Update: I revisited the town and university in July of 2022. “But, but, we have to have a parking lot or people won’t come downtown!” I’m sure someone said that when it came time to do something with the vacant lot that was left on the west side of the main street of Fayette, Iowa,…
Month: November 2018
Oelwein, Iowa
Update: New historic photo and Sanborn maps added in July of 2021 along with new commentary about the town. I also went back and revisited the old railroad machine shops, which can be seen towards the end of this post in July of 2021. Oelwein still bustles because of a heavy railroad presence, and its…
Looking Up Gravois Road, Affton
I photographed Affton way back in 2008, almost exactly ten years ago from when this photograph was taken.
Ziegenhein Funeral Home
Logically, many funeral homes are located across the street from major churches or cemeteries, such as the Ziegenhein Funeral Home. I photographed it before back in 2016.
Carondelet Park, Revisited, Part Three
If there is perhaps one flaw to St. Louis parks, it is the borders. St. Louis builders gave us beautiful houses to frame our amazing green spaces, but then in the Twentieth Century, traffic engineers strangled access with asphalt traffic sewers. Loughborough Avenue on the south side of Carondelet Park is one such example: reckless…
Carondelet Park, Revisited, Part Two
On the western end of Carondelet Park the large lake has a rustic stone bridge separating it into two parts, and fishing is allowed. The public restrooms have been closed for decades. The benches have various inscriptions from donors. This says “Our love remains” in Latin.
Carondelet Park, Revisited, Part One
I went back to Carondelet Park to look at the sinkholes that dot the landscape. Much of park has these undulating pockets and depressions, which are the remnants of karst topography. I strongly suspect that the ponds were adapted from the sinkholes, plugged and converted by the park designers for recreation. I would imagine much…
Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery
Update: Readers interested in seeing the plat maps with boundaries of this cemetery can reference them in this post about the neighboring New Picker’s/Gatewood Gardens Cemetery (scroll down to the bottom). Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery lies just inside the city limits of St. Louis; there is a small neighborhood in between it and the River…
Two South County Cemeteries, Revisited
I went back by Father Dickson Cemetery, a historic African American cemetery off of Sappington Road, which I visited back in 2015 for a story for St. Louis Magazine. It still looks great, and is a model for maintaining a historic burial place. I also went back St. Paul Cemetery, off of Rock Hill Road,…
Mount Crestwood, Gone
As of late October, I can report that Mount Crestwood has been completely removed, and has now been seeded with grass. I will report on the grass’s growth in the spring.