Tim Roethler

During the War of 1812, John Mullanphy, an adventurer from Ireland, made a fortune trading in cotton. He acquired large real estate holdings in the St. Louis area, including parts of the property on which Old Warson Country Club is now located. The property, and additional acreage acquired over the years, was held by the family and devoted to raising cattle. In 1941 a great- great-grandson, John Boland, sold a total of 300 acres, including the present Old Warson property, to George Strake. Strake, a former resident of St. Louis and a director of St. Louis Mercantile Trust Company, sold 180 acres of land north of Old Warson Road to a small group of prominent St. Louisans led by W. Alfred Hayes and James E. Rarick. Hayes and Rarick put up $200,000 and purchased the land in the name of their company, the Algonquin Chemical Company.