Moving up into the hills of St. Joseph, we encounter the Patee House Hotel (pronounced “Pay-tea,” no accent on the first e), which played a critical role as the offices for the Pony Express and is now an eclectic and fun museum. Heavily influenced by an early Italianate style, the most stylish hotel in St….
Tag: Americana
Joseph Robidoux IV and Jesse James, St. Joseph
It was a little later, in 1843, that St. Joseph was incorporated as a city, laid on the groundwork of a French American Joseph Robidoux IV. His mark on the city is still present to this day in the east-west streets coming out of downtown, which are named after his children. Robidoux was active in…
Dad’s Cookies
314 Day is tomorrow and I wanted to bring you a great story the day before about a St. Louis Institution. Everyone knows about Dad’s Cookies in Dutchtown, but did you know that it was originally part of a chain out of Los Angeles? They are the last store to survive after every other one…
Wally’s, Fenton
Coming back from a wonderful lecture on the history of the John Busch Brewery at the Washington Historical Society, I thought it would be fun to stop at Wally’s Great American Roadtrip in Fenton off Interstate 44. It is huge! Just look at all of those gas pumps! I assume this is Wally? Your kids…
Auburn Avenue, Mount Auburn, Cincinnati
Mount Auburn? That sounds interesting, I thought to myself, and then discovered that there was a historic site related to future president William Howard Taft. After taking a terrible photo of his boyhood home, I photographed many of the houses along Auburn Avenue, which follows the crest of the hill. The siting of Mount Auburn…
Lake View Cemetery and Little Italy, Cleveland
A little bit of a latecomer in the Rural Cemetery Movement, Lake View Cemetery was founded in 1869, east of downtown Cleveland on rugged, steep terrain. While due to the growth of the city and mature trees, the name comes from what had once been a commanding view of Lake Erie. The grounds are lush,…
New Harriett and Dred Scott Memorial, Calvary Cemetery
I was excited to attend the dedication of the new Dred and Harriett Scott memorial in Calvary Cemetery. There had been a small tombstone, but it was recently upgraded to an easier to find and much more fitting monument. As more and more Americans do not know who the Scotts are, it is more and…
The Grande Ballroom and Grand River Avenue, Detroit
One place I wanted to visit in Detroit was the Grande Ballroom on Grand River Avenue, northwest of downtown. While the building has been abandoned for decades, it once played a pivotal role in the development of rock and roll, particularly as it was where the band MC5 played early in their career. Other very…
Former Ford Piquette and Fisher Body Plants, Detroit
Henry Ford’s Piquette Avenue Plant remains one of the most important locations in industrial and consumer history, serving as the factory where the famous Model T, as well as a whole other alphabet or earlier prototypes were manufactured. While not the first place Ford operated, it is still of critical importance. Located north of downtown,…
The Wrigley Building and Marina Towers
“The Wrigley Building is so recognizable, it hardly needs an introduction,” states the introduction of the Chicago Architecture Center’s page on one of the most iconic skyscrapers in the United States, if not the world. I looked at it one time briefly before in June of 2008. The product of the building of the Michigan…