North of the planing mills and woodworking factories lie the workers’ houses. They are elegant, well-kept and down to earth houses. Above is Jackson Street, with a style of Italianate house with a gable roof, which we don’t see many of in St. Louis examples of that style.

Again, as seen around the courthouse, many of these houses were probably built to be “disguised” two-family flats, just like we see in St. Louis. And likewise, they show the architectural influence of Chicago, connected by railroads to the east

Heading west on 12th Street over to White Street, I was amazing at how little of the original historic fabric of this working class neighborhood has been demolished. It is really wonderful to see.

The houses are well maintained, and look to have been continuously occupied.

And of course, the church plays an important role in the life of the immigrants who moved here from Europe to work in the factories.

What is really nice to see is the Second Empire apartment building standing next to the church; such buildings usually end up as parking lots.

And then look at this amazing house below, with a rare jerkinhead roof with original millwork surviving on the roofline. Also, look at that double rounded arch lintel on the attic level.

This is St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded in 1853, and is interesting in that the German immigrants came from Bavaria, which is traditionally Roman Catholic. But if you know your Sixteenth Century European history, you know there were pockets that stayed Protestant when the dust settled in the Seventeenth Century.

And remember, “Evangelical Lutheran” means that it traces its lineage to the German Lutheran Church, which is Evangelisch in the German language. Apparently it is one of the oldest Lutheran churches west of the Mississippi River. It is a beautiful Gothic Revival building with clean lines dating from 1879 and reminds me of other German Lutheran churches in St. Louis.