Sunday, December 23, 2007

A Bit More On Griswold

Kennedy's St. Louis City Directory for 1860 lists Merritt Griswold as a boarder at two different addresses. The first is 231 Chestnut Street and the second is 132 St. Charles Street. The directory also list his occupation as a clerk with the Missouri Glass Co., whose offices were located at 49th N. Fifth Street. The history of the St. Louis street system is a bit complicated but if my understanding is correct then both of Griswold's residences were located on what is now the grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (or, as we like to call it, the Arch). His place of work would have been located three or four blocks west of that.

Marshall Wright has a record of Griswold playing in a match game for the Putnams of Brooklyn in 1857. Griswold, who mentioned playing for the Putnams in his letter to Al Spink, played in either the game against the Atlantics of Brooklyn on September 24 or the game against the Continentals of Brooklyn the next day. In the one game that Griswold played, he had two "hands lost" and didn't score any runs.

In his letter to Spink, Griswold also mentioned that he played with the Hiawatha Club of Brooklyn in 1858 and 1859 before coming to St. Louis. The Brooklyn Eagle has an account of a game the Hiawathas played on July 31, 1858 that includes a box score and mentions Griswold by name.




The Eagle also has a box score for a game the Hiawathas played in October of 1858 that also mentions Griswold.



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