On my way back to St. Louis from Birmingham, I passed through Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. The house is now a museum. Tupelo is a beautiful town that has successfully parlayed its major tourist attraction into a boon for the local economy. Instead of massive parking lots, the downtown has embraced new-urbanism,…
Tag: Americana
Excel Bottling Company, Breese, Illinois
Found St. Louis arranged a tour for us of the Excel Bottling Co. in Breese, Illinois. It was quite the experience, and we had as our guide the owner of the company, Bill Meier. As a licensed bottler of Ski Soda, they actually still use a historic bottling line, which you can see below. However,…
Madison Elementary School
Designed by William B. Ittner, Madison Elementary once sat in what was a bustling, crowded and dense neighborhood. Now, the stretch of South 7th Street is sits on is desolate, largely devoid of buildings, and certainly empty of the residences that were once full of thousands of residents whose children attended this school. But these…
Kaskaskia, West Side of the Mississippi
We visited Illinois recently without having to cross the Mississippi River. Yes, it’s possible, in what of the stranger parts of the greater St. Louis region south down Interstate 55. Back in November of 2010, we saw the remnants of the colonial town of Kaskaskia, that once sat along the banks of the Kaskaskia River,…
The Rise of Mallinckrodt
The St. Louis giant of Mallinckrodt Chemical began as a farm on the North Side, near the present day intersection of North Broadway and Salisbury Street. Emil Mallinckrodt, a native of Dortmund, and his wife Emily Vallmau owned a farm along the road that was then known as Bellefontaine Road, with their three sons Gustav,…
Public Lot, Calvary Cemetery
I thought I had photographed these monuments before, but it seems that I have never featured them before. The monument above commemorates two members of the Nimíipuu people who died in St. Louis in 1831. More commonly known by their French name, the Nez Perce, which means “pierced nose,” the delegation was one their east…
Des Peres Presbyterian Church, Frontenac
Constructed in 1834, the old stone Des Peres Presbyterian Church is rapidly approaching the bicentennial mark out in Frontenac off Geyer Road. Despite the roof collapsing in 1874 and a car crashing into it a few years ago, the venerable church has remained a beacon in the community. At one point it was threatened with…
Interior, Former Immaculate Conception, St. Henry’s
Just about everyone in St. Louis has heard now that the new pope, Leo XIV, served his novitiate to become an Augustinian here in St. Louis at the now closed St. Henry’s/Immaculate Conception at the intersection of Longfellow Boulevard and Lafayette Avenue. I’ve looked at the church twice, once back in February of 2011, then…
Tony’s on North Broadway
As we commemorate the closing of Tony’s yesterday, one of the most famous fine dining establishments in the history of St. Louis, I thought it would be fun to look back at their original location at 826 N. Broadway, in the heart of what was known as Commission Row. Today, the vendors who once crowded…
The Trophy Room
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…