Caves of St. Louis

The city was built upon a complex of natural caves which were once used for the lagering of beer by early German immigrant brewers.

John Adam Lemp, coming to St. Louis from Germany in 1838, started a brewery using natural caves for refrigeration.

[2] An oral tradition in St. Louis links the cave system with the Underground Railroad.

According to this tradition a tunnel behind the house at 3314 Lemp Avenue was used as a secret entrance to the caves.

[4] In January 2019, the Missouri Speleological Survey printed the History of Lemp Brewery Caverns and Cherokee Cave.

Watercolor painting by Anna Maria von Phul , "A View of a Cave, 2 Miles from St. Louis, Missouri Territory", 1818
Uhrig's Cave beer garden, ca. 1870
Commercial building for the Cherokee Caves. Photo taken in the 1940-50s.