We were wandering around Calvary Cemetery when we found this unique monument to Chief of Police Martin O’Brien. In 1919, he was wounded while chasing two “highwaymen” who had just robbed a jewelry store. He sounds like a much more hands on manager than many leaders nowadays.
Category: North
Posts about North St. Louis
St. Mark’s, Six Months After the Fire
I thought I would check up on how the former St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church was doing six months after the severe fire that struck in the depths of winter. The answer: not very good. There has been little change other than the dramatic growth of plants, trees and other vegetation up the sides of…
Harlan Court, The Long Apartment Buildings
Harlan Court has always been that apartment complex that pops up in the news every five years or so for the wrong reasons. It’s inexcusable that there are still so many buildings owned by out-of-state slumlords who hold on to once august addresses. (I checked and there was a Citizens’ Service Bureau complaint for a…
Savoy Court
You might have missed Savoy Court while watching for errant driers at the intersection of Delmar and Union boulevards, but if you look closely at the northwest corner, you’ll see a modern entrance to what is an interesting little street laid out in 1909. What was originally six apartment buildings, starting this one at the…
Enright Avenue Between Belt and Arlington Avenues
While the beautiful houses of the Central West End are well known, I feel like I need to come back again and again to north of Delmar, in this case to the Visitation Park neighborhood, to show how stately homes are here, as well. There are houses such as the one below that are fairly…
Hamilton Avenue Between Romaine Place and MLK Dr Drive, Hamilton Heights
Heading north from Romaine Place, I traveled north on Hamilton Avenue towards Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. I could have sworn I’ve been up this section of Hamilton Avenue, but I guess not. This stately building was the Franke Motor Car Company, constructed for $25,000 in 1925 and designed by Otto J. Kriegg, whose offices…
Arlington Avenue Between Ashland and Natural Bridge Avenues, Wells-Goodfellow
I visited this block almost exactly two years ago in July of 2023, fascinated by the interesting mix of wood frame housing. It was totally abandoned back then, and it’s obviously stayed that way. At least one house has been demolished in those two years. Despite being right behind the Schnuck’s on Natural Bridge Avenue,…
5600 Block of Labadie, Wells-Goodfellow, Summer of 2026
I specifically set out to try and find another block to explore other than the 5600 block of Labadie Avenue, but then I went and drove down it anyway. The first part to the west I first explored back in March of 2017. It’s in rough shape. Most of the buildings, some of which were…
Hodiamont Avenue, Wells-Goodfellow, Revisited
Posts at this website are one of two things: exploring new places, or revisiting somewhere to see how it has changed for better or worse. I decided to explore Hodiamont Avenue in Wells-Goodfellow, which I had first examined closely back in March of 2017. Foliage is doing well, as can be seen above. I’ve always…
Dodier Street Between Glasgow and North Garrison Avenues
I might have mentioned this before, but if you ever wonder why there are a bunch of houses that are in way better shape and a couple of decades older in the blocks to the northeast of the intersection of North Grand Boulevard and St. Louis Avenue, I can explain. In 1893, Julius Pitzman was…