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JAMES SUTTON PURCHASED 314 ACRES IN 1826 FROM THE CHARLES GRATIOT ESTATE FOR $1.AND A BIT PER ACRE. (A BIT WAS 1/4 OF A DOLLAR COIN). I'VE READ SOMEWHERE THEY ACTUALLY CUT THE COIN INTO FOUR PIECES. SUTTON WAS A ST.LOUIS IRON-MONGER.(HARDWARE MERCHANT), AND BLACKSMITH. HE WANTED TO MOVE HIS FAMILY TO A QUIET, RURAL ENVIRONMENT.THEY FIRST LIVED IN A LOG CABIN NEAR THE PRESENT COMMONWEALTH AVE.,BUT IN 1835 MOVED TO A STONE HOUSE ON THE ROAD TO JEFFERSON CITY BY WAY OF MANCHESTER. LATER THE HOUSE WAS GIVEN THE ADDRESS OF 7453 MANCHESTER. HIS BLACKSMITH SHOP WAS AT THE CORNER OF MANCHESTER AND BIG BEND. SOME OF HIS NEIGHBORS WERE - CHARLES RANNELLS TO HIS WEST AS FAR AS HANLEY ROAD. RANNELLS' CALLED HIS SETTLEMENT "LACLEDE". THE PACIFIC RAILROAD PUT A STATION THERE IN 1853 AT THE RIVER DES PERES, A LITTLE BEYOND SUTTON'S. TO SUTTONS NORTH WAS A TRACT NAMED "EAST LACLEDE" OWNED BY THE GAY FAMILY. FURTHER NORTH WAS LAND OWNED BY JEAN BAPTISTE BRUNO,A FRENCH MARKET GARDENER.

IN 1840, HENRY BARTOLD, A GERMAN PUT UP A THREE-STORY STAGECOACH STOP AND TAVERN AT MANCHESTER AND DEER CREEK ROAD. IT WAS NAMED COOL VALLEY TAVERN, BUT LATER CHANGED TO BARTOLDS GROVE ROADHOUSE."VALLEY POST OFFICE",THE FIRST IN THE AREA WAS LOCATED THERE AS WAS THE TWO ROOM "VALLEY SCHOOL". IT HAD A PICNIC GROUND ON THE HILL BEHIND THE BUILDING.

JAMES SUTTON DIED IN 1877 AT AGE 80. BEFORE HIS DEATH, HIS SON, HENRY L. SUTTON WAS CHOSEN AS PRESIDING JUDGE OF THE COUNTY COURT IN 1876. THE FIRST THREE MEETINGS OF THE COURT WERE HELD AT THE SUTTON HOME. HIS LAND WAS DIVIDED AMONG HIS NINE CHILDREN. HIS DAUGHTER MARY MARSHALL SOLD SOME OF HER LAND IN 1890 TO A ST.LOUIS REAL ESTATE COMPANY WHO PLATTED A SUBDIVISION AND NAMED IT "MAPLEWOOD", BECAUSE OF THE MAPLE TREES ALONG THE STREETS. ANOTHER SUTTON DAUGHTER, SARAH HARRISON, OPENED UP MAPLE LAWN ADDITION WEST OF SUTTON AVE. HER SISTER KATE THOMAS, STARTED ELLENDALE. THE PROPERTY OF ONE SON, JOHN L.SUTTON, BECAME LOHMEYER HEIGHTS. CHARLES W.SUTTON SOLD HIS LAND SOUTH OF THE RAILROAD TO MOSES GREENWOOD.

DURING THE EARLY 1890'S, TRANSPORTATION TO THESE SUBURBAN AREAS WAS BY "ACCOMODATION" TRAINS ON THE MO/PAC R.R. STATIONS WERE ELLENDALE, MAPLEWOOD, SUTTON,AND LACLEDE. ELECTRIC STREETCARS ON MANCHESTER ARRIVED IN 1896. LOOPS WERE ESTABLISHED AT YALE AVE.(CITY LIMITS), AND ON SUTTON AT MAPLE. THIS ATTRACTED MANY NEW RESIDENTS TO MAPLEWOOD.

MAPLEWOOD WAS INCORPORATED IN 1908. IN THE 1910 CENSUS MAPLEWOOD SHOWED A POPULATION OF 4,976. BY 1950 POPULATION PEAKED AT 13,416. BY THE END OF THE 1920'S MAPLEWOOD HAD 250 STORES MOSTLY ALONG MANCHESTER FROM THE CITY LIMITS TO BIG BEND. SATELLITE SHOPPING STRIPS WERE ALONG SUTTON AND GREENWOOD. THE CITY'S INDUSTRIES INCLUDED SUNNEN PRODUCTS, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STEEL, AND CUPPLES PRODUCTS. MAPLEWOOD WAS MORE MY PLAYGROUND THAN THE CITY. AS A CHILD,I REMEMBER THE MAPLEWOOD SHOW, THE POOL HALL NEARBY, THE POWHATTAN SHOW WITH THE OUTDOOR SCREEN,THE KATZ DRUG STORE, AND BETTENDORFS STORE WITH IT'S BASEMENT SHOPPING AND THE REMOVABLE BASKETS YOU WOULD PUT ON THE BELT,THEN PICK UP THE BASKET UPSTAIRS AND FINISH SHOPPING. AS A YOUTH IT WAS THE SARATOGA BOWLING ALLEY, AND TED'S CORNER, AND WORKING IN THE NEXT AREA OF RICHMOND HEIGHTS AT JIM REMLEYS MARKET ON BIG BEND (3 NIGHTS A WEEK AND SATURDAY FOR THREE YEARS OF HIGH SCHOOL).