Planter House Hotel Location
N/A
SITE
Coordinates - 38.62632, -90.18848
on Fourth Street between Chestnut and Pine Streets in St. Louis, Missouri 63101
the Planter's House Hotel faced east on the west side of 4th Street occupying the block between Chestnut and Pine Streets
The construction of the 300-room, four story hotel began in 1837. Planter's House Hotel was four stories tall and had 300 rooms. The hotel was decorated with rich carpets and paintings and the cutlery was made to order in England, with the hotels' initials engraved on each piece. Planter's Punch was invented at the hotel bar. The hotel was damaged by fire and closed in 1887. Eventually, the damaged building was torn down in 1891. Mary Bartley described the hotel in her book, “St. Louis Lost." Begun in 1837 and designed by Henry Spence, the new 300-room, four-story hotel was located at Fourth and Pine Streets, removed from the hurly-burly and odor of the riverfront.
It had a classic, dignified exterior and shops and offices at the ground level. There was a huge main dining room, and three additional restaurants were associated with it. The grand ballroom featured decorative details copied from the Temple of Erectheus in Athens, Greece. The Planter's House Hotel was considered the finest in the West and was seen by civic leaders as a symbol of the new St. Louis. It became the gathering place for politicians and businessmen and was the byword for luxury and good service. A room cost $4.25 per person per day ($139.09 in 2024), and the rate included four sumptuous meals. The trustees leased the facility to various operators over the years for the then-considerable sum of $7,000 per month ($229,085.94 in 2024). Some notable residents of the hotel were Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, U.S. Grant, and William F. Cody. Charles Dickens also stayed at the hotel and wrote favorably about it.
Planter’s Punch
The September 1878 issue of the London magazine Fun listed the recipe as follows:
A wine-glass with lemon juice fill,
Of sugar the same glass fill twice
Then rub them together until
The mixture looks smooth, soft, and nice.
Of rum then three wine glasses add,
And four of cold water please take. A
Drink then you'll have that's not bad—
At least, so they say in Jamaica.
HISTORY
A meeting that ultimately kept Missouri in the Union during the Civil War occurred at the Planter's House Hotel on June 11, 1861. Gov. Claiborne Jackson and Gen. Sterling Price, representing secession, met with Col. Nathaniel Lyon and Frank Blair. Just ten days before the meeting, Nathaniel Lyon had been appointed a Brigadier-General of Federal volunteers and placed in command of all Federal forces in the State of Missouri. After meeting for four or five hours, Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon stood up, declared war on Jackson and Price, and stormed out of the meeting. Over the next several days, Lyon mobilized his forces, ultimately leading to the Battle of Boonville and sending the sitting Missouri Governor into exile.
