Jerome Bibb Legg

• American

• Architect

Jerome Bibb Legg was responsible for several Missouri courthouses, opera houses and theaters, churches, schools, and other public buildings in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in Schyler County, Illinois, in 1838 or 1839, Legg was educated in the rural schools of the area. In 1864, he moved to St Louis to attend Jones Commercial College. Following several years of work as a teacher and in several administrative positions, he took a job as bookkeeper to George Barnett, St. Louis' leading architect. Barnett encouraged Legg to pursue a career in architecture. After he worked a year with Barnett, and a year as a builder, he was chosen to superintend the building of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Louis. He then opened his practice as an architect, designing buildings in St Louis and Jefferson City, Missouri; Wichita, Kansas; Paducah, Kentucky; and Dallas and Waco, Texas. Legg promoted his services with the publication and mailing of a brochure called Home for Everybody, and added to the general knowledge of architecture by editing the Building Trades Journal. By 1899, he had expanded his business to include buildings in twelve states. - NRHP