I recently stumbled upon the Hammer Dry Plating Company, a late 19th Century photography and film company that was once located in the Gravois Park neighborhood. The story of the former factory and its current inhabitants is summarized here.
Hammer Dry Plate Factory - Image Courtesy of Liz Gould
I wanted to share some information on the Hammer family, and their impact on St. Louis history.
St. Louis used to be a world leader in dry plate manufacturing, before film took off which then succumbed to digital photography.
Dry plating is a process of coating glass with emulsifying agents to capture images on plates that can then be used to print at a later date. You can store them for years and get quality images.
The following is an example from my visit to IJ Technologies, who occupy the former site of the Hammer Dry Plate Company.
The dry plate process was introduced by the French photographer Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Évrard around 1850 and was widely used for about 60 years (source). Before that, albumin paper from the whites of chicken eggs was used. That process led to wet plating or ambrotype photos. Eventually a cheaper method was developed: tintypes, first known as ferrotypes or melainotypes. Instead of being placed on glass, the collodion emulsion was coated on thin iron sheets that were enameled black.
Many recognize these from Civil War-era images.
Dry plates were a step change in technology as they could be prepared well in advance and developed long after exposure, which would thereby eliminate the need for a portable darkroom. In 1871 Richard Leach Maddox, an English physician, suggested suspending silver bromide in a gelatin emulsion, an idea that led to the introduction of factory-produced dry plates coated with gelatin containing silver salts in 1878. (source)
This marked the beginning of the modern photography era and it took off from there. Anyone could take pictures and have them developed.
Dry plates could be factory produced en masse and distributed all over the world.
That’s where Ludwig F. Hammer, Sr enters the picture in St. Louis.
Per Historic Camera:
“Born in Wurttemberg, Germany in 1834, Mr. Hammer completed his formal education in Germany before immigrating to the United States in 1854 in hopes of opening his own photography studio, which achieved modest success that allowed him to provide for his growing family. The man who became known by the affectionate moniker "Papa Hammer" sold his photography studio to his son Ludwig Jr. in 1890. His attentions turned to dry plates, which culminated in the establishment of the Hammer Dry Plate Company, of which Mr. Hammer served as president and manager. It became so successful that the illustrious Scovill & Adams manufacturing company became the firm's Eastern agents.
It was Mr. Hammer's commitment to quality and customer service that was the driving force behind his company's success. His company provided satisfied customers with fog-free negatives and plates that were both fast and extremely adaptable. The company was also famous for its extremely informative short text entitled "A Short Story on Negative Company," which it shipped free to all inquiring customers. Mr. Hammer's pleasant and amicable disposition won him several friends within the St. Louis community, and he encouraged his family to be active participants in both business and civic affairs.
The loss of his beloved wife in 1907, though devastating, did not slow Mr. Hammer down. He continued to to make improvements to his dry plates and always seemed to remain a step ahead of his competition. By the 1920s, the four leading dry plate manufacturers throughout the United States were Eastman Kodak Company, and the 'big three' St. Louis-based Central Dry Plate Company, Cramer Dry Plate Company, and of course the Hammer Dry Plate Company. The business continued flourishing after Mr. Hammer's death on May 8, 1921 at the age of 87. Hammer dry plates are highly prized by photographic historians and collectors.”
Papa Hammer is a pretty sweet nickname. For what it’s worth, another German immigrant to St. Louis, Gustav Cramer of Cramer Dry Plate Company was nicknamed “Papa Cramer".
Hammer was a prominent businessman and member of the Democratic party. While his business eventually churned out $1,000,000 worth of dry plates in a single year, he lived in a modest home at 2007 Sidney Street in the Benton Park neighborhood. The home is still proudly standing across the street from Sidney Street Cafe. (source)
Anyhow, photography was a family affair for the Hammers. Papa Hammer operated a photography studio at 1534 South Broadway from 1869 to 1890. When he founded the Hammer Dry Plate Company, he sold the studio to his son, Ludwig Jr.
The photography studio on South Broadway in the Kosciusko neighborhood is long gone.
In researching the Hammer Dry Plate Company, my wife dug into accomplished photographer Ludwig F. Hammer, Jr.
One of his lasting contributions to St. Louis history is his amazing book “The Great St. Louis Cyclone - As Seen Through a Camera”, published in 1896.
This book is pretty hard to find, although Liz Gould, who I met through my visit to the former Hammer factory, owns a copy. The Central Library surprisingly did not have a copy on my visit. I’ll have to go to other local libraries to find a copy and page through it.
Shannon and I were fascinated by the images in Hammer Jr’s book. They were extremely well done, considering the time. And, we have lived in the part of St. Louis that was hit hard by the cyclone, so it becomes pretty personal and relevant to our routine treks in this part of town.
If you are like me and have an appreciation for just how fragile and temporary our built environment (and lifetimes) are, check this book out.
The book has been digitized and is available at the Hathi Trust Digital Library. The original used for the digitalization was from the Library of Congress.
Here are some interesting entries and photos from the book to illustrate just how devastating this cyclone was:
As the weather conditions worsened on May 27, 1896, the most devastating part of the storm took place around 5:00 PM with winds from the southwest.
At the time, in 1896, the cyclone was considered the worst in the country’s history, with 200 killed in St. Louis alone, thousands injured and extensive property damage to the tune of $50M in 1896. That would be about $1.6B in today’s dollars.
The storm’s path of destruction stretched from the Eads Bridge to Shenandoah Avenue.
Hammer points out that East St. Louis, Illinois was hit as hard, if not harder than St. Louis. Another ~100 were killed in East St. Louis.
Lafayette Park, dedicated in 1851, was decimated, leaving only six trees standing. From the photo below, the 1867 Park House, originally built as a police substation on the south east corner of the park, survived the cyclone.
The 13 buildings of the massive Liggett & Meyers Tobacco company were severely damaged. This was during a time when the massive factory complex, located in what is now called the Botanical Heights neighborhood, was under construction at the time of the cyclone.
Other large institutions of the time were hit hard including, among others: the City Hospital, Scullin streetcar power house, People’s Railway power house, Soulard Market, South Side Race Track and many churches and schools.
The eastern approach of the Eads Bridge was “totally wrecked”.
Hammer described the area that is now the Lafayette Square neighborhood as the “aristocratic residents district around Lafayette and Missouri Avenues”, and the area from Lafayette Park to 9th Street as “middle class”, and the area from 9th to South Broadway as “poorer classes of people”. He called the area of the city from Broadway to the Mississippi River as “the old historical part of St. Louis”.
300 homes in the Compton Heights neighborhood were heavily damaged.
The area of Fox Park and the Gate District, between Jefferson and Oregon, from Lafayette to Shenandoah another 300 homes severely damaged or lost.
I’m so thankful that Hammer used his artistic talents to complete this document of our history. He photographed, developed and published the book in less than four days. His ability to assemble a “corps of experienced artists on the scene” of the cyclone has proved invaluable.
The agonizing devastation can be understood for people like me interested in St. Louis history 125 years down the line.
We’ve added the Hammer family to our long list of memories and touchpoints for exploration of our favorite city.
