1508 Locust Street
Saint Louis, Missouri
314-421-0325

The Campbell House Museum is an 1851 three-story townhouse once owned by Robert Campbell, one of Saint Louis’ most prominent residents. John Hall, a Saint Louis wholesale grocer, built the Campbell House in 1851. The Campbell House was the first house to be built in what was then called Lucas Place. Lucas Place was west of the developed portion of the city, making it St. Louis' first "suburban" neighborhood and the first clearly defined wealthy neighborhood in Saint Louis. The estate is the only home left in the once-elegant neighborhood of aristocratic homes. Robert Campbell became the third owner when he bought the house in 1854.

Robert Campbell immigrated to the United States in 1823 from Scotland. In 1825 Campbell joined a trapping expedition for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the firm that would revolutionize the fur trade with a business innovation - the Rendezvous. In 1930 Campbell and William Sublette started Campbell & Sublette, a competitor to the American Fur Company, which was owned by the Chouteaus, one of the founding families of St. Louis. When he retired from the mountains in 1835, Campbell settled in Saint Louis and began investing in interests in the western United States including real estate, dry goods, railroads, steamships, and a gold mine in New Mexico. His mercantile which outfitted settlers heading west stood where the Arch is today. When Campbell died in 1879, he was considered the wealthiest man in Missouri.

Two of Campbell's sons, Hugh and Hazlett, continued to live in the house after Robert's death. After Hazlett's death in 1938 the house was willed to Yale University and it was put it up for sale. The furnishings were sent to the Selkirk Gallery to be auctioned. Stix, Baer and Fuller, a local department store, bought the home in 1941 as part of its 50th anniversary celebration and gave it to the Campbell House Foundation, a group that was formed to turn the home into a museum. The Foundation raised enough funds to go to Selkirk Gallery to buy back 90 per cent of the Campbell furnishings. The house was opened as a museum in 1943 showcasing Victorian furnishings and decorative arts.

In 1973 an important album of 60 photographs was donated to the Museum. The 8 by 10 inch photos, dating from about 1885, show not only the house interior, room by room, but also the exterior and surrounding neighborhood. The discovery of the Campbell House photo album allowed for accurate restoration of the interior rooms and after the completion of a restoration project in 2005, the house looks as it did in the 1880s. Two third-floor rooms are being turned into exhibition halls for programs and displays, which will detail life as it was for a wealthy family and its servants during the 19th century.

As part of the cream of the crop of Saint Louis society, the Campbells lived a life of affluence and evidence of that can still be seen in the home today. Their home had running water when they bought it, an unusual situation for the 1850s. The Campbells had a staff of 7 to 10 servants, mainly Irish or German immigrants, to run the house.

Visiting the Campbell House
Visiting Hours
Wednesday - Saturday: 10 am - 4 pm
Sunday: 12 pm - 4 pm
Admission is $6 for adults, which includes a guided tour; children 12 and under are free.