I realized that despite the hundreds of times I’ve driven down Arsenal Street in Benton Park West I’ve never actually photographed it comprehensively, so I hit the south side of the thoroughfare one morning recently. Starting at South Jefferson Avenue, which I’ve looked at here and here, we move west and go by vacant lots, some of which is the result of a now-demolished Burger Chef restaurant, before crossing over Texas Avenue (which you can see here, here and here), where we see this first house above.

What I always find fascinating is the transition from when the area was the semi-rural St. Louis Commons in the time around the Civil War and before, and when the greater density moved in with the arrival of major streetcar routes. Above, you can see how a house received a storefront that capitalized on increased foot traffic from a line out the front door.

While above and below you can see a Greek Revival duplex that was built in the years around the Civil War and probably occupied by families engaged in farming or other pastoral activities. They also could have worked at nearby breweries that had moved to the karst topography that offered caves for beer lagering.

There are later Second Empire houses that are built right up along the sidewalk line.

These houses are cast into shadow by their taller neighbor!

There is some tasteful in-fill before we reach the intersection with Ohio Avenue.