The Bessemer indicator., 1893-01-07
OUR ST. IouIss LETTER
A Big Municipai BslI-Ths Hotel Boom
"A Miilionaire Ciub-Cool Air
for Hot Room. -

A Big Municipal Bsll-Ths Hotel Boom
"A millionaire Club-Cool Air
for Hot Rooms.
ST. LOUIS, Mo-, Dec. 2o.-The fire in
the City Treasnrer's office has has
tened work on the now City Hull. The
great force of builders is working pro-
tected from the wintry weather by
roofs thrown up temporarily, and
night crew, to work by electric light,
will begin early in the year: So fast,
indeed, have been the builders that tho
architects are now being pressed by
them. The workmen are finishing the
last story. A huge bell, which the
makers say is the most sonorous ever
cast in the United States, will be
swung in the dome and will strike the
hours by means of an electric current
sent from the observatory in Washing
ton University. This bell is toned to
the key of "F," which musicians call
the key of nature, and will be heard
for fifteen miles.
Heavy Investments are now being
made by capitalists in the building Of
new hotels here. The crowd that
annually taxes the entertainment
resources of the city to their utmost
have called the attention of moneyed
men to this field for investment, and
they have been buying ground and
planning at rate which will enable
the city to take care of at least 100. ooo
more people next fall than it did last
October. Besides the immense hotel
of the Fall Festivities Association on
Fourth street, two more large ones,
and several smaller ones will be open
when the throng begins to arrive at
the beginning of the next festival
season. One of these large hotels will
be fourteen stories high, and will be
within block of the Exposition build
ing.
There are already more clubs than
one can count in ST. Louis, uptown
and down town, most of them with
handsome buildings and well-fillcd
treasures, but, till lately, there was
none that could be called club of
mi.lionaires. This one is just being
organized now. The members will not
exceed fifty, and their combined
wealth will foot up over that number
of millions. The principal object of
the members of the club is to have
some place downtown where they can
get Il good luncheon in that interval
between the morning and afternoon,
which occurs somewhere about noon.
So they call their club the "Noonday
Club" The fees and dues will be
made so high that men who cannot
treat hundred-dollar bills as pocket
money will not be inclined to enter.
The st. Louis architects say that by
next summer they will have machinery
perfected that will keep offices as cool
in the hot weather us the steam coils
make them warm in the winter. The
device is simply a radiator in the room,
connected with the underground pipes
of company that is now making
MOI ey by pumping cold air through
the stre,ts to refrigerating establish
mcnts. The scheme Is one that has
been known to be practicable for q
long time, but it has not been put into
operation in any large city because no
company dealing in refrigeration
could get the right to lay pipes under
the streets. st. Louis is the only town
where the pipes have been laid, but
other cities will doubtless follow the
example as soon as the success of The
enterprise here is seen.