STLToday.com

Home > Buy historic photos & newspaper pages
Look Back: early St. Louis politics
Date: 3/11/2010 Album ID: 960589
Photos by Post-Dispatch archives
Slideshow icon View Slideshow
“Holy Joe” Folk was a reform-minded lawyer who became St. Louis’ city circuit attorney in 1900, later convicting party boss Edward Butler who helped elect him. Folk also served as Missouri’s governor from 1905-1909.
Edward Butler, the Democratic political boss of St. Louis during the late 1800s until his death in 1911. Butler fled his native Ireland as a youth during the famine and arrived in St. Louis in 1857. He worked for a blacksmith, then opened his own shop at 106 South 10th Street. He made his fortune and built his political base through public horseshoeing contracts, and later such work as the city's contract garbage hauler. His election-day ruffians were known as Butler's Indians, and he had the power to swing elections. By the 1890s, he was the acknowledged fixer, taking bribes from business moguls who were part of the city's Big Cinch and distributing the money to favored officeholders in the old city Municipal Assembly, forerunner of the Board of Aldermen. He took the honorary title of colonel and enjoyed calling himself the village blacksmith, a reference to a popular poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Joseph W. Folk, one of the crusading progressives of the early 20th century, convicted Butler in 1902 of attempting to bribe two members of the city Board of Health so his company could keep the garbage contract. But the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the conviction on grounds that a different city board should have handled the contract, even though the Health Board had been doing so for years. The conviction diminished some of Butler's power, but large crowds gathered around his mansion at 3501 Pine Street before he died on Sept. 10, 1911. About 3,000 mourners attended his funeral at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church a short distance from his home. The St. Louis University student center is near the site of his former home. His estate listed his net worth at $2 million. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Edward Butler later in life. (Post-Dispatch
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Joseph W. Folk, the St. Louis circuit attorney who broke up big parts of Butler's corruption ring during a series of grand jury investigations and trials in 1901 through 1904. Folk was born and raised in Brownsville, Tenn., and moved to St. Louis as a young man to work as a lawyer. He joined the Jefferson Club, a progressive Democratic club, and was a lawyer for striking streetcar workers during summer 1900. He helped negotiate a settlement, and soon asked to be considered for the Democratic nomination for circuit attorney, the city's prosecutor. Edward Butler, preoccupied with other election matters, went along with the nomination. Folk was elected and soon began investigating corruption at City Hall. On March 14, 1902, the city grand jury returned an indictment charging Butler with attempting to bribe the two Board of Health members. Folk prosecuted Butler in November in Columbia, Mo., on a change of venue, and won a conviction. In 1904, he was elected governor, and he pushed for progressive-era reforms such as child-labor laws, pure-food regulations and regulation of utilities. He twice sought election to the U.S. senate, in 1908 and 1918, but failed. Shortly after President Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912, Folk moved to Washington to work as a lawyer for the State Department and the Interstate Commerce Commission. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Butler's blacksmith shop at 106 South 10th Street, one of six he operated. The site was his original shop, and his family lived in the back until they could buy a home elsewhere. The shop was demolished decades ago. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The St. Louis Four Courts Building, seen from 11th and Clark streets. It housed the city's criminal, civil and police courts at the turn of the 20th Century, and was called the Four Courts because it resembled the courthouse by that name in Dublin, Ireland. Folk's grand jury returned its indictments from this building, and Butler -- who always knew what was going on -- was waiting in the city sheriff's office on the day the indictment was returned. He arranged for bail without the indignity of spending time in holdover, then returned to his office at 15 South 10th Street. He told reporters he was confident of acquittal. My mind is easy, he said. The downtown fire station and a city parking garage are on the former site of the Four Courts and its yard, which included the city gallows. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Butler's home at 2304 Pine Street, where he and his family were living when Folk put him on trial. The home no longer exists. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The Butler mansion at 3501 Pine Street, where he died. The home was near the site St. Louis University's student union. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
Gertrude Glass Folk, wife of Joseph Folk, in her official portrait while she was first lady of Missouri. She also grew up in Brownsville, Tenn., and she and Folk were married in 1896, three years after he had begun his law practice in St. Louis. The couple had no children. A pianist and music lover, she served for a time as head of the St. Louis Choral Society. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
The home the Folks bought in Washington for their return to that city in 1920. After working for President Wilson and running for senate in 1918, he remained in St. Louis to practice law. He returned to Washington, where a lucrative practice in international law allowed the couple to buy the 20-room home for $100,000. He developed a kidney disorder in 1922 and was a patient at several hospital, including St. Luke's in St. Louis, and died on May 28, 1923, in New York at age 53. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Brownsville, Tenn. His wife died in 1952 and was buried by his side. (Post-Dispatch)
Email Page to FriendBuy this PhotoEnlarge this Photo
MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution
© MyCapture, Inc. - A Second Street Media, Inc. Solution All rights reserved.

FAQ | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Order Status