Video Description: In the 1500 block of Locust Street in Downtown St. Louis, a three-story, single-family home sits all alone, frozen in time, the last artifact of a once great neighborhood. From the 1850s to the 1880s, Lucas Place was St. Louis’ first private neighborhood, where the city’s wealthiest residents lived during the Gilded Age. But, only one of those homes remains today. It’s the Campbell House at 1508 Locust. It was the first one built in the neighborhood. Robert and Virginia Campbell moved into it in 1854. When the last Campbell departed in 1938, a few civic minded citizens were worried about the fate of the house, so they banded together and raised enough money to buy most of the Campbell’s possessions. A large donation from the Stix, Baer, and Fuller department store was used to buy the building. In 1943, it was turned into a museum and The Campbell House Foundation has run it ever since.

• Divide the students into groups and have each group view the video to create question about items they see. Then share their questions with each other as students watch the video again to look for answers.
• Use the video as part of a unit focused on the importance of using primary sources in historic research.