St. Louis Museum facts for kids

The St. Louis Museum was a special place in St. Louis, Missouri that showed off amazing things from nature and history. It was also known as Koch's Museum. Imagine a museum filled with old bones, cool rocks, and items from faraway lands!

Where Was the Museum Located?

The St. Louis Museum was on the third floor of a building called Wyman's Hall. This building was on Market Street in St. Louis, Missouri, right across from the Court House. Today, a museum called the Museum of Westward Expansion is located near where this old museum once stood.

Who Ran the Museum?

The museum had a few different people in charge.

Early Directors: Wyman and Bates

At first, a man named Edward Wyman started the museum. He was very good at finding and setting up natural history items. J.P. Bates helped him run it. Bates loved natural history too and traveled all over the world, like to Europe and South America, to collect birds and other animals. The museum had almost 2,500 items, and some people thought many of them couldn't be found anywhere else in the country! The collections included interesting things from places like the East Indies and the South Sea Islands, plus paintings, statues, minerals, and shells.

Dr. Albert C. Koch's Time

Another important person was Dr. Albert C. Koch. He was from Germany and opened the museum in 1836. Dr. Koch was interested in science, but he also loved to put on a show! He made the museum feel exciting, almost like a vaudeville show. He even put together some very large skeletons from smaller bones and showed them off as ancient, giant creatures. Even though he liked to put on a show, Dr. Koch was important in science during his time, and his museum had many valuable natural history collections.

What Could You See at the Museum?

The St. Louis Museum had many fascinating collections.

American Indian Artifacts

One special collection included costumes, weapons, pipes, and other items from American Indian tribes. These were collected by General William Clark, who explored the Mississippi River with Meriweather Lewis. It's believed that Dr. Koch got these items after Clark passed away.

Amazing Fossils

The museum also had hundreds of fossils. Many of these were found in Missouri. Between 1838 and 1840, Dr. Koch found a huge fossil at the Pomme de Terre River in Missouri. He called it the Missouri Leviathan, or Missourium. It was bigger than an elephant and had unique tusks. Later, scientists realized it was actually a mastodon skeleton that Dr. Koch had put together with some extra bones!

The "Greatest Fossil": Hydrarchos

Another very famous fossil at the museum was called the Hydrarchos, or Zeuglodon. The museum even called it "the greatest fossil in the world." Dr. Koch built this fossil mainly from basilosaurus bones he bought in Alabama in 1848. He showed it off, claiming it was a giant creature from ancient times. Some scientists, like Benjamin Silliman and Joseph Leidy, saw the fossils. However, Dr. Koch sometimes used their words out of context to make his exhibit seem more real than it was. Eventually, Professor Jeffries Wyman showed that the Hydrarchos was a hoax.

The Hydrarchos was later taken to Dresden, Germany, where it was destroyed during World War II. A smaller model of it was also destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire.

The Museum's End

Dr. Koch spent a lot of time hunting for fossils, which meant he was often away from the museum. Because of this, fewer people visited. He decided to sell the St. Louis Museum in January 1841 and left St. Louis. Dr. Koch then traveled around the United States and Europe, showing off his collections, including the Missourium. He later sold parts of his fossil collection, including the Missourium, to the British Museum. Today, the Missourium is still on display at the British Museum, put together correctly.

After Dr. Koch left, the St. Louis Museum struggled and eventually closed its doors forever.

What Happened to the Building?

After the museum closed, Wyman's Hall became a popular place for concerts and dances. The third floor, where the museum used to be, was the main concert area in the city. Sadly, the building burned down in June 1866.

Images for kids

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  A drawing from the past of Koch's "hydrarchos" or Zeuglodon.