantine location and burialground, that the Island belonged to St. Louis, regardless of Rutz's title to the land. It went on to further say that the existing land was immediately granted to the ownership of the City of St. Louis, and if the river redeposited soil above the surface of the water (i.e. naturally recreate the island), that the land would still be the possession of the City of St. Louis.^[11]

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