I got up bright and early on Saturday and thought I would check in on Wells-Goodfellow, a neighborhood that has long suffered from disinvestment, crime and the effects of decades of redlining. I always struggle with how to portray a community such as this: there are many parts of the neighborhood which look great, but…
Tag: Deserted
Laflin Street, JeffVanderLou, Early Fall 2021
Update: I went back in the winter of 2022. I checked in on Laflin Street, which once had far more houses, including two more to the north of the one above. You can see them in this post from September of 2017 (third photo down). A year later, it became a dumping ground for a…
North Newstead Avenue, Penrose
I’ve long been interested in the diagonal streets and rugged terrain of the northeastern corner of the Penrose neighborhood. At the intersection of North Newstead and Carter avenues is the old Christian Hospital, which is now the Prince Hall Senior Services Center. Like many hospitals, Christian moved out to the suburbs. Heading north up Newstead,…
Former Marthasville Seminary and Emmaus Homes, Winter 2016
Update: The Emmaus Homes moved out shortly after these photos were taken, but the property has been purchased and is being renovated into a hotel. See it the spring of 2021. As of the winter of 2022, it had been intended to be renovated into a hotel and winery. But then Hoffmans put the property…
Wells-Goodfellow, Spring 2021
Update: I went back in the fall of 2021 and January of 2023 (last four photos). I took a look around Wells-Goodfellow to see how things were doing. I had been back in 2018 to revisit places I had seen in the past, and things were looking much the same as when I had looked at…
Bissell Mansion, Abandoned
Speaking of the Bissell Mansion Dinner Theater, while I was photographing the other side of the street, I couldn’t help but notice that the famous house, which is given the title of oldest brick home in the City of St. Louis, was looking worse for wear. There were huge swaths of leaves that had not…
Chesterfield Mall: Epilogue
Update: With little fanfare, both Macy’s and the mall reopened after all in mid-May 2020. Macy’s eventually closed in November of 2020 before reopening a smaller store in Chesterfield Valley. I don’t think the Macy’s at Chesterfield Mall is going to reopen. Back after the Dillard’s was flooded due to a water main break, they announced…
Chesterfield Mall, The Weekend After Its Sale
Not many families come around to play at the St. Luke’s Hospital Play Area anymore, Dr. Ted E. Bear informed me on a recent visit to Chesterfield Mall. Play areas were never this cool when I was young. We chatted a bit, and I realized later my portrait of Dr. Bear actually ended up being…
Kinloch, Early February 2020
I realized I had not been up to Kinloch in a decade, and I decided to revisit, having heard that a new documentary is coming out soon chronicling the history of the famous town. Things sure have changed. The whole west half of the historic African American town has been turned into two huge distribution…
Northern East St. Louis, Revisited
Update: All racist comments, especially ones left under fake names, will be deleted in this post. Start your own blog if you want to promote your white supremacist views. East St. Louis was always corrupt, even when it was majority white, full of industry and wealthy. Blaming African Americans for its current plight is bigotry,…