Slezak House is approximately 150 years old. 1764 Village of 1766 Antoine Pierre Soulard born in
1770 Spanish government officially assumes control of territory 1854
1857 St. Louis Fire Department begins with paid firemen 1854 Railroad reaches 1857 Dred Scott case decided at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis 1860 Abraham Lincoln elected President 1861-65 American Civil War 1869 Joseph Slezak family occupies Slezak House 1874
1879 E. Anheuser & Co. brewery officially becomes Anheuser Busch brewery 1890 Joseph Slezak dies 1892 Joseph Krivanec family purchases Slezak House 1900 Immigration to the 17,286,000 from
1,219,000 from 370,000 from
249,000 from all other places 1950 Peak population year in St. Louis with 857,000 1990
The earliest available records date occupancy of the house at 1869. However, it is likely that Joseph Slezak inherited the house from a deceased brother. Records do not indicate the property was purchased by Joseph. Possibly unmarried, John Slezak died in 1869 and may have been the owner and earlier occupant.
Also, the architecture of the house, it's location in the urbanization pattern of the day and similar cottages, may indicate that the house was built in the late 1850s.
The Slezak House Sesquicentennial
is being celebrated in 2010-11!
In honor of Bohemian immigrants who settled and helped build Soulard,
the Czech National Flag will be displayed at the Slezak House in 2010-11.
In 2009, Czechs celebrated the 20 year anniversary of the fall of communism.
The Bohemian Coat of Arms
Bohemian Beer
The Zatec brewery may have been paying brewing tax in 1004 to the City of Zatec, making the Czech brewery the oldest in operation in the world.
The Soulard neighborhood is entering a time when many structures will start to turn 150 years old.
For more about housing types in St. Louis from this period, see
Period I: The Walking City 1820-1869
Discover more about 19th century history.
Slezak House Sesquicentennial Timeline
1794 Antoine Pierre Soulard arrives in Marblehead, MA
1800 Spanish return territory to France
1803 United States buys the Territory of Louisiana from France
1805 St. Louis established as the seat of government for the Territory of Louisiana
1812 Territory of Missouri established
1817 First steamboat on the Mississippi River north of the Ohio River to reach St. Louis
1822 Volunteer fire department organized
1825 Antoine Pierre Soulard dies
1838 Julia Cerre Soulard establishes Soulard Public Market
1850 Cholera Epidemic in midwest (again in several cities in 1866)
1860 Eberhard Anheuser purchases Bavarian Brewery (est. 1852)
1859 Slezak House is built
1860 Pony Express Mail Service begins at
1892
1901 Catharine Slezak dies
1974 Soulard residents organize neighborhood real estate revitalization program
1975 Marie Krivanec-Michalek sells Slezak House
2001
2007 The canary in the coalmine ignored, the nation's great economic and fiscal tsunami begins to rise.
2010-11 Slezak House Sesquicentennial
2012 Solicited offers to purchase and serve as the next "trustee" will begin in June
