Thanks to a reader’s helpful book recommendation, I was able to learn much more about the area around Meramec, Gravois and Chippewa, and the rich history of an area that I was already exploring. I had recently learned about the Calvin Christy manor house, which is now a nursing home, having going through a period under Lutheran management.

While the house sits on Alfred Avenue between Beethovan and Taft avenues today, its original address was Morgan Ford because the property stretched to that thoroughfare, and a long driveway stretches back to the manse.

The original house could best be described as a sort of Georgian Revival style, and was quite large and certainly unique in its location. But it was convenient to downtown. Calvin Christy founded the Christy Fire Clay Company, and upon his death his property was subdivided into the subdivisions that now make up this portion of Bevo.

Looking below, you can see the Christy Estate in 1884, with the few roads and parcels of property that made up their land holdings. North is to the right. You can see the long driveway over to Morgan Ford.

Here are historic photos of the family business.

Now, this is important; don’t get confused with Laclede-Christy, which is another clay and brick products company, which was to the west, and lies along Christy Boulevard and Kingshighway, which you can see below. There is that moribund shopping center on the site now.

Here is the office building of that company, below.

Back to the company at hand, below.

Here are more maps that show the area of the Christy land holdings. It’s actually very cool below, as you can see the French fields coming in from the right, or east, from the Carondelet common fields.

East of the old Calvin Christy house, here are the houses built in the subdivision of the former estate.

They are typical of the early Twentieth Century, right around the time the area was developed.