Continuing and ending our end of the month look at Mississippi River towns north of St. Louis for the time being, we come to the Quad Cities, and first we will look at Davenport, Iowa. Of course, Davenport, and Rock Island, Illinois on the opposite bank (which we’ll look at in a few days) are…
Oregon Avenue Between Russell Boulevard and Geyer Avenue
I realized I had actually photographed a lot of the houses on the block of Oregon Avenue north of Russell Boulevard before in Fox Park, but I had done it more thematically than by street. Above and below are some of the nicest stretches of Italianate houses in St. Louis. I looked at them back…
California Avenue Between Sidney Street and Russell Boulevard
Working our way north on California Avenue past Sidney Street in Fox Park, we next cross over Shenandoah Avenue. There are later apartment buildings, that may have been delayed in filling in these blocks due to the large number of sinkholes in the area. But there are still plenty of buildings from the late Nineteenth…
California Avenue Between Magnolia Avenue and Sidney Street
I realized that I had never looked at California Avenue in Fox Park, just like I had never looked like Pennsylvania Avenue north of Cherokee Street in Benton Park West. This part of Fox Park was a wild and undeveloped section of the St. Louis Commons, filled with crevices, ponds and sinkholes. We’ll look at…
Pennsylvania Avenue Between Juniata and Arsenal Streets
Crossing Juniata Street in Benton Park West, there is this small corner store that has looked like this as long as I can remember. There are more of the standard houses that you’d be used to seeing in the neighborhood, including a Second Empire home, as seen above, though the dormer has been rebuilt. I’m…
Pennsylvania Avenue Between Wyoming and Juniata Streets
Crossing over Wyoming Street in Benton Park West, we see this massive corner store building, which certainly had a large space above for the family who owned the business below. It even seems to have had a substantial living space on the third floor. This building was most likely built for and lived in by…
Pennsylvania Avenue Between Utah and Wyoming Streets
Crossing Utah Street, we continue north up Pennsylvania Avenue in Benton Park West, looking at the houses and apartment buildings that grew up after streetcar service arrived from downtown. It’s interesting to see how houses have been altered, whether a metal cornice has been removed, or when a porch has probably been altered. Then there…
Pennsylvania Avenue Between Cherokee and Utah Streets
Surprisingly, I had never looked at Pennsylvania Avenue in Benton Park West, so I sought to fix that recently, heading north from its intersection with Cherokee Street. There has been some rehabbing going, unfortunately with some people who don’t know where they’re doing, as evidenced by the gray paint. House prices have also gone way…
Cook Avenue, JeffVanderLou
I was up this way a couple of weeks ago and there were a bunch of streets blocked off so I ended up detouring on some side streets, including Cook Avenue. I saw some interesting houses, so I came back a couple weeks later to look some more. For whatever reason, some of the streets…
Prairie Line, Anheuser-Busch
I spotted this rare sight of a Prairie Line yard locomotive crossing South Broadway on a recent Saturday morning. Many people might remember that Anheuser-Busch once had its own short line railroad, the Manufacturers Railway, but InBev closed it. Apparently this railroad is now contracted to provide services that historic railroad once provided. The Lemp…