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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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Located within the fence line @ Harrison
Schmidt Dahlke Log Home in Vlassis park in Ballwin, MO. Hours are
7am-11pm. Parking is 500 ft east @ Police Station. Permission
granted for this cache by Ballwin Parks &
Recreation.
Ballwin is a unique name for a City. In fact,
it is the only City in the United States with its spelling
(BALLWIN, NOT BALDWIN). The City was founded by John Ball, son of
James Ball and Mary Bray Ball of Virginia and Kentucky. His father,
James, who came to America from Dublin, Ireland, served in the 4th
and 8th Virginia Regiments during the Revolutionary War. Because of
his military service, he was given a military land warrant and
moved to this new land in Kentucky after the war. Reportedly, James
was a friend of Daniel Boone. Around 1797 or 1798, our founder,
John Ball, moved to the West St. Louis County area, possibly at the
same time as the Daniel Boone party moved to and settled in the St.
Charles, Warren County areas. Records now preserved in Jefferson
City show the transfer of title of about 400 acres of land along
Grande Glaize Creek to John Ball in February, 1800. This is the
first official record of John Ball in the West County area. Since
John Ball's property claim was derived originally from a Spanish
land grant, and was land that was at the time under Spanish rule,
the Louisiana Purchase raised doubts about property ownership. It
took several hearings and appeals and ten years for John Ball to
clear his claim to the land that would eventually become the town
of Ballwin. In 1826, Missouri moved its capital to Jefferson City.
Soon there was a need for an overland mail route between St. Louis
and the new capital. As luck would have it, this new road was
established along a route that passed by John Ball's property.
After the road, known at times as Jefferson Road, Market Road and
Manchester Road, became established, John Ball decided to
capitalize on the accessibility it provided for his property, and
laid out a town. The town was originally recorded as "Ballshow",
but two days later, on February 9, 1837, Ball amended the recorded
plat to be named Ballwin. No one knows for sure why the name was
changed, but one of John Ball's great grandsons says it was the
result of a rivalry with neighboring Manchester. John Ball saw
great things ahead for his new town and was confident that it would
"win out" in reputation and growth over its older and more
prominent neighbor, two miles to the east. Hence the "win" was
incorporated into the name. In the years that followed, Ballwin has
grown from the town John Ball knew with only a few homes and
businesses, to a small village of 750 people when it was
incorporated on December 29, 1950, to a thriving City of 32,000
today. John Ball's vision of Ballwin as the leading City in the
West County area has been realized. Vlasis Park is Ballwin's
largest park. It is located North of Manchester Road between Seven
Trails Dr., Ball Park Drive and Holloway Drive. The Ballwin
Government Center, Public Works Department and the Donald
“Red” Loehr Police & Court Center are located in
Vlasis Park. Vlasis Park covers 31 acres and features two ball
diamonds, a playground, four tennis courts, restrooms, two ponds,
one of which is stocked with fish, two pavilions, a walking path,
two sand volley ball courts, and eight horseshoe courts. Vlasis
Park also hosts the "Ballwin Days" festival, one of the largest
community events in the St. Louis Area. A volunteer committee that
exceeds 100 members plans and carries out the activities each year
that include a parade, live entertainment, sporting events and game
booths that attract more than 60,000 visitors to the three day
event. The city of Ballwin moved the Harrison-Schmidt-Dahlke Log
House, to Vlasis Park in 1992, from a site about a quarter of a
mile north. It is said to have been built in 1849 by Joshua
Harrison (d. 1879), a native of Maryland, and his wife Martha Anne
Shotwell. As restored, the two-story house has just one room
downstairs and one up. The Harrisons sold a small part of their
large farm in 1870 to William Schmidt, a native of Prussia. Charles
and Wilhelmina Dahlke, also from Germany, bought the property in
1904. Their son Ted lived in the house from his birth in 1900 to
his death in 1987.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre Enzc