"George D. Capen was another member of the Forest Park Improvement Association, and he was a key figure in the purchase of the Griswold tract on which Westmoreland and Portland were constructed." 1
"Among the greatest contributions that post-Civil War wealth
made to the city of St. Louis was the construction of
magnificent homes beautifully displayed on quiet boulevards.
The outstanding architecture of these homes and the
elaborate, even opulent detail used to embellish them have
left St. Louis a rich cultural legacy. As historian James
Neal Primm reports in Lion of the Valley:
In 1903 National Magazine ranked St. Louis first anywhere in this respect, saying that it outshone any combination of three cities in the world. Many homes were 'veritable palaces in every particular of richness, appointment, and setting--even the size.' Each was 'surrounded by stretching green lawns, fresh and sparkling... diversified and enriched by luxuriant shrubs, flowers, and trees.'
"This resource can still be appreciated today in the premier private places called Westmoreland and Portland." 2
"Another associaton member, George Capen, shared Massachusettts as a birthplace with Alvah Mansur. Both men came from old New England families. Capen came to St. Louis in 1858 to seek his fortune when he was twenty years old. He first worked as a clerk in a hide and leather store and then used the money he saved to start a fire and marine insurance company and a brokerage firm. He later organized the Mississippi Valley Transportation Company, which carried grain to New Orleans for export to Europe.
"In the year of the incorporation of the Forest Park Improvement Association, Capen founded and became the first president of the Missouri Safe Deposit Company. Like Whitaker, Capen took a keen interest in street railroads, and he helped establish the Lindell Street Railway, a horse-car line. Capen was also a director of the Laclede Gaslight Company and acting manager of the Equitable Building. He is erroneously listed in some accounts as the president of the syndicate that purchased the Griswold tract. However, it is Alvah Mansur who is listed as president on the offical incorporation papers. The confusion may have been caused by the fact that Capen was more active than Mansur in initiating the purchase of the land that eventually became Westmoreland and Portland places. Capen did not choose 3 to build a house in the new development, but it is possible that he was able to persuade another Laclede Gas board member, Thomas West, to buy a lot in Westmoreland Place in 1891 and to build the house that became Number 11." 4
1. pg 31 "WESTMORELAND AND PORTLAND PLACES"
The History and Architecture of America's Premier
Private Streets, 1888-1988. By Julius K. Hunter
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, 1988
2. ibid - pg 17
3. George Dunn Capen died on May 1, 1893, only a year
after "the first mansions began to rise in Westmoreland
and Portland." ibid pg 17.
His estate owned perhaps nine lots in Portland and
Westmoreland Places, so future plans could well
have included building a house there.
4. ibid - pgs 31-32
last revision, 4-1-97