Thinking back over 5,500 posts, give or take since some were lost when this website crashed a year ago, for some reason this post from February of 2015 popped into my head. It’s interesting in that my 5,000th post also dealt with a subject from the St. Louis Place neighborhood.
I was always drawn to this house, which I looked at in greater detail (and before I began cropping my car’s mirror out of my photos–I swear I walk around and take the majority of my photos on foot and only drive around when I’m in a hurry) in February and June of 2014. Perhaps I found the absurdity or sadness that this house now stood all alone like the last column of a Greek temple that was once part of hundreds in a one minute walk, reduced to just a lone survivor. And then finally it bit the dust, most likely due to brick theft, which I haven’t talked about in a long time, and what was once a major topic when I first started this website.
Apparently St. Louis has already lost a further chunk of population, dropping our number well below the 300,000 mark, which takes us back to 1870 or so. Remember, in that year, St. Louis Place was still suburban, and people would have considered the future boundaries of the City to be way out in the country. There is so much vacant land that is hard to imagine what has been lost.
A stark reminder to me. My Dad’s business was on 1906-1908 St. Louis Avenue. Now a lot of weeds. Despite the destruction, I miss my home.
Congratulations on 5,500, Chris. Nothing else like St Louis Patina on the ‘net.
Thank you, Mark! I didn’t realize your father’s business was in those buildings. They were only demolished a year or two ago.
Totally agree. Historically, St. Louis has also done a poor job of preserving it’s past. Thanks for all of your posts!
Thanks for tuning in!
Another St. Louis landmark building needlessly lost over the weekend. In 1903 my grandfather’s grandfather built the Fred J. Swaine Manufacturing building at 7th and O’Fallon. It’s too late to do anything about this building’s contribution to St. Louis’ built history and heritage but thank you for continuing to bring awareness to what buildings are left. Each building lost raises the importance of those that remain. Congratulations on reaching your milestone, Chris.
Karen, I would love to hear more about your family’s business.
Thanks for your interest, Chris. Looks like I can’t attach here but I’m happy to email you some information about the business & building. What’s your address?
Karen, you can contact me at naffziger (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks!
Chris, I have emailed you. Please do let me know when you receive it.