Arsenal Street Between Ohio and California Avenues, South Side

Moving west from Ohio Avenue on Arsenal Street, we see a HUD house that has been built on a vacant lot, probably back in the 1970s. I actually met the owner of the house at SerbFest, where he was working security.

Next are two stout four-family buildings, which are such a mainstay of the Benton Park West area.

This parking lot below, however, is not. I rarely if ever see any cars parked in it, and I respectfully submit that it is no longer needed, built at a time where someone relied on far too generous of a parking study. William Swekosky said it was demolished in 1960 by the Salvation Army–62 years of waste. It should be put back into service as tax-generating property.

And just look what used to be here: a center of the community where locals gathered and built a sense of comradery. Now it’s a deadzone.

William Swekosky, Swiss Hall, 2724-2726 Arsenal Street, c. 1940s, Missouri History Museum, N29432

Across Iowa Avenue, the Salvation Army complex has its own parking lot, which stretches to California Avenue, which I’ve looked at here and here.

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