I had known for awhile that Richard Pryor was from Peoria, but I had always assumed it was one of those situations where he was born there and had moved away when he was a small child. That is far from the case; his childhood is inextricably linked to his upbringing in the city. Weirdly,…
Tag: Americana
In Search of LeTourneau, Peoria
It is amazing how quickly we lose the memory of the huge old factories that once powered America through peacetime, and then when war came, helped defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Few people probably know the LeTourneau name anymore, despite it once being one of the largest producers of machinery in the world. Located…
Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville
St. Louis was not the only city in America to embrace the rural cemetery movement. Louisville has Cave Hill Cemetery. Two famous men are buried there, and colored lines lead visitors to their graves. A green line leads you to the grave of Muhammad Ali. On the day I was there, beautiful flowers and inspirational…
Gingham Girl Flour Mill, Chouteau’s Landing
This anonymous cluster of buildings, one of which is obviously a grain elevator, has an incredibly important role in the history of America in the early Twentieth Century. Known variously as the George P. Plant Milling Company as well as the Gingham Girl Flour Mills, and apparently later the Corneli Seed Company by 1950, it…
Hill and North Main Streets, Hannibal
Apparently someone named Samuel Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, was from Hannibal. There’s a statue of two of his most famous characters, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, at the end of North Main Street. Back down on Hill Street, which intersects with Main, the houses and offices that his father worked and lived…
Bellefontaine Cemetery Late Spring 2020
Things are looking good around Bellefontaine Cemetery this spring, and I took the opportunity to walk around different parts of the grounds to see how the historic mausolea and tombs were doing. First up is this trio of two obelisks and a Corinthian column; compositionally they work together so well. I headed away from there…
Roof Collapse at the Old Palladium
Update: The Palladium was demolished in July of 2022. I learned on Twitter that the historic Palladium, which I wrote about years ago due to its link to African American musical history in America, has suffered a roof collapse, most likely due to the heavy rains in mid January. I observed through a hole, where…
North Broadway, Near and Far North Riverfront, Summer 2019
North Broadway never ceases to fascinate me. As usual, I refer to it as a street, and also an area. For example, the above and following two photos are on or around Holly Avenue. The image of east of Broadway, if you have one, is usually one of warehouses, factories, or sadly, abandonment. It is…
We Do Spreads
Supposedly Belleville has the longest Main Street in America. I don’t know if that’s true, but it does have some amazing surviving neon signs from the golden age of that advertising art, such as this example just to the west of downtown.