In 1899, five immigrants met at the home of a young man named Gus Holt to discuss the fundamentals of a men’s club focusing on “the development of physical culture and social activities.” This meeting led to the foundation of South Broadway Athletic Club in St. Louis’ Soulard neighborhood.
“It was a time of sports that were starting to come into their own, which was boxing and wrestling. And it was also a time when clubs started to become more popular,” said current club member and editorial writer Miriam Moynihan.
The club’s 125-year history is detailed in the new Reedy Press book “South Broadway Athletic Club: St. Louis’s Home for Boxing, Wrestling, and Cheap Beer Since 1899” by co-authors Moynihan and St. Louis bricklayer Ryan Buckley. The pair served on the club’s archive committee, which included other members who contributed to the book.
“It was an incredibly long process,” Moynihan recounted. “There were nine members in the archive committee, and we met every Monday for a year. We went through boxes, decided on the pictures that we liked [and] discovered various stories in the newspaper.”
The book details the highs and lows faced by the organization over the years, including in the early 2010s, when declining membership and financial mismanagement nearly shuttered the social club’s doors.
Current club President Kevin Wilkins recalled visiting South Broadway Athletic Club during that time.
“It was $2 draft beers,” he said. “You could still smoke in there at the time, so there was literally a cloud of smoke hovering above the top of the wrestling ring — and there were 400 to 500 people packed in there screaming their heads off and having an absolute blast.”
Wilkins became a member in 2015. Shortly after joining, he was voted in by the board to take the reins and to help breathe new life into the club. One of his changes was to allow the women who fundraised, cooked and organized social activities for the club to become official members themselves.
“I told some of the older members, ‘If I'm going to be the president of this place, we can't have a separate Ladies Auxiliary. We all have to be under the one umbrella, and we all have to do this together,’” said Wilkins. “I'm glad the ladies agreed to join up with us; they were pivotal to keeping the place open.”
In 2025, the club is thriving as an events space and watering hole for lifelong members and community partners alike.
“We have city safety meetings there, and [the] Soulard Restoration Group has events there,” Wilkins said.
In the decade since nearly closing its doors for good, South Broadway Athletic Club has added offsite special events, raffles and live music events geared toward community engagement to the roster of boxing, wrestling and cheap beer.
“We wanted to be a more inclusive space and welcoming to all,” Wilkins added. “One, it was just the right thing to do, [and] two, it's helped get more people through the doors.”
For more about the creation of the book, the history of South Broadway Athletic Club and whether the club’s pastime of “spaghetti wrestling” will return, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: A presentation and book signing event hosted by Left Bank Books
When: 6 p.m. July 16
Where: The Stellar Hog, 5623 Leona St., St. Louis, MO 63116
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
