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Celebrating 200th birthday of William Greenleaf Eliot: He changed St. Louis by not celebrating hims

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 10, 2011 - Twenty three-years-old and fresh out of Harvard Divinity School, William Greenleaf Eliot struck out towards St. Louis in early October, 1834. He had received a call to establish the first Unitarian church west of the Mississippi River.

Preaching along the way in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Louisville, Eliot endured a grueling final leg due to low river levels on the Ohio. In late November, Eliot reached the frontier settlement of St. Louis, population 7,500.

A promise of "board and lodging" was his only collateral.

The life of this St. Louis giant will be celebrated this weekend at Eliot Unitarian Chapel. The program will feature special events marked for the 200th birth anniversary of the man who co-founded Washington University. Chancellor Emeritus William Danforth will take part in a forum at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Chapel.

Eliot, who is the grandfather of poet T.S. Eliot, lived through a remarkable period of success and strife in St. Louis history, growing his church along the way. Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once called Eliot "The Saint of the West."

"The key to his character is that he was not interested in celebrating himself," said the Rev. Earl K. Holt III, minister of the Eliot-founded First Unitarian Church from 1974 to 2001. "Part of his success was his selflessness. Indeed, after the original charter passed in the legislature and Eliot was elected president, he changed the name from Eliot Seminary to Washington Institute of St. Louis right away."

Eliot's first congregation met that first year at Shepherd's Schoolhouse, opposite the Old Courthouse. Over the next 40 years, he would make an impact in St. Louis and beyond that is unprecedented.

"He was an institution builder at a time when St. Louis was the Wild West," said Holt.

Eliot helped establish the St. Louis Public Schools, St. Louis Art Museum, Western Sanitary Commission (precursor to the Red Cross) and Mary Institute while Asiatic cholera, fire and civil war ravaged an emerging river city.

The Civil War posed an especially difficult challenge for Eliot as a minister.

"After the first sermon he advocated ending slavery, there are accounts that between 10 and 50 percent of congregants walked out and never returned," said Holt, now of Arizona. "It really was brother versus brother. Lifelong friends would not speak to each other on the streets. It was a painful time."

Archer Alexander, said to be the last Missouri fugitive slave, found refuge with Eliot before emancipation. Alexander would later serve as the model for Thomas Ball's Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C. Eliot also wrote a biography of Alexander.

According to Holt, christening the Mary Institute school represented Eliot's sole exception to his rule of deflecting personal accolades. "The death of his teenage daughter was his greatest tragedy."

In death, Eliot rested as he lived. "A flood of sunshine ... poured through the tinted windows" on a cold 1887 January day, as was reported by a local newspaper reporter. That day, the Church of the Messiah at Garrison and Locust was undecorated -- no flowers and no public addresses. It was a simple ceremony prepared by Eliot for friends, city ministers, Wash U. and Mary Institute alumni, students, faculty and trustees and a throng of public mourners.

Eliot is buried in his family plot at Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Matthew Fernandes is a freelance writer. 

Schedule

Saturday: "William Greenleaf Eliot's Life and Legacy: A Forum." Begins at 7 p.m. in the Eliot Chapel sanctuary. Highlights: Washington University Chamber Choir, Dr. William Danforth, The Rev. Earl Holt and Cynthia Grant Tucker. Reception following.

Sunday: Worship services at 9:30 and 11 a.m. Features: A sermon by William Greenleaf Eliot, as portrayed by actor Jeff Matthews. 12:30 p.m.:  Cynthia Grant Tucker presents a lecture about the women of William Greenleaf Eliot.

  • All events are free and take place at Eliot Unitarian Chapel, 100 S. Taylor Ave, Kirkwood, 63122.
  • A new, expanded edition of Holt's 1985 book, "William Greenleaf Eliot: Conservative Radical," will be available at this weekend's event.