Continuing the tradition of my 1,000th post, I will again address a serious threat to the City of St. Louis When was the last time you heard some say the following? “Hey guys, let’s go take a stroll down Kingshighway in between Highway 40 and Interstate 44!” Even if you replace “Kingshighway” with “Grand” or…
Month: February 2012
Clifton Heights Park
I don’t know why it took so long to get out to the Clifton Heights neighborhood, but I’m glad I did. It is a stunning example of a Victorian suburban development, complete with ducks and winding paths that snake around the pond. Even more interesting, it has a large collection of wood frame houses from…
Century Building SLAPP Concluded?
Many years ago, there was a beautiful building in downtown St. Louis, sheathed entirely of marble, and featuring a large open floor plan on the first floor easily adaptable for reuse, as it was once a department store and theater back in St. Louis’s heyday. Two citizens, Roger Plackemeier and Marcia Behrendt, believed it was…
Roundhouse, Hall Street
I went and visited the roundhouse on North Hall Street; there is very little left, but there is clear evidence of such a structure existing up this way.
More Collapse at St. Mary’s Infirmary?
Update: Demolished in mid-2016. I can’t tell for sure, but it looks like there might have been a little more collapse at St. Mary’s Infirmary. I may be wrong, but it doesn’t look good, if at the least in the long run.
World War II Veterans’ Memorial
Update: The proposed additions were superseded by the successful renovation of the Soldiers Memorial by the Missouri History Museum, which reopened to the public on Veterans’ Day 2018. Read my article about the completed renovations here. The renovations included the completion of the architect’s original vision for the space seen in these photographs, which now…
East St. Louis Power Plant
Update: I returned in November of 2016. It was part of a glass bottle works. Very little is known about the isolated power plant in East St. Louis. Surrounded by forest and weed-choked lots, its twin smokestacks stand in splendid isolation in the midst of the abandoned neighborhood.
Bloody Island
Bloody Island, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, has a history that is closely intertwined with the city. Originally, it was the location of duels between Missouri politicians, and then it became a liability as it began to threaten the port of St. Louis. Robert E. Lee was the officer in the Army Corps…
Grand Viaduct, Styrofoam and Bad Decisions
As I remarked recently, for some St. Louisans, this will be the third Grand Viaduct over Mill Creek in their lifetimes. Let us hope it is the last. I still can’t believe they tore down the old one; august and massive, it was our own Brooklyn Bridge, right in the heart of the city. Now…
Grain Elevator, Midtown
Update: I revisited the grain elevator in the early fall of 2021. While not particularly ornamented, it is massive in scale. Built in the 1950’s the grain elevator in Midtown is a St. Louis landmark.