Every self-respecting 19th century farmhouse had a root cellar, either underground near the house or beneath it, like the Tappmeyers’. Originally conceived to store root vegetables (hence, the name), cellars soon welcomed fruits, nuts, cured meats, canned goods, and – in the case of the Tappmeyers – people.

It must have been cold and dark for those folks, for those are the essentials of a cellar: a place that keeps food from freezing in winter and cool enough to prevent rot in the summer. Ideally, the cellar is consistently cooler than 45 degrees F, and, of course, without light.

So why were people in the Tappmeyer Homestead’s cellar? Blame the railroad. The Laclede and Creve Coeur Railroad was chartered to extend the line from St. Louis to Creve Coeur Lake, and the railroad hired the Tappmeyers to house and feed the workers as they built the line near their farm. Now living in the house, the Tappmeyers put up the workers in the granary, their former home, and gave them meals in the cellar. Frederick Wilheim Tappmeyer ate with them, and once they had finished the job and moved on, he swore he’d never eat in the dark again – and he didn’t, building an addition to the house that had windows in every wall (now the Heritage Room).

When not using the cellar as a dining hall or food storehouse, the family stored seasonal items there: apple butter kettles and paddles, wood cooking stoves used for sausage and butchering, wood buckets, and tables and chairs. Eventually refrigeration became common, and many cellars lost their original purpose, becoming simply the basement.