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In the 1850s, St. Louis was a rapidly expanding city. It was a major center of trade, one of the largest cities in the United States, and the gateway to the west. During this time, a wealthy fur trader and entrepreneur named Robert Campbell, his wife, Virginia Kyle Campbell, and his children bought the first house on a swanky new residential street named Lucas Place (today, Locust Street). The Campbells owned the home from 1854-1938, expanding the house several times in the first thirty years they owned it. While many homes from this period were altered or destroyed, the Campbell House remained almost perfectly intact, the result of the family wishing to maintain consistency in the house for the comfort of one of the children. As a result, the Campbell House is a remarkable example of Middle Victorian style. In addition, the Campbell House was photographed in the mid-1880s. These photos allowed restoration work to replicate the home as it was in the Middle Victorian period.

Tours of the Campbell House allow visitors to see many of the beautifully furnished rooms throughout the home. We went during Christmas time when the house was festively decked in holiday decorations. We began our tour in the receiving room, filled with ornate window coverings, chairs with beautiful upholstery, and loads of Christmas decorations.

We made our way through a small sitting room with rich wood paneling, a fireplace, and stained glass and then entered the dining room set up for a holiday meal with a lovely China set.

As we made our way into the kitchen, we saw a drinking glass that Robert Campbell had for serving Ulysses S. Grant. The kitchen demonstrated what a Middle Victorian kitchen would have looked like and included the aroma of freshly baked Christmas treats as a demonstration of the kind of food that would have been served at the Campbell family Christmas celebration. We made our way upstairs and saw several of the family bedrooms, which gave a nice view of Middle Victorian style. We concluded the tour inside the carriage house, where we were able to see the Campbell family’s driving implements.

The Campbell House Museum offers a nice look at Middle Victorian style and furnishings in the beautifully preserved and restored home. We recommend a tour of this historic home to get a glimpse of what St. Louis was like for one family in the 1850s.