South St. Louis institution the Trophy Room, featured in such preeminent television shows such as World Wide Magazine by Pete Parisi, also has another claim to fame; examination of the eastern wall of the Second Empire saloon reveals much older roots. First, Sanborn maps reveal something interesting: there used to be a row of houses…
Bethesda Lutheran Church, Pine Lawn
I stumbled across this interesting church on my way somewhere else, and I stopped to take a closer look at it. Constructed in 1949 for Bethesda Lutheran Church, it has now become the home of Faith Lutheran Church since 2019 when the latter congregation relocated from its original location at 3060 Lucas and Hunt Road….
Wagner Electric
I wrote an article about the tragic end of the manufacturing giant Wagner Electric in Wellston, just west of the St. Louis City limits back in May of 2019 in St. Louis Magazine, but I found some cool diagrams of the plant so I thought I would revisit the buildings on Plymouth Avenue. I always…
American Can Company
The American Can Company really didn’t close that long ago; I have a friend who worked there when he was young. The New York-based company had locations around the United States, and during World War II, the factory, like so many around the country, pivoted to producing war materiel. As I think pretty much everyone…
Phelan Faust Paints
Moving away from the riverfront in Carondelet, we now move to the former Phelan-Faust Paint Manufacturing Company. It was acquired by Valspar Paints of Minnesota in 1973. Francis Phelan, the founder, was born in 1854 and founded the Phelan-Faust Company in 1902 in East St. Louis, where there was another plant. It matches up perfectly…
Titonix Lead White Factory
I found an old book at the library about Carondelet, and while it was filled with the normal stuff about French Colonial history–which is really cool–what I really found interesting is the industry. I like to think about Carondelet not as a quaint little French town, but rather as a big, brawny Brooklyn on the…
Good News on South Compton Avenue
A house in Gravois Park, whose fate I voiced my concern about back in August of 2023 after the demolition of its neighbor has a new lease on life after the WJL Companies bought it from the LRA and started a complete gut rehab. We’ll check in on it when it’s completed.
Map of St. Louis County, 1954
Between 1950 and 1960, St. Louis County grew by 297,183 people, while the City of St. Louis lost 106,770 residents. What is interesting about this map, and this is assuming that it accurately represents the street grid in 1954, is how unpopulated so much of the county actually is. Florissant is yet to develop, as…
The Missing House on Miami
I like a good mystery, and when I found a photograph of an unidentified residence on Miami Street by the dentist historian William Swekosky, my curiosity was piqued. Judging from the style of the architecture, which I would call Greek Revival, and assuming the street was correct, I narrowed the location down to the stretch…
Kennerly Avenue East of Annie Malone Drive, The Ville
Starting to the east of the houses you can see in the last photo of this post from November of 2024, we first see the two-family above. On the south side of Kennerly is the former Homer G. Phillips Hospital, which has since been converted into senior housing. It’s interesting to see how the four…