I’ve looked at the north side of Meramec Street in Dutchtown extensively, in two groups of posts that start here and here, but I’ve never looked at the south side except here and there with individual buildings. Let’s start at South Broadway and work our way west. Thanks to Found St. Louis, I learned the house above was the home of Heidi Lange, an architect who worked with Theodore Link. The house is surely from the 1860s and is a good example of a home built out in the country in southern portion of the old St. Louis Commons.
But of course, as the area began to fill in due to strong streetcar connections, we start to see single family houses and multifamily apartments being built.
The streetcar saw many residential buildings give way to storefronts.
And of course, down the street from a huge Catholic church, a funeral home would stay busy, along with other Protestant churches nearby.
It seems the old John Withnell property was purchased to become Maryville College. If you look closely in this photograph with the first St. Anthony of Padua church off in the distance.
The old stone wall once surrounded the old Maryville College. It was demolished and there is a post office in its place on the east side of the property.
The west side of the old property has an apartment complex.
Next up is the former St. Anthony of Padua school, which is now the Confluence Academy charter school.
St. Anthony of Padua has been located here since in 1863.
But originally there was an earlier church that was replaced by the current one that towers over the neighborhood.
Moving to the west, this house has always intrigued me, as there is clearly an office in the basement on the Louisiana Avenue side. Ehrhardt Livingstone lived in the house and was in fact a physician, so I bet he ran his practice out of the basement.
Then the rest of the street until South Grand Boulevard has relatively normal houses, such as the ones you see below.
But I’m suspicious about this house, with this address. There is in fact a man named John Withnell Dunn, but I’m wondering if this is actually a photograph of the John Withnell house to the east.
Thanks so much! I enjoy seeing these amazing buildings that bring back fond memories.
Prominent St. Louisan John Withnell Dunn built a “show place” mansion on Meramec Street in Dutchtown in 1873/4. The home remained in the family until it was torn down in 1941 — ten years after his death in 1931 at age 86 — to make way for a supermarket. All of this is documented in local newspapers, see links below. The address is listed as 3418 Meramec St. in these accounts, consistent with Missouri History Museum photographs from 1930 with captions identifying a home at this address as Dunn’s. While sharing these historical images on this post, you raise suspicion about whether the captions are correct, pointing to the address as a reason to doubt. A DutchtownSTL.org blog post also uses 3418 Meramec St. as Dunn’s address in a writeup about the area’s old estates, which includes at least one of the museum photos. As that post notes, the site of Dunn’s home, subsequently a grocery store, is now Rasalat Community Center, whose address is indeed 3418 Meramec St. One of the 1941 news articles about the home’s demise noted that Dunn’s son, J.W. Dunn Jr. , lived at 3428 Meramec St. A brief article about the elder Dunn’s passing listed this as his address, so perhaps he was living with his son at the time, or maybe there were errors in the text. In any case, there is present address confusion as Google lists 3428 Meramec St. as the site of a one-story former Anheuser-Busch commercial building constructed in 1914. But perhaps addresses have changed over time. As your post alludes to, the Withnells were prominent members of the Dutchtown community from its early days. Can you clarify if the John Withnell home “to the east,” which you feel may be the one in the museum photos, is still standing? Could this possibly have been Dunn Jr.’s home at 3428 Meramec St.? Maybe it’s one he built or acquired, or perhaps an ancestral home originally constructed by the prosperous and industrious Dunn uncle John Withnell (read on!). While my gut is telling me that the Missouri History Museum has correctly identified Dunn Sr.’s home, I look forward to learning if you can confirm this and hope you find this info helpful. This much is certain: he would have loved the serene photo with the dog out front in the snow, as he was a prominent amateur photographer in addition to being a successful businessman with real estate interests. Note: the Dutchtown blog says the elder John Withnell Dunn’s uncle John Dunn was the contractor for the Old Cathedral and Missouri State Capitol (first capitol in Jefferson City, not present one), but I believe this is an error and that the 1941 St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper article linked below correctly identifies his uncle and namesake as John Withnell. Please note that I don’t subscribe to Newspapers.com, whose links I’ve included, but if you scroll down after opening you should be able to see at least parts of the relevant articles. If you subscribe and can read these in full or search for more, great! Links: 1) Shows starts of articles on the mansion being torn down (1941) and Dunn’s passing (1931) https://www.newspapers.com/ 2) Scroll down to see text of local article about mansion being razed https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/204573832/ 3) Scroll down for another local article about mansion’s destruction https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/573407780/ 4) Dutchtown blog: https://dutchtownstl.org/2020/12/happy-holidays-from-dutchtown-past/
Prominent St. Louisan John Withnell Dunn built a “show place” mansion on Meramec Street in Dutchtown in 1873/4. The home remained in the family until it was torn down in 1941 — ten years after his death in 1931 at age 86 — to make way for a supermarket. All of this is documented in local newspapers, see links below. The address is listed as 3418 Meramec St. in these accounts, consistent with Missouri History Museum photographs from 1930 with captions identifying the home at this address as Dunn’s. Though your post shows these images, you raise suspicion about whether the captions are correct, pointing to the address as a reason to doubt. I’m sharing information here that may help you resolve the mystery. A DutchtownSTL.org blog post also uses 3418 Meramec St. as Dunn’s address in a writeup about the area’s old estates, which includes at least one of the museum photos. As that post notes, the site of Dunn’s home, subsequently a grocery store, is now Rasalat Community Center, whose address is indeed 3418 Meramec St. One of the 1941 news articles about the demise of Dunn’s home notes that his son, J.W. Dunn Jr., lived at 3428 Meramec St. A brief article about the elder Dunn’s passing gives this as his address, so perhaps he was living with his son at the time, or maybe there were errors in the text. In any case, there is some present-day address confusion as Google shows 3428 Meramec St. as the site of a one-story former Anheuser-Busch commercial building constructed in 1914. But perhaps addresses have changed over time, adding to or causing confusion. Can you clarify if the John Withnell home “to the east,” which you feel may be the one in the museum photos, is still standing? Could this possibly be Dunn Jr.’s home at 3428 Meramec St.? Perhaps he lived in an ancestral residence, constructed by his industrious great-uncle John Withnell, another member of this prosperous and influential Dutchtown family. This much is certain: Withnell’s nephew John Withnell Dunn would have loved the serene photo with the dog out front in the snow, as he was a prominent amateur photographer in addition to being a successful businessman with real estate interests. While the Dutchtown blog says identifies his namesake uncle as “John Dunn,” contractor for the Old Cathedral and Missouri State Capitol (first one in Jefferson City, not the present building), I believe this is an error and that a 1941 St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper article (see link below) about the destruction of Dunn’s home correctly identifies the uncle as John Withnell. Please note that I don’t subscribe to Newspapers.com, whose links I’ve included; if you scroll through them, you’ll see at least part of the relevant articles. Perhaps you subscribe and can read them in full or search for others that would prove helpful. In any case, please let us know if you solve the mystery! Links: 1) Shows beginnings of articles on the mansion being torn down (1941) and Dunn’s passing (1931) https://www.newspapers.com/ 2) Scroll down to see text of local article about mansion being razed https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/204573832/ 3) Scroll down for another local article about mansion’s destruction https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/573407780/ 4) Dutchtown blog: https://dutchtownstl.org/2020/12/happy-holidays-from-dutchtown-past/