I specifically set out to try and find another block to explore other than the 5600 block of Labadie Avenue, but then I went and drove down it anyway. The first part to the west I first explored back in March of 2017. It’s in rough shape. Most of the buildings, some of which were…
Hodiamont Avenue, Wells-Goodfellow, Revisited
Posts at this website are one of two things: exploring new places, or revisiting somewhere to see how it has changed for better or worse. I decided to explore Hodiamont Avenue in Wells-Goodfellow, which I had first examined closely back in March of 2017. Foliage is doing well, as can be seen above. I’ve always…
School Supply Warehouse
I made an interesting discovery near the Rock Church just off North Grand Boulevard regarding this building. Due to the size of the smokestack, I assumed this was a factory, but since at 1909, this building was a school supply warehouse for Saint Louis Public Schools. The fourth floor was labeled “bindery,” so I wonder…
Dodier Street Between North Garrison Avenue and North Grand Boulevard
Let’s look at these houses along Dodier Street more closely. It turns out that some, such as the one above, are actually two family buildings, and quite large ones at that. Single and two family houses are mixed together, without any stigma of multi-family living existing. I’ve been told that judges and doctors often lived…
Dodier Street Between Glasgow and North Garrison Avenues
I might have mentioned this before, but if you ever wonder why there are a bunch of houses that are in way better shape and a couple of decades older in the blocks to the northeast of the intersection of North Grand Boulevard and St. Louis Avenue, I can explain. In 1893, Julius Pitzman was…
Knapp, North Nineteenth, Helen and Benton Streets, St. Louis Place
I was wandering around St. Louis Place when I caught these survivors on one block stretches in between Mullanphy/Howard streets and Madison Avenue. The two buildings above and below are on Knapp Street. Below are the two survivors left on North Nineteenth. Helene Street has much more left, including a bunch of wonderful Second Empire…
Old St. Marcus Cemetery
Readers who grew up in South St. Louis might remember the sad abandonment and despoliation of Old St. Marcus, on Gravois Avenue just northeast of the city limits. Originally founded by St. Marcus Evangelical Church, a storied German congregation, it suffered from disinvestment and abandonment, while its counterpart, across the border in Affton continued with…
Buder Elementary School
I missed two schools that might also be closed in the St. Louis Public Schools’ plans for reduction of its footprint. They are Mann and Buder. I looked at Mann way back in 2009, when ironically it was threatened with demolition. Despite being fully enrolled with strong test scores, the District has still proposed its…
North Taylor Avenue Between Margaretta and Kossuth Avenues
North Taylor Avenue is a long street, and it serves as a secondary artery for much of the North Side. So it’s incredibly annoying when all of the sudden at Natural Bridge Avenue, it is one way to the south. I went and detoured around the one way streets and before I knew it, I…
Obear Avenue Between Kossuth and Lee Avenues
I came across this short block of Obear Avenue in the Fairgrounds neighborhood. It’s a good example of a street that has been battered by abandonment and demolition. But there are several houses left standing that are occupied.