Selma Hall, or Kennett’s Castle, was built according to designs by George I. Barnett in 1854 along the bluffs south of St. Louis in Jefferson County. I rarely only show historic photographs, but the house is so far back in a huge estate and is never open to the public that it is impossible to…
Category: Surrounding Region
Posts about the Surrounding Region in Missouri
Anheuser Estate, Kimmswick
The Anheuser family had a country estate on the banks of the Mississippi just south of Kimmswick that is now a park. The house was originally built in 1867 but the Anheusers bought it in 1916. I suspect the family could have easily taken the train directly to their estate on the tracks, which may…
Windsor Harbor Bridge, Kimmswick
On the south side of Kimmswick is the Windsor Harbor Bridge, which is now completely closed to all traffic, after once being open to pedestrians. Originally placed in Carondelet up in St. Louis from 1874 to 1928, it was moved here in 1930. There is a modern road bridge to the west, made of reinforced…
Kimmswick, Revisited
Founded in 1859 by German Theodore Kimm, we thought that Kimmswick was worth a second look recently since we were in the area after having looked at it back in August of 2020. I had forgotten how many log cabins there were in the town. And judging from the National Register nomination, which does not…
Byrne’s Mill, Jefferson County
Well, we discovered there’s not much left of Byrne’s Mill (not to be confused with Byrnesville, which wan named after a totally unrelated man) except a stone pier, but there is a nice write up at the city’s website about the historic site.
Old Walker Burying Ground
Heading west in St. Charles County, we arrive in Wentzville, where a small but critically important cemetery lies surrounded by the current campus of Holt High School. As can be read here, it holds some of the oldest European burials in the county, including some names that we have seen at other cemeteries, such as…
Sage Chapel Cemetery
Thanks to a tip from Found St. Louis, we learned about the historic Sage Chapel Cemetery, a historic African American burial ground located in O’Fallon in St. Charles County. Read about the history of the cemetery here. Located on land once owned by slaveowners, the church known as Sage Chapel is long gone, like much…
American Car and Foundry Company, Today
After reading in the news media that several buildings in the old American Car and Foundry Company were threatened with demolition, I traveled out to St. Charles to take a look. One building the Foundry Arts Center, is at the front of the complex at Clark and North Main Street. It’s a huge complex, and…
Yahn Dam, Weldon Spring
That strange concrete structure we saw two days ago is the spillway that Theodore Yahn built for what was going to be an earthen dam, which would have filled in a valley. It was never completed, so this stairstepped monolith remains in the woods.
Heck-Roth Cemetery, Weldon Spring
The Heck-Roth Cemetery was located just off the road we looked at yesterday. Like many of the old cemeteries we’ve looked at in the Weldon Spring area, it was for family, and relatively small, though this one is even smaller than usual. The easiest gravestone to read was that of Mathilda Roth, wife of William.