The Four Hundred Club
The Four Hundred Club of St. Louis appears to have taken its name from Ward McAllister, self-appointed arbiter of New York society from the 1860s to the early 1890s. According to him, Four Hundred was the number of people in New York who really mattered; the people who felt at ease in the ballrooms of high society.
The Bill Curtis Saloon was the headquarters for the Four Hundred Club.
J.C. Covington, finanacial secretary of the Four Hundred Club, wrote a letter to the St. Louis Star Sayings printed on 29 December, 1895.
The Four Hundred Club was organized December 6, 1895, for the moral and physical culture of young colored men. We contemplate no acts of violence, and as law-abiding citizens and voters we stand ready and willing to protect the laws of our sity, State and the United States. Our order was organized with Mr. Will Richmond as president, Robert Lee as secretary and Mr. Lee [Lee Shelton] as captain.
