Valley Center, Kansas is an interesting town north of Wichita, and seems to have been built largely around the 1910’s or 20’s, as there is an abundance of Arts and Crafts bungalows throughout the center of town. I really like this house, which actually has a port cochere, a rarity on this style of house….
Month: February 2011
Webster Records
Update: I believe as of Winter 2013 this store is now closed.
Save 750 North Taylor!
Update: The house was demolished by September 2014, but probably much earlier. I know the house is expensive, but really, should we destroy what is otherwise a perfectly intact street wall that stretches for approximately a miles in the historic core of Kirkwood?
Bottling Plant, Anheuser Busch Brewery
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Plate 60Update: I went back in the early fall of 2021 to take more photos of the plant. According to Sanborn maps, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery originally had several bottling plants before the construction of the iconic bottling plant built in the early Twentieth Century along Broadway. By the time of construction,…
Old Anheuser Busch Stables
The Busch family originally lived right in the heart of the brewery; their mansion, One Busch Place, was torn down years ago, but the stables survive, and are on the National Register of Historic Places. While still functioning, the stables are a work of art, complete with stained glass windows and elaborate decoration. I originally…
More Chouteau’s Landing
Update: Crunden Martin, seen above and below, was almost completely destroyed by fire in December of 2025. Only the building below and another one survived. I love Chouteau’s Landing, largely because it is still so gritty and undisturbed by rehabilitation. Unlike Laclede’s Landing, the area is largely not scarred by huge parking lots that make…
MacArthur Bridge Approaches, Chouteau’s Landing
I still can’t believe the amazing, sublime structure the MacArthur Bridge. Just drive under it sometime and feel how it looms over you.
Kinloch, Part 5
Update: The town had changed dramatically when I revisited the town in February of 2020. The building above is now boarded up and abandoned. The community garden below has moved to a new location. Kinloch, despite its reputation, has much still going for it. An urban farm is cultivated by the city during the summer on…
Keep Up the Bad Work!
Update: The storefront collapsed and was demolished in June of 2013 after the repair work resulted in further spalling of the western wall of the building. An out-of-city absentee landlord is busily letting a neighborhood anchor deteriorate, with little or no effort at trying to repair the building. And why should he care? There are…
Powell Square
Update: The building was torn down in the winter of 2013; it was replaced with a vacant lot. A historic photo of the building, which housed the Fulton Bag Company was added in September of 2020. I’m sure there’s a use for Powell Square.