Update: Despite promising to do so years ago, Paul McKee has not relinquished ownership of properties in the Old North neighborhood as of April 2016. Update: The two houses below owned by Paul McKee were gutted by fire set by an arsonist on April 2, 2020.
Knapp Street in Old North St. Louis is a short, two block long street that is barricaded with Schoemehl Pots on the north end, effectively rendering the street highly isolated. The following houses appear to be abandoned, and the first is 3248.
These two small houses above, which are very, very old, sit further south on the street at 3240 and 3242. This alley house below set far back from the street is 3261; it is a real survivor.
I lived on Knapp Street in the late sixties when I was a little boy. The lawns where green and the hedges neatly trimmed. I remember cobblestones, the sidewalk or the street was made of cobblestone. There was a store on the corner where I bought penny candy after a day of school at Aames. On Summer evenings we children caught fireflies in the street that smelled of honeysuckle. I learned to ride a bike on that street. I’ve enjoyed looking at these photos. Thank you.
My great grandparents, Thomas and Alvina Williams, lived at 3240 Knapp with their 4 children, one of whom was my maternal grandmother, in 1918. My great grandmother died of the Spanish Flu there.
Interesting, Tom; thank you for sharing. I also found a case listed in an old book about a woman suing the City of St. Louis for $10,000 after tripping on some loose bricks out in front of your ancestors’ house. Only listed as “disposed of” by the City, the owner of the sidewalk.