Edmond Jacques Eckel

Edmond Jacques Eckel was born June 22, 1845, in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, to Jacques Eckel, a manufacturer, and Louise Elizabeth Caroline (Schweighaeuser) Eckel. He was educated at what is now the Jean Sturm Gymnasium and studied architecture under the city architect of Strasbourg. In 1863 he moved to Paris to continue his education and studied in the Beaux-Arts ateliers of Alexis Paccard and Léon Vaudoyer. He was admitted to the second, or junior, class of the Ecole de Beaux-Arts in 1866 but left without graduating in 1868. Eckel then immigrated to the United States and lived first in New York City and Cleveland. In 1869 he decided to move on to Kansas City, Missouri, but a railroad layover in St. Joseph, about fifty miles north of Kansas City, prompted him to stay and settle. He worked as a drafter for local architects Patrick F. Meagher and Stigers & Boettner before briefly opening his own office in 1872. He returned to Stigers & Boettner in 1874 as a junior partner and in 1877, upon the retirement of the senior partner, a full partner in Boettner & Eckel.

In 1880 Boettner and Eckel dissolved their partnership, and Eckel formed a new firm, Eckel & Mann, with George R. Mann, a former employee of Boettner & Eckel. Circa 1888 they were joined by Harvey Ellis, an itinerant designer from Rochester, New York. Ellis excerted a large influence on his employers and has been credited with the design of the German-American Bank Building (1889) and had a part in the firm's competition-winning design for the St. Louis City Hall. Mann and Ellis moved to St. Louis to manage the project, and Eckel and Mann dissolved their partnership in 1892. Eckel briefly formed the partnership of Eckel & van Brunt with John van Brunt, an architect from Kansas City, but this was dissolved within a few months. Eckel then worked as a sole practitioner until 1908, when he formed the partnership of Eckel & Boschen with Walter Boschen, a young architect from New York City. This was dissolved in 1910 and Eckel formed another partnership, Eckel & Aldrich, with George R. Eckel, his son, and Will S. Aldrich, a former employee of McKim, Mead & White. In 1920 Eckel stepped down as the firm's senior partner, but he remained involved in the firm's projects until his death in 1934.

Eckel joined the Western Association of Architects (WAA) in 1885 as a fellow. When the WAA was merged into the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1889, Eckel became a fellow of the AIA. In 1912 he was a founder of the short-lived St. Joseph Society of Architects and served as its first president.

Eckel was married in 1875 to Minnie Louise Schroers in St. Joseph. They had four children: Edmond George Eckel, Minnie Albertine (Eckel) Agnew, Elvie Emilie (Eckel) Forgrave and George Robert Eckel. His home, built in St. Joseph in 1885, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 but has been demolished. He was a member of the Masons, the Elks, the Benton Club and the St. Joseph Country Club. Eckel died December 12, 1934, in St. Joseph at the age of 89.