We’ll start looking at the schools slated for potential closure in order of age and working out from downtown, more or less. That means we’ll begin with Jefferson Elementary School, which as evidenced from these historic photos, has a long and rich pedigree in St. Louis.

Judging from the two photographs above, I suspect the school was easily built before the Civil War. The Greek Revival architectural style leans towards that, as well as its location in dense Irish immigrant neighborhood (St. Patrick’s was nearby).

Located at the northwest corner of 9th and Wash (modern day Cole Street), the site is now apartments north of the convention center. The kindergarten above was the first expansion.

While there’s talk of a “second location,” I think it is referring to the demolition of the first school and replacement with the above building, possibly designed by August Kirchner. Interestingly, at this point according to fire insurance maps, there was a synagogue across Wash Street and a new Catholic church a block away, as well as a Niedringhaus Family owned business and an abandoned malt house.

But times changed, and the new Jefferson Elementary School moved to another location at 1301 Hogan Street on the edge of the Carr Square public housing project.

This was most likely due to redevelopment that caused the demolition of much of the urban fabric around the school.

This is the building slated for closure.

It’s your pretty standard mid-century Modern building; while it perhaps has a little bit of charm, I wouldn’t put it on any list of the most important Modernist landmarks in St. Louis.

I would suspect it is at that dangerous age where HVAC, windows and other systems are in need of replacement.

Regardless, it marks the end of what could be a school with a 175 year history.