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Selling a Native American Mound

Author:Steve Patterson November 19th, 2008

For Sale: Cozy home with two bedrooms, two baths, one fireplace and a 2-car garage. Oh yeah, it sits on the very last Native American mound in a city once known as “Mound City.” It even has a name, Sugar Loaf Mound.

Sugar Loaf Mound at 4420 Ohio St.

Sugar Loaf Mound at 4420 Ohio St.

This most unique property is listed by my South Side Tower co-agent, Leigh Maibes. Our office gets some pretty interesting listings but the only remaining Native American mound in St Louis has to top them all. Like many of you I’ve seen this property for years, it is highly visible from I-55. Conversely, the highway is in your front yard. But the Mississippi River is out the back door - just watch that one step as it is a long way down the cliff.

The mound, not the house on it, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Of course, being listed on the National Register doesn’t prevent it’s destruction (just ask the remains of the Century Building).

St Louis used to have many such mounds, only one remains.

I’ve not visited the house except for taking the above picture from the driveway, I didn’t want to bother with the stairs. Photos reveal stunning river views.  Industrial zoning and highway adjacency reveal a major threat to the future of the mound.

As listing agents for property, our job is to get our clients the best price possible. That is not marketing hype, that is our fiduciary duty . So while some of us look at this mound and marvel that it has existed for hundreds of years, others see a place for a quick-mart. Ugh.

The current owners, whom I’ve not met, have been good stewards of the property for half a century. It is time for someone else to assume that role.

Throughout the development of the city and larger region the landscape as it existed 300 years ago has been significantly altered. Old North St Louis used to have several mounds but these were destroyed as the city grew in the 19th Century.  Our city would be very different if all these features were regarded as sacred.  But that didn’t happen.  We have one last chance to save a piece of history.

Further Reading:

The list price of the property is $400,000.

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  • Nancy
    Hold it there, guys. The mound was not a furneral mound. It was most likely used as a signal mound.

    The important thing is that it be preserved.
  • james lira
    FIRST THING FIRST..... I COMMEND EMILY FOR HER FEELERS ON THIS ''PARTICULAR SUBJECT''!!!!! I AGREE NO MATTER WHAT..... ''A MOTHER KNOWS HER CHILD.....DO NOT PISS OFF A MOTHER..... SHE WILL EVENTUALLY COME AND CORRECT HER CHILDERN..... I AM THE YOUNGEST OF 5 THE FIRST TIME OUT FOR MY MOTHER.....THE SECOND TIME OUT;.....I AM AN OLDER BROTHER OF 2 STRONG BOYS!!!!! 6 BOYS AND 1 GIRL.....MOTHER EARTH KNOWS WHAT BELONGS TO HER!!!!!



    [slp --- Using all caps is equal to yelling. Please don't yell on my site. if you post a comment again please turn off the caps lock.]
  • Emily Doyle
    Hey-First of all, in this crappy economy, noone is going to buy your place, especially with its legend.
    Second, if it is truly a funerary mound of a Native American tribe, then you or anyone else can sell it. There is a federal law called NAGPRA that forbids that sort of a sale.
    Third-if for some reason you managed to secure some land that flew in under the radar, if you sold it for commercial purposes (that also flew in under the fed's radar), you would be held accountable to the universal laws of karma-that movie, Poltergeist, was just a Hollywood 80's high-tech variation on what happens to people that sell out the resting place of the dead. If the consequences you reap are not literal, then perhaps they will be figurative...
    Give the land back to the Natives. That is the only right thing to do in this situation.
    Good luck to you
    -Emily Doyle
  • Mike Janson
    Steve you said that this is the most interesting listing your office has received but you didn't go past the driveway because of the steps. Are the steps really that bad?

    Seems like a couple of steps would be worth it to check out the property.
  • The National Trust for Historic Preservation featured Sugar Loaf Mound in a news item on their website on December 1.
  • I totally agree with Expat. I expected the house to be humdrum but fell for it during the open house. The house has a rare charm to it due to its location and that wonderful sun room.

    Preservation review currently protects the house and the mound, in my mind and those of the Preservation Board chairman and Cultural Resources office director. Furthermore, the mound is listed in the National Register. The trouble with those protections is that slow dirt moving doesn't require permits that would cross the desk of the CRO, and much damage could be done before it was evident to passer-by. I think that a City Landmark designation with accompanying ordinance for the mound is needed to enshrine protection.
  • Expat kinda corrected me.....The house has quirks that are not going to suit everyone. However, the house is vintage and has a great rustic feel. I can picture it as being someones' great city escape. People have country houses why not make this a city house? It sure is quiet, peaceful, and quaint.The mound is so important that sometimes the house plays second fiddle. In fact, the mound and people who admire it owe its survival to that little house.
  • Somebody got "Preservation Review District" and "Housing Conservation District" mixed up somewhere in this thread.

    Preservation Review just means you cannot demolish a building without CRO review.

    Housing Conservation is the designation that requires Building Division inspectors to check out the inside when tenants or owners change. Its effectiveness in ensuring habitable housing is, well, limited at best.

    But preservation review is a totally different policy -- and perhaps more limited in scope and intent.

    I guess my bigger question is whether a private entity should own such an important piece of early American history. I've always thought it was a cute little house, but the mound is the last remnant of that history on the Missouri side of the river. If the economy hadn't taken such a turn for the worst, I would probably advocate for somebody like MO DNR or the Gateway Foundation to buy the property and preserve it. That said, if somebody wants to buy it and renovate the house while leaving the mound intact, I guess that's the best we can expect. Maybe somebody it could become a park though.
  • I think it's high time St. Louis got itself a proper Indian Casino...
  • john w.
    Someone would steal that Indian.
  • Reginald Pennypacker III
    I would erect a giant neon cigar store Indian whose arm would move and do the tomahawk chop.
  • expat
    I love the house. It needs to be freshened up a bit. Lift the old carpets, etc. The paneled room with fireplace and lots of windows looks like a perfect place to watch the weather over the river. I find it warm & inviting. A roaring fire, comfy furniture, well placed lamps, a teapot whistling in the old-fashioned kitchen. It reminds me of a cozy weekend place. A bit rustic, unpretentious, casual, and an escape from the real world. It is pricey, but, shabby waterfront homes often cost much more than fancy houses without waterviews. It reminds me of shabby, but expensive bungalows often found on the Chesapeake Bay. Of course, this property isn't about the house.
  • John,

    Allow me to respond to your questions/concerns...

    One of our first thoughts was to contact Rocio Romero. Her houses are fantastic and compliment the natural landscape. I agree that something like that would be striking up there. As far as the house and its current condition goes, we advertise it as needing a renovation. They were very elderly, mowing the grass and cleaning was a chore. Walter the owner is 89, and just had a heart valve replacement. I am not sure how old his wife Eileen is.Also, he loved the house the way it is. Why renovate at this point in time, when it might not suit the purchasers' taste?

    As to the price.....Allow me to pose this question. How would you price a .65 acre one and only Native American mound? A mound that is no doubt Saint Louis' oldest and most historic/prehistoic landmark. Most people don't view it that way. This is not about the house...However, it is one of the most peaceful properties i have had the pleasure of sitting in. Especially in the mornings with my coffee and the sunrise. ;)
  • John M.
    I love the property, but after visiting the real estate listing online, 400K is a windfall for an owner that appears as if they have done "NOTHING" to the house in updates. Geez, Invest a little something, wouldn't you say?

    If it I could afford this property, I would tear down that POS ( no offense intended ) and put up a Rocio Romero original. This site deserves a better home, as I have dreamed of owning nice river view property, I will one day hope to find the right opportunity. But at that price, for that home?
  • I drive past this property daily on I-55. I had no idea that was an official "Mound." I always marveled at the little house perched seemingly precariously in this location and the elevator next to the driveway.

    Cool that I know the significance of the property, now.
  • Tim
    Generally I think if you are keeping the property in good repair they don't really find anything much to speak of except for the obvious stuff like smoke detectors, etc. That doesn't bother me, it's that tax I have to pay on top of the real estate tax I'm already paying. Call it a fee all you want, but its still a tax.
  • Brian
    With the City's unspoken practice of selective enforcement, a similar designation for my former home just outside St. Louis Hills, only translated into adding a smoke detector and securing a hand rail. It's no surprise then that the private home inspections both at time of purchase and sale found a lot more than the taxpayer-funded "inspector."
  • Tim
    "The address is located in a City preservation review district. I am confident that the realtor will explain what restrictions that imposes on a new owner." I'm detecting sarcasm here. If not, I'd like to add it. Of course I should have done the research myself but I didn't, lesson learned. Total pain in the......not to mention the extra tax I pay to have a city employee look at my building everytime somone moves. Although, on the brightside they have been very good to work with. I just hate having to work with them in the first place.
    .
    Does the $400k include a warranty for poltergiests?
  • publiceye
    The address is located in a City preservation review district. I am confident that the realtor will explain what restrictions that imposes on a new owner.
  • expat
    This is fascinating. Safe to say there is nothing else like it.
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