University City, Missouri
City Hall

University City began as a utopian colony founded by publisher Edward Gardner Lewis. The building that is now City Hall was built in 1903 and was originally called the Woman's Magazine Building. As founder and the first mayor of University City, Lewis wanted to create a town based on the principles of both the City Beautiful Movement and the Women's Suffragette Movement. In fact he envisioned U City as the capitol of the women in America and many of his publications were for women.

The building that is now City Hall was designed by Herbert C. Chivers and has numerous sculptures by William Bailey, including the one seen here, as well as the lion sculptures on the front steps. The building originally had ten foot tall cherub sculptures above the windows but these were removed in 1945.

Lewis also built an Egyptian temple, (which is now probably the Scientology Temple) an Art Academy, founded the American's Woman's League, the People's University, and the American Woman's Republic, and started two daily newspapers and two banks in his spare time.

He eventually left town after being tried (and acquitted) for mail fraud. He declared bankruptcy and borrowed money to move to Atascadero, California to found the American Woman's Republic, his other uptopian colony.

Several questions remain: was Lewis targeted for his political beliefs, specifically his support for women's rights, what happened in Atascadero, California, and where did the ten foot tall cherubs end up?