Starting at Maple Avenue, we head north up Sutton Avenue, starting at the old streetcar turnaround which is now a park.
There’s this cool building right at the corner. I think many people might know that the Suttons’ farm was right at the intersection of Manchester Road and Sutton, and you can see their property on the plat map above.
This is the Cape-Harper Building.
It takes its name from Dr. Leander Cope and Dr. William Harper, a pharmacist who I believe built the building in the 1920s.
This building above was apparently the original location of Dr. Cape’s office.
The residential streets are lined with houses still, and not ruined by parking lots taking up the first couple hundred feet of frontage as so often happens right off of commercial districts. This is Hazel Street to the west of the building above.
As a former resident of Baltimore, I get teary-eyed when I see a building completely covered in Permastone.
Then there are some commercial buildings before we reach Manchester Road.
But the great surprise is that the building at the northwest corner of Sutton and Manchester was actually a location of the famous Katz Drugstore chain! I never knew that. But also, look carefully at the right side of the photo; what is now a wasteful parking lot looks to have been anchored by a bank building. Perhaps one day that huge block will be returned to its urban form.
Ah, you’re in my neighborhood! I live on Maple, a couple of blocks east of Sutton. I’m glad you found the pic of the Katz on the corner of Manchester and Sutton.
If you’re curious about the history of Maplewood’s “one sided downtown,” including what used to be where the Schunucks parking lot is now, I highly recommend 40 South News – unless you’re already familiar! Doug Houser has done some impressive deep dives into Maplewood history, including what was and is on the north side of Manchester. 40southnews.com
Search for Kmart and you should see a bunch of fascinating posts come up.
Thanks for the tip! I vaguely remember what used to be there but I was very young and only saw it once or twice.
I still remember the Bettendorf Market we used to shop at in the early 60’s. It had a conveyor belt that would bring your groceries up from the basement shopping area.
It was located near the intersection of Sutton and Hazel at 2812 Sutton. The buildings are still there across from Sutton Loop Park.
Yeah, Sutton Avenue “was-always” Maplewood, Missouri’s “secondary”..
“Main-Street”… 🙂