History 101
Old House in Hog Hollow The Making of a HOME Article Aimee Pellet | Photography John Babb
E
very house has a story that makes it a home. The Old House in Hog Hollow has a lifetime of stories nestled among the nearly one-foot-thick walls. Often referred to as The Queathem House, after the family who owned the home for the longest period, the structure is as impressive today as it would have been when it was constructed almost 150 years ago. Built around 1859 by the Ravens, a German family, the property encompassed 35 acres. When Jacob Ravens died in 1875, his widow Anna married the hired man, who was 35 years her junior. It leaves one to wonder if that union was considered scandalous at the time or simply a necessity to keep the farm business going. After a brief residency by the Schaeper family, Felix Queathem II and his wife, Pauline, purchased the home in 1898 and the Queathems would continue to live there until 1945. Queathem was a farmer whose father had emigrated from Belgium. They had a small orchard at the top of the hill near the house. Felix and his brother,
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Chesterfield Lifestyle | September 2014
Henry, also owned orchards and farmland in the river bottoms, near the base of Hog Hollow Hill just past the St. Louis County Water Company. The house that they built is still standing today and houses a landscape supply business. By today’s standards, Felix and Pauline Queathem had a large family. Pauline gave birth to 11 children, eight of whom lived to adulthood. Three died as small children. Two of their tiny graves at St. John’s United Church of Christ Cemetery stand as a sad reminder of the realities of early life in the farming community of Lake, now part of Chesterfield. The current owner, Betty Brandt, operates the Old House in Hog Hollow, a successful and unique antique store within the walls of the old home. She purchased the property in 1993 after the widening of Olive Boulevard caused her to seek a new location because her building was set for demolition. What drew Betty to the home was the charm of the Queathem house. “I knew I wanted to move to another old
house, not a strip mall. The atmosphere here is just cozier and homier,” she says. When the owners of the Queathem House approached her about buying the property, she knew it was the right move.