When I first woke up the sun was shining, but then the fog materialized an hour after sunrise. As I drove up the road to the north to photograph the longhorns at a neighbor’s farm, the mists suddenly lifted only enough for me to take pictures of my family farm’s barns emerging from the mist….
Month: December 2021
Dusk, Family Farm, Deer Creek Township, Tazewell County, Illinois
The sun sets early in December but I was still able to get these photos of the family farm. Update: The cattle barn below was destroyed by a tornado in March of 2023.
Secor, Woodford County, Illinois
The giant grain elevator in Secor had long attracted my attention on my drive west of El Paso on U.S. Highway 24 on my way to Eureka, Illinois, but this time I decided to go visit and take a look… Like many small towns, the elevator dominates the skyline, but there is still at least…
Oregon Avenue Between Potomac and Cherokee Streets, Gravois Park
Oregon Avenue was the site of a country estate set among a grove of trees owned by a B.W. Alexander back in 1875. Back to the present day and crossing over Potomac Street, we’ll first look at the west side of the street going north. There are some beautiful houses along this stretch, showing how…
Oregon Avenue Between Miami and Potomac Streets, Gravois Park
Back in 1875, there was little to give us an impression of what would one day be the block of Oregon Avenue between Miami and Potomac streets. There was a large Second Empire mansion, owned by a Mrs. W.L. Ewing, but little to show the dramatic change in elevation between the “lower” and “upper” portions…
Oregon Avenue Between Winnebago and Miami Streets, Gravois Park
Crossing over Winnebago Street, we come across another block of Oregon Avenue that was still relatively undeveloped in 1876. First we glance down Winnebago at some of the large buildings that dominate the north side of the street. The housing stock on the west side of Oregon as we head north is wide and varied,…
Oregon Avenue Between Chippewa and Winnebago Streets, Gravois Park
Wow, there sure wasn’t much happening out on the block of Oregon in between Chippewa and Winnebago streets back in 1876, other than a huge vineyard on the west side, and grove of trees for a villa facing California Avenue. Nowadays, there’s a prominent Second Empire storefront on the northwest corner with Chippewa, and the…
Ohio Avenue Between Potomac and Cherokee Streets, Gravois Park
Crossing over Potomac Street and looking at the west side of Ohio Avenue as we head north, we see a bright yellow building. Looking at Pictorial St. Louis, we realize that it is the old Italianate Evangelical Lutheran School, simply missing its cupola and chimneys. I suspect it may have been built as a single…
Ohio Avenue Between Miami and Potomac Streets, Gravois Park
This is a short block, as the whole east side of Ohio is dominated by the abandoned former Lutheran Hospital. The parking lot on the northeast corner of Miami and Ohio was once the site of an 1865 Italianate mansion, however, which I believe served as nurses’ housing. The block developed slow on the west…
Ohio Avenue Between Winnebago and Miami Streets, Gravois Park
Crossing over Winnebago Street, we look at the west side of the 3600 block of Ohio Avenue opposite Holy Cross Lutheran Church, which I’ve looked at twice before here and here. I’ve looked at this stretch before, back in December of 2011 and March of 2016. I’ve actually looked at the west side of this…