The Meramec Highlands Hotel must have been a sight to behold. Sitting high up on the bluffs, just to the east of the eponymous train tunnel, it was a short ride out from the city on the St. Louis and San Francisco (Frisco) Railroad. Guests could stay at the hotel, as well as the cottages…
Category: County
Posts about St. Louis County
Meramec Highlands Tunnel
Nestled behind the backyards of a subdivision is a surprise. Near the West and East Barrett Tunnels is a third tunnel, the Meramec Highlands Tunnel, high up on a bluff overlooking the Meramec River Valley. It was constructed in 1883 by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad. Like the other two, it was replaced just to…
East Barrett Tunnel
Moving past Barrett Station, further on down the tracks is the East Barrett Tunnel. The western entrance to the tunnel has been covered up, most likely by the northern approach to the Barrett Station Road bridge over the train tracks. The eastern tunnel is much larger and longer than the western tunnel. Due to the…
Barrett Station
Sitting in between the two Barrett tunnels, Barrett Station, or sometimes written Barrett’s, has appeared in newspapers since at least 1854. Considering the tunnels were completed in 1853, that places the station at least almost at the beginning of the Pacific Railroad’s opening in the area. The 1854 Globe-Democrat article speaks of the outlay of…
West Barrett Tunnel, Revisited
I originally looked at the eastern entrance of the West Barrett Tunnel back in December of 2013. I felt it was time to do some more investigation and find the western entrance. Supposedly this tunnel and its eastern mate are the oldest train tunnels west of the Mississippi River. As I wrote back in 2013,…
River Roads, Then and Now
It had been awhile since I’d checked in at the site of the former River Roads Mall, and the contrast between 1962 and 2025 cannot be greater. But perhaps it also reflects the changing pattern of suburban shopping; large, anchor-based shopping centers are being demolished and replaced with single parcel stores, each with their own…
Claymont, Today
Today, the houses of Claymont look much the same as they did when they were built, but there is pressure in the economically desirable city of Ballwin for “tear downs,” where lots are worth more than the houses on them. While that has spelled the end of many ranch houses in West County, so far…
Claymont, Beginnings
I was always interested in the Claymont subdivision, located on the southeast corner of Clayton and Kehr’s Mill roads in Ballwin in West County. Developed around 1963, the subdivision was a great example of the new sort of development appearing in the mid-Twentieth Century. Unlike Glasgow Village or Castle Point, which we’ve looked at before,…
Flora Avenue, Maplewood
Looping back around on Flora Avenue after turning around at Big Bend Boulevard, there are more houses that are typical of Maplewood. This house got a third floor added on. This house got a whole new wing added on to the east. I found this Dutch Colonial interesting in that it has a very prominent,…
Elm Avenue, Maplewood
Walking down Elm Avenue, we are in the Maplelawn Addition of Maplewood, where the houses are noticeably smaller, and further away from the former train station. They are also built in tracts of similar designs. There are also many four-square houses, which are common in Maplewood. Below is looking down Walter Avenue, which is part…