:iOT^fV, 
WESTERN ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, 
PREDECESSOR OF THE PRESENT ACADEMY. 
In 1837, when St. Louis was scarcely more than a small frontier 
town, there was organized, through the efforts of two young men of 
foreign birth, the first society for scientific research established west 
of the Allegheny Mountains. This new society was called the Western 
Academy of Natural Science and the main promoters were Drs. George 
Engelmann and Frederick Adolphus Wislizenus, both destined to 
play important roles in the future Academy of Science of St. Louis. 
A charter was granted to H. King, George Engelmann, B. B. Brown, 
Weber 
incorporators 
Through the efforts of these men the lamp of science was kept 
burning for some years. A museum was started and a library of about 
one hundred volumes was gathered. Five or six acres of ground was 
purchased, far out of the city of that time, near 8th and Chouteau 
Aves., where Dr. Engelmann began a Botanical Garden and Arboretum 
on a small scale. This garden was kept up, after a fashion, for some 
years, when the society faded out and the land was sold. Just how many 
years the Academy was active is not known. On April 17, 1843, how- 
ever, the society elected to honorary membership John James Audubon, 
^ne diploma was signed by George Engelmann, president; B. B. 
Brown, vice-president; William R. Singleton, corresponding secretary; 
L- M. Sell, recording secretary. 
The Founding of the Academy of Science of St. Louis. 
Informal meetings of the local scientists were no doubt conHnued 
^0 be held and the slumbering Academy discussed. Engelmann, how- 
^^er, was not the kind of a man to work indefinitely without closer 
^sociation with the few other St. Louis men interested in science than 
,y^' afforded by chance, and on March 10, 1856, after several pre- 
"^ary meetings, the existing Academy of Science of St. Louis 
j;^^ ^i^ganized. Those in attendance at the organizat^onjiieeting 
'"^ Dr. Engelmann, who acted as 
chairman 
5 
