The Law Library Association of St. Louis, one of the oldest law libraries west of the Mississippi, was founded in May of 1838 by attorney Charles Drake. What do we know about Drake?
Drake was born on April 11, 1811 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He moved to St. Louis to practice law in 1834. In May of 1838, he distributed a petition and obtained nineteen signatures to form a law library in St. Louis. He modeled his plan on the law libraries he knew in Boston and Philadelphia, which were supported by individual membership dues. When serving in the Missouri House, Hon. John Fletcher Darby (four times mayor of St. Louis) introduced a bill that incorporated the Law Library Association in 1839.
Drake served as the first Board President of the library and served continuously on the Board for 23 years. In addition to serving as the initial Board President, he again served as President from 1857 until 1866.
Politically, Drake was a fierce opponent of slavery and a leader of the Radical Republicans during the Civil War. In his book, “The Broken Heart of America,” author Walter Johnson describes Drake’s role at the state constitutional convention in 1865. Johnson states that Drake was part of the movement expressing support for emancipation and Black suffrage. Drake also published the “Union and Anti-Slavery Speeches” in 1864.
Drake served in the US Senate from 1869 to 1870, leaving to accept a federal judicial appointment as Chief Judge of the US Court of Claims. He served as a judge until 1885.
Charles Drake died on April 1, 1892. His ashes are buried at St Louis’s famous Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Learn more about the history of the Law Library at https://llastl.org/index.php/history