The gigantic International Hat Company building hides a secret that most people miss; there is a short street named Allen Market Lane right behind it parallel to Russell Boulevard. You can see it below just to the left of the… Continue Reading
Update: Due to reader feedback, this post has been modified to reflect that the majority of the plant and a portion of the neighborhood are in fact in Venice. Portions of the plant and the neighborhood are in Madison. There’s… Continue Reading
A lot has been happening on State Street since the last time I posted any photographs of the downtown area of Granite City. Galen Gandolfi, who had opened the first art gallery on Cherokee Street, Fort Gondo, bought a series… Continue Reading
I looked at some of the industrial areas under the bridges and viaducts that cross over the Mill Creek Valley and its extensions west previously. Now we will look at some redevelopment around Grand Boulevard. Some of the buildings that… Continue Reading
Land speculation has arrived in the neighborhoods around the new spy agency, and if history has shown us anything in America, land speculators have rarely had the interests of the general public in mind. I first photographed the house above… Continue Reading
Does anyone know what this large factory-looking building was originally? It lies on Route 13, which is now South Belt Road West, and South 28th Street. The duplexes in front of the factory above clearly look like workers’ houses, built… Continue Reading
Northwest of downtown Belleville, the housing is distinctly more of the workers’ cottages that I saw around the old Stag Brewery, which is nearby. Many of the houses are still in really good condition, and their owners still take pride… Continue Reading
Just north of downtown Belleville are a cluster of beautiful Italianate houses, many of which have been adapted for other uses over the years, as is common as the commercial core of a city grows into nearby residential areas. There… Continue Reading
Update: See the second post in this series here and third post here. Historic photographs prove the valley between Chouteau and Forest Park Avenue was never some Lafayette Square-type neighborhood full of beautiful houses that deteriorated into a wasteland. No, it… Continue Reading
I went back to capture some more images of the Krey Meat Packing Plant, which dominated the skyline of Hyde Park for generations. It is still being used for automobile part recycling, so it is not abandoned. Its smokestacks have… Continue Reading