Historical December 1980 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The Oxford Dictionary (unabridged) defines a “skinker” as a cupbearer, tapster or bartender. Commonly, many last names are from tasks or jobs performed sometime in the past, e.g. Baker, Cooper, etc. Thomas K. Skinker, Jr., the historian of the Skinker family, eschews this as the source of his family’s name.
His evidence suggests it is a phonetic spelling for the Welsh “Shinkle.” The scion of the American Skinker family, Samuel, came to the colonies in the early Eighteenth Century from Wales.
In any case, it was Thomas Skinker’s father, Thomas K. Skinker, Sr., who bought the land through which the street bearing his name now goes.
He was born in Virginia (20 March 1805) where he was admitted to the bar after winning a Phi Beta Kappa at Union College. Moving to Mississippi in 1832, he went into partnership with a man named Miller– they owned a plantation.
The partnership lasted until 1851. Skinker married Bertha Rives in 1834. Neither could take the climate of the lower Mississippi River Valley so they moved north to St. Louis in 1838. Peter K. Skinker, brother of Thomas, moved to St. Louis that same year. Both lawyers, they formed a partnership which lasted until Peter’s death, 19 May 1843.
Although successful, Thomas decided to leave law practice after his brother’s death and bought land in the country.
He became a farmer, surveyor and gardener.
His farm was located on what is now Ellenwood Street.
The land included part of what has become Forest Park as well as the subdivisions of Ellenwood and Skinker Heights in Clayton.
While Skinker farmed for eight months of the year, for the remaining four months he took his family to the Mississippi plantation.
In the early 1870’s, Hiram Leffingwell and a couple other fellows were pushing for the creation of Forest Park.
The two principal landowners were Thomas Skinker, Sr., and Robert Forsythe. Skinker finally realized how the park would benefit his remaining lands west of the proposed park.
He talked Forsythe into the project and the park came to be in 1876. Skinker went to see his old home in Virginia in 1887.
He journeyed long through the area and ended up with a bad fever.
He was unable to shake the malady.
He died in Virginia (2 October 1887) and his body was brought back to St. Louis where he was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
The street named after him, Skinker Road, was originally a rather muddy track from Delmar to Clayton Road.
The World’s Fair made the clean-up mandatory.
The World’s Fair resulted in further control of the River Des Peres and made railroads and paved streets a necessity.
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company leased the entire Ellenwood property of Thomas K. Skinker, Jr. After the fair, in 1909, he created the subdivision of Skinker Heights on the western half of his land.
In the early 1920’s he built the Ellenwood subdivision on the eastern half.
All the streets are named for Skinker family names or locations. Wydown, as an example, is named after his wife’s mother. Skinker Road is named after Thomas K. Skinker, Sr., a member of the bar but not a bartender.
Originally published in The Paper, December 1980.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1980_12.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
