Like many industries, Stupp Brothers moved out to more suburban surroundings in the Twentieth Century after being located in the city. The story of the Stupps is fascinating, having been founded in 1856 by Johann Stuppd and his sons The company is still privately held and has built steel components for bridges, pipelines and even…
Category: County
Posts about St. Louis County
Dale and Spring Avenues, Old Orchard, Webster Groves
We next turned into the residential streets to the north of the commercial strip along Big Bend in the Old Orchard area. As was typical of suburban neighborhood movements in the late Nineteenth Century, and as can be seen in Julius Pitzman’s Clifton Heights and Compton Heights additions, there is a move away from rigid…
Big Bend Boulevard, Old Orchard, Webster Groves
Let’s head two Frisco Railroad stops to the northeast and get off our imaginary train and get off at the Old Orchard stop. Sadly, the station is lost, but it was located at the dead end of Old Orchard Avenue, at the railroad tracks, obviously. Old Orchard, not surprisingly, took its name from the large…
Frisco Railroad Station, South Webster, Revisited
Way back in March of 2011 I took one really bad photograph of the Frisco Railroad Station that once served the South Webster section of Webster Groves, so I thought it was time to come back and revisit it as well as the area. The South Webster station was one of three Frisco lines stops…
North Taylor Avenue, Kirkwood
Looking at other houses on North Taylor Avenue, it becomes obvious that the overall context of the streetscape is that of large lots and houses. So when I read about these lots being cut up and stuffed with four or five houses, or replaced with a house that is not architecturally sympathetic, it weakens the…
751 North Taylor, Under Threat of Demolition, Kirkwood
Update: Unceremoniously demolished on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. One of the oldest suburbs in the St. Louis region, Kirkwood has a wealth of historic houses, including a few that even date to before the Civil War. One of them is the Marquitz-Garesche House, which dates to 1858, and is a historic landmark in Kirkwood. You…
Kirkwood Public Library
Dating from 1940, the Kirkwood Public Library is located at the southwest corner of East Jefferson Avenue and North Taylor Avenue. These historic photos date from just after its completion. As can be seen below, the library has received many additions over the years, including in 1954, 1963 and 1996.
Bristol Elementary School, Webster Groves
I couldn’t find a cornerstone for the Bristol School in Webster Groves, and there might be a very good reason, and a very fascinating one at that. Most likely the work of William Ittner, it was built in stages, just like many of his schools were designed to be. But at this school which was…
Cemetery, Sancta Maria in Ripa, Lemay, and San Francesco in Ripa, Rome
Word has come down in the news media that Sancta Maria in Ripa has been put on the market for sale by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Lemay. I’ve looked at the majestic buildings twice, first in October of 2008, and then in December of 2020. The high school buildings are not for…
Panorama, Ravens-Queathem House, Chesterfield
For the last several decades known as the Old House in Hog Hollow and currently operating as a wine bar, the Ravens-Quaethem House was originally built in 1859 with a significant expansion in 1912. It was named Panorama due to its views of the Missouri River Valley below. Apparently one of the early owners herded…