Probably almost nobody in St. Louis remembers Merchant Street, and the bustling community that once lined its two blocks between Second Street and South Broadway. Originally named Carondelet Street, it was basically wiped away in the urban renewal plan for… Continue Reading
I looked at the town of DePue, Illinois, several years ago in an article at St. Louis Magazine, and how the Lemp and Anheuser-Busch breweries brought ice down from the Illinois River to St. Louis. But there is also fairly… Continue Reading
Originally known as the Manufacturers’ Bank and Trust Company, this financial institution changed its name to the American Bank of St. Louis, before being merged with Mercantile Bank, It’s a classic Beaux-Arts bank building, though it’s curious in its relatively… Continue Reading
The railroad tracks that snake around the South Riverfront are still used, but they seem more quiet than they used to be over a century ago. I was down this way back in 2017. The views of downtown are vast… Continue Reading
I sometimes find it hard to believe there was once life on the riverfront. It’s just a giant empty expanse of concrete, partially buried train tracks and vacant lots awaiting “redevelopment” that’s probably never coming.
The house which sat on top of Sugar Load Mound has been demolished by the Osage Nation. The lower platform of the mound to the north still has one house left.
Update: The City’s Work House was once located very near here, as I wrote in St. Louis Magazine in January of 2021. The South Riverfront, cut off by cliffs and I-55, is not as immediately accessible as the North Riverfront.… Continue Reading
Update: I revisited the area again in the summer of 2019. The near south riverfront, just below the Arch grounds on the Mississippi, is still a fascinating place. This giant crane, for example, is a mystery to me; what was… Continue Reading
There is a large portion of the city cut off by the interstates. Up north, we see mostly devastation, as people fled living next to an interstate on the west and industry on the east. Down south, it’s not so… Continue Reading
Update: See where the railroad terminated by the ice houses at the Iron Mountain Railroad along the South Riverfront. Coming through the ice house on the Lemp Brewery’s property, a rail line came down Potomac, and curved northward to hook… Continue Reading