A “World-Historical Idea”: The St. Louis Hegelians and the Civil War

The St. Louis Hegelians existed as a loosely organized group from approximately 1858 to 1880. Before the Civil War they participated in the St. Louis Literary and Philosophical Society which dissolved when most of its members left the city to fight in the war. After the guns fell silent, a few of these “respectable vagabonds,” most notably Henry Conrad Brokmeyer and William Torrey Harris, organized the St. Louis Philosophical Society in January 1866. Both organizations were part of a larger “St. Louis Movement” which included an art club, an Aristotle club, a Shakespeare society, the St. Louis Academy of Science, the St. Louis Philharmonic Society, and the Academy of Useful Science. All of these organizations were primarily composed of local professionals – public school teachers and administrators, judges, and attorneys.