Eugene Field House Foundation’s VIP Special Reception for Hal Holbrook

The Eugene Field House Foundation held a special reception for Hal Holbrook, hosted by Jane Gleason, Thursday, April 9, 2015. Much like the character Hal Holbrook portrays, Mr. Holbook came to St. Louis to reenact Mark Twain Tonight!, April 11, and kick off the Eugene Field House’s capital campaign.

Mark Twain’s last visit to Missouri occurred in 1902 when he stopped in St. Louis to dedicate a marker on the childhood home of his late friend and fellow author, Eugene Field. That encounter at the circa 1845 row house, 634 South Broadway, began years of preservation of one of the city’s most historic landmarks, which not only honors Eugene but also equally recognizes his father Roswell, who made immeasurable contributions to American civil rights. Roswell Field is known for his legal representation of Dred and Harriet Scott in their pursuit of freedom.

From the Field House’s early days of preservation by the St. Louis City Board of Education in the 1930’s to the school children’s “penny campaigns”, today’s non-profit foundation seeks further to protect and expand this National Historic Landmark. The foundation welcomed Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight! symbolically to support the capital campaign to make its future plans a reality in 1915.