Well, I heard in the news that the old Carr Elementary School, which has been abandoned since in 1983, is being demolished.
By then, the neighborhood it served had largely been annihilated by urban renewal. I detailed the historically rich story of the Carr Square article in two parts, here and here, for St. Louis Magazine.
Of course, like many inner ring schools, there was an earlier, much older building.
And here is a photograph from eighty years ago in much better times.
The Carr Square Tenants Association, the current owners, let the building crumble, never having any serious plan for renovating the school.
It’s striking how much the building has deteriorated since Built St. Louis looked at the school back as 2001.
I’ve looked at the building several times over the years, watching as the school lost more and more of its roof and windows. I first looked at it in August of 2008, and then in February and April of 2011.
From 14th Street, you can see the extent of the roof collapse and the large number of windows that have been smashed. The rain this summer has been good for the undergrowth.
Carr School was never in a wealthy neighborhood, but the building was built at the same quality and thoughtfulness of the ones built in the upper class areas. I think about all the students who passed through its walls, and how perhaps the education they received here maybe, just maybe allowed them to escape from poverty and achieve the American Dream.
I drove by carr school a couple weeks ago and it sure needs to come down. Maybe the can save some of the mosaics on the walls. Did notice that they were demolishing the old apartments up the street and building new one’s may they fair better tan the old one’s.
My grandfather attended Carr in the 1920s after being kicked out of Patrick Henry! He would tell us kids that story while riding along to bring clothing donations to St. Patrick’s Center. I remember when there were still some old buildings standing leftover from his old neighborhood. Not much remains.