Cusanelli's William F. Alden published an article in the July 8, 1959 issue of the Naborhood Link News which detailed the history of the Cusanelli's building at 705 Lemay Ferry Road. Alden's article was subsequently reprinted on the back of the Cusanelli's menu — and taken as gospel by journalists and historians henceforth.
Alden went on to claim that "among the famous people who have visited this ancient hostelry of Lemay" were the Marquis de Lafayette, Washington Irving, William Howard Taft, Ulysses S. Grant and William Clark. Many of Alden's assertions are dubious, at best. For instance, detailed journal entrees of the Marquis de Lafayette's visit to St. Louis in 1825 makes no mention of the Frenchman visiting the "ancient hostelry of Lemay." And a detailed itinerary of President Taft's visit to St. Louis on October 25, 1909 does not include a Lemay Ferry Road stop. Accordingly, the editor of the Naborhood Link News felt compelled to add a disclaimer to Alden's article.
* * * * * Alden's "extremely interesting" article was not the only source of misinformation about the building at 705 Lemay Ferry Road. A news item in the November 16, 1949 issue of the Naborhood Link News stated that Balthasar Risch founded a restaurant at the 705 Lemay Ferry address in 1880 and "operated the restaurant business for 26 years until his son took over." Since Balthasar Risch died in 1892 at the age of 38, that would have been problematic. Balthasar Risch was born in Switzerland. He and his wife, the former Josephine Mueller, were married in St. Louis and had three children. Alexander was born in 1885, Ursula in 1887 and Elsie in 1890. The St. Louis City Directory documents that Balthasar Risch operated saloons throughout the city. He operated a saloon at the corner of Meramec and Stringtown Road in 1883, one at 605 South 2nd Street in 1884, one at 7637 Ivory Avenue in 1887, and one at 1422 South 3rd Street in 1889. There's no listing of a Risch saloon at 705 Lemay Ferry Road, although when Risch died in 1892, it was reported the funeral would take place at his family residence at 701 Lemay Ferry Road. After her husband's death, Josephine Risch remarried in 1899. She continued to live at the 701 Lemay Ferry address with her her three children and her new husband, Emil Sauter. On March 10, 1906, Josephine's brother, George Mueller, received a license from St. Louis County to operate a saloon at 701 Lemay Ferry Road. In March of 1909, Alexander J. Risch married Margaret T. Guenther. Risch continued to live at his 701 Lemay Ferry home with his bride, his mother, who by then was divorced, and his sister Elsie. According to the 1910 census, Risch owned and ran the saloon his Uncle George had secured the license for in 1906. In September of 1912, Alex Risch received a license of his own from St. Louis County to operate a saloon at the 701 Lemay Ferry address. By October of 1913, he had named his saloon Risch's Eight-Mile House, so called because its distance from the Old Courthouse at Broadway and Market in downtown St. Louis was eight miles. * * * * * From as early as 1918 and until at least 1920, Traugott Deiss and his family lived at 705 Lemay Ferry Road. Deiss was a baker; he did not run a saloon. By 1930, Alex Risch and his family were living at 705 Lemay Ferry Road. Until at least May of 1931, Risch's Eight-Mile Hose was still at the 701 address, but by September of 1931, Risch had relocated his restaurant to 705 Lemay Ferry. * * * * * Risch's Eight-Mile House was known as "The Big White Building." Margaret Risch was the cook and turned out delicious chicken dinners. Alex Risch was the bartender and drank along with his customers.
The Risch's menu included sauerbraten, potato kloesse
and other German dishes, along with home-cooked chicken, steak and
frog leg dinners. Anheuser-Busch draught and bottle beer was served.
Alex Risch retired in 1949. Management of the Eight-Mile House was turned over to Ralph and Lillian Larson. By January of 1954, the Evans Catering Company was managing the restaurant. Alex Risch died on May 15, 1954 at the age of 68. By July of 1954, the big white building at 705 Lemay Ferry Road had been sold to Nick Cusanelli. * * * * * Nicola Cusanelli was born in Pietraroia, Italy, near Naples, in 1895. He immigrated to the United States in 1910. By 1917, he was living in St. Louis, working as a bartender at John P Connor's saloon at 3138 Clark Avenue. He lived above the saloon in a second floor apartment. Cusanelli married Savina Derienzo in 1919. By 1920, the couple were living at 1221 Pendleton. Cusanelli was working as a lamplighter for the Union Electric Light & Power Company.
The Cusanellis had three children; Joseph was
born in 1920, Domenic in 1922 and Filomena in 1937.
By 1930, Cusanelli and his family had moved to 1014 Louisville and he was working as a manager at a laundry. In the 1932 and 1933 St. Louis City Directory, Cusanelli's profession was listed as a salesman. And by 1936, Nick Cusanelli had opened his own restaurant. Cusanelli Cafe was located at 4054 Chouteau, at the intersection of Sarah and Manchester Avenue. A 1950 menu offered turkey for 85 cents, with dressing and two vegetables. The menu also included pizza, spaghetti, steak and chicken. Cusanelli closed his restaurant on Chouteau at the end of 1951.
By July of 1954, Nick Cusanelli had purchased
the building at 705 Lemay Ferry Road
from the Risch estate and reopened it as Cusanelli's Eight-Mile
House.
Cusanelli owned his new restaurant with his
two sons, Joseph and Domenic. While the restaurant initially kept the
"Eight-Mile House" designation, by the end of 1954,
it was shortened to simply Cusanelli's. The Risch's German cuisine
had been replaced by the Cusanelli's Italian.
In 1960, the Cusanellis remodeled their restaurant. A single main entrance replaced three doors. Two modern windows were installed, and the front was refinished with Alabama stone and red Roman brick. Aluminum siding was used on the upper section.
In 1972, an addition was built which increased
the available seating from 130 to 190. In 1985, the exterior was
once again renovated.
Cusanelli's was a large restaurant, with two dining areas. In the larger, a three-dimensional mural covered an entire wall, depicting everything from Italian street scenes and men fishing off piers to barber poles and Mount Vesuvius in full eruption.
Dining tables were closely bunched, but patrons
seemed to take it in stride, like members of one big family. Helping
preserve the friendly atmosphere was the elder Cusanelli, known to
his customers as Papa. In 1972, at the age of 78, the diminutive Cusanelli was still table-hopping almost every day.
Cusanelli's was a neighborhood-type restaurant with neighborhood prices. Domenic was the chef and Joseph was in charge of the extensive pizza operation. Savina made the meat balls and baked dozens of pies each day. The Italian dishes were her recipes. Charles Sherman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch food editor, detailed his visit in a February 2, 1972 review.
Nicola Cusanelli died on October 28, 1975 at
the age of 81. His wife and sons continued to operate the restaurant
at 705 Lemay Ferry Road until 1989, at which time they sold it to
the Yang family.
The stately white building on the corner of Lemay Ferry and Bayless continued serving steaks and friend chicken and Italian dishes for another twenty years. Then, on August 28, 2020, the following appeared on Cusanelli's Facebook page.
Copyright © 2021 LostTables.com |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
