Part 4 (to view previous articles go to the ARCHIVES page.)

Hy. Clay Sexton was probably the best known of these brothers, having helped organize the City of St. Louis Fire Department in 1857, and serving as its first fire chief for a number of years. He was the hero of several famous fires, and his reputation and knowledge in his field, brought him and offer to head the fire Department in Chicago at an annual salary of $10,000.00, a liberal sum in those days, which offer he declined because of a higher sense of civic responsibility to his duties in St. Louis. When the Civil War began, the military authorities took over the City’s water and fire departments, and Bro. Sexton was removed as Fire chief by the Union Army commander, General Schofield, because of alleged southern sympathies. He was put in the old Gratiot Street Prison, but his incarceration was so resented by the people that he was soon release, the charges having been proved to be both political and absurd. 

Our first Treasurer, Bro. Erastus wells, arrived in St. Louis in 1843 from Jefferson County, New York. He was twenty-five years old when elected treasurer and served for three years. He was one of the active younger men in the lodge and often assisted the Secretary by preparing the minutes of our early meetings with meticulous care. He was the father our City’s transportation system, having organized the first omnibus route west of the Mississippi River. Later he drove the first horse-drawn street car up Olive Street from fourth to Tenth Streets on July 4, 1859. He was elected to the City Council in 1848, and served fourteen years in this capacity. He was one of the organizers of the Old Southern Hotel. He later became President of the Laclede Gas company, and of a bank. He took the lead in sponsoring the erection of the “Masonic Hall” at the Northwest corner of Seventh and Market Streets in 1866. In 1868 he was elected to the National House of Representatives and served four terms in congress. He accomplished much for our city in a practical way. The town of Wellston is named in his honor. 

Bro. Wells was succeeded as Treasurer in 1852 by Bro. Isaac H. Sturgeon, who later served as Assistant United States Treasurer at St. Louis, having charge of the Custom House and Postal Funds. On January 5, 1861, bro. Sturgeon wrote a forceful letter to President Buchanan directing his attention to the danger facing the St. Louis Arsenal, then regarded as the key to St. Louis, because of the large supply of arms and ammunition stored there, and through his persistence adequate military protection was furnished in time to safeguard it for the Union cause. He later became President and General Manager of the North Missouri in Railroad company, predecessor of the Wabash Railroad company. In the summer of 1866, he deeded the first two lots to start the City of Moberly, Missouri, a prominent division point along the railroad he once headed.

To Be Continued Next Month