Some old buildings, due to their history, just need to be torn down. One case in point was a squat building at the southwest corner of Victor Street and Texas Avenue. As can be seen, a small duplex house was added on to by the Koken Barber Supply Company, where shellacking occurred for some of their products.

But then since the mid-Twentieth Century, the complex was turned over to the plating of chrome bumpers, which is not a very clean process!

After a cleanup by the Environmental Protection Agency, it is now safe to be torn down. The buildings were not structurally stable or of enough architectural merit to be saved. The land is now safe and clean, and can be redeveloped due to the efforts of DeSales Community Development and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.