C.S.P.S. 125

Since 1887

History of Czech-Slovak Immigration into St. Paul's West End

Establishing C.S.P.S.

Simple, yet sturdy and attractive, the C.S.P.S. Hall is an important structure within the West Seventh Community. Saint Paulites may recognize it now as the home to its first floor occupant, the German restaurant Glockenspiel, but it continues its historic use as a center for the Čech community. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976, the structure is considered important, not for its architectural value, but for its continuing use as the center of a small, but vital ethnic group, as wella s its surrounding non-ethnic neighborhoods.

The current C.S.P.S. lodge has played a central role in the Cech and Slovak community of St Paul since its construction in 1887, and is arguably the oldest such structure in continuous use by the Cech community in the United States.

CSPS Hall No 12 founders

As an organization, the Česko-Slovanský Podporující Spolek (Č.S.P.S.) was founded as a fraternal insurance organization in St. Louis in 1854, but did not reach national importance until the 1870s. Its female compliment was the Jednota Českých Dam, or Union of Čech Women. In 1876 Čech Rad (Lodge Čech) Number 12, its twelfth lodge, was established in St Paul. According to a story by Marlin L. Heise in the Community Reporter, Oct. 1976, citing Panorama (Cicero, Ill., Cechoslovak National Council of America, 1970), the first members of C.S.P.S. Rad (lodge) Cech No 12 included a carpenter, a gunsmith, a laborer, a mason, a policeman, a teacher, two cutters, three saloon keepers, and four tailors, all living within 10 blocks of the Hall. In 1896, the national C.S.P.S. convention was held in St. Paul, and the year following there was a split between the eastern and western organizations.

In 1879 Rad Čech purchased a lot at 383 Michigan that cost $600, bought from William and Mary Dawson. Mr. Dawson was a banker, and at the time of the sale was mayor of St. Paul. The original CSPS Hall was the old Vine Street School building, purchased from the Board of Education in 1880, and moved just a short distance from across Western Avenue, near Goodhue Street (where it had stood since 1870), to the corner of Michigan Street and Western Avenue.  The wooden building was placed on a new stone foundation, enclosing a full basement, built to accommodate the superstructure. After a thorough renovation, the C.S.P.S. hall was opened and dedicated with a large celebration in August 1880, with dedicatory remarks presented in English, German, and Czech.  Likely dating from the 1850s, the Vine Street School building had started its life as a church structure, then purchased by the Board of Education in 1866, to be used for the Jefferson School building, located at Sherman Street and Pleasant Avenue.  Four years later, it was moved to Western Avenue and Goodhue Street, where it served until the new Monroe School building was completed on the site in 1880.  That structure was partially destroyed by a fire of unknown origin on May 25, 1886. The St. Frances de Sales Catholic Church was organized in the original C.S.P.S. hall in 1884.

Though only insured for $1,400, the one hundred-plus members of Čech Rad were undaunted, and they managed to raise $10,000 in 1886 to build a new brick structure on the same location. William J. Gronewold is credited as the general contractor and Emil W. Ulrici as the architect. Ulrici was a German who built almost exclusively for wealthy German immigrants in Saint Paul in the 1880s.

Begun and occupied in 1887, the brick hall was "finally" finished in 1890, and substantially remodeled in 1917 based on blueprints by local architect and engineer Raymond Paul Pavlecka. At this time, the entrance to the upper levels was moved to the center of the building and a third story was added to increase meeting room space. The second floor was remodeled to relocate the stage from the center of the floor to the north end. All in all, this remodeling cost $18,000. The first floor has always been home to retail and commercial businesses.

Vac PichaOne of the more popular businesses was Picha’s Saloon (“Wines, Liquors, and Cigars”) that opened in 1889 on the first floor, even as construction continued on the second. Pícha came to America as a tailor in the early 1870’s. Old Picha, as he was called, was full of fun. He knew lots of jokes. When anyone came in he started telling one, and then everybody had a good laugh. The saloon had a wide reputation, and when anyone came in from out of town, he knew where to go. At the end of the bar was a free lunch counter. A person could buy a big glass of beer for a nickel and go to the lunch counter and eat for nothing.

Picha was a free-thinker, and his friendship with Father Jan Rynda, priest at Saint Stanislaus Church next door, was something remarkable. Father Rynda would become irritated with Picha when his parishioners stopped in the saloon on their way home from church, and some of Father Rynda’s parishioners were unhappy over their priest’s association with the nonbeliever. The men, however had great respect for each other and spent many hours in conversation in Picha’s living quarters back of the saloon.

 Picha died at the age of 73 in 1914, and his funeral was held in his home. After his death, his son Karel, who helped his father tend bar throughout the years, and Peter Nekola, who was married to Vaclav’s daughter Gustie, continued the saloon. Somehow things did not go too well, and after five years the store was occupied by Fishbach and Bespalec Meat Market.

Other first floor businesses and tenants include grocery stores, bakeries, and a print shop; an Irish dance group, Laotian Family Industries, and Lavoptik Medical Manufacturing. In 1932, the C.S.P.S. merged with other fraternal groups to form the C.S.A. Pictures hanging on the walls of the third floor meeting room show members of the various lodges over the years. Here, a photo of C.S.P.S. Lodge Cech No 12 shows the founders, including Michael Karták, Václav Pícha, and Antonín Jurka. Another large picture on the third floor depicts the members of Z.C.B.J. Lodge Orel (eagle) No.69. This original lodge was organized in 1899 and current members still meet in the third floor room. Other portraits on the walls include various noted individuals such first presidents as George Washington (American) and Tomás Garrigue Masryk (Cechoslovakia), and current presidents Václav Havel (Cech Republic), and Michal Kovác (Slovak Republic). Also in the room are the original elaborately carved gothic officers chairs and marble-topped tables. The old upright piano in the corner is kept in tune, and is played at the beginning of meetings. Reproduction light fixtures hang from the ceiling. The second floor has undergone various changes over the years. The original floor plan consisted of a Lodge room, a Bar room, an ante room, a small stage, and a large dance room that housed the gymnastic equipment. It included a ticket window at the top of the stairs, a lobby, coat check room and men’s and ladies restrooms.3rd level meeting room

 During the remodeling in 1917, notable changes expanded use of the building. A third story was added to included an expanded formal meeting room, as well as a small office and storage space.  The second floor was altered, moving the stage to the opposite end of the dance floor and adding a dining area, and more recently an updated commercial kitchen. Impressive features of the second floor are the hand painted backdrops that were painted for the stage by Viktor Hubal, with scenes of various landscapes from Cechoslovakia.

Based upon Sadlacek, Joan Interview March 2003.
Edited from and first published in Gateway to a New World, Building Cech and Slovak Communities in the West End, Joe Landsberger et al, Published by the West 7th/Fort road Federation, 2003.
Our Website histories:

Early "Bohemian" immigration | Establishing St. Paul's C.S.P.S.  | CSPS Hall's chronology |
Histories from the C.S.P.S. Centennial 1987 | Czech and Slovak Sokol Minnesota chronology |
History from the Sokol centennial 1982 | Immigrant philosophical convergence