Update: I returned to the area in November of 2019. There are some cool Modernist office buildings on State Street, such as the one above. This billboard stands isolated in the middle of some undergrowth and trees. Nelson Mandela Elementary School is not very old, but it was already closed. It has been vandalized, its…
Tag: East St. Louis
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 9
I suspect this cool church was also an Eastern Orthodox church at one point, and is right next door to the Greek Orthodox church. It is still occupied, and looks great. It’s a fascinating mix of Modernism and Romanesque or Byzantine style.
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 8: Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church
Update: Thanks to readers contacting me, I have learned this was a Lithuanian national church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville. The stylized onion dome would make sense in an Eastern European church such as Lithuania. I revisited the church in the spring of 2019. I love this Modernist little church right by the…
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 7
Tucked away in northern East St. Louis is the Community of Christ Church, a neat little Modernist A-frame church. The medallion shows a lion lying with a lamb on either side of Christ, with the word “peace” written below.
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 6
This is formerly a Greek Orthodox Church on State Street in East St. Louis. Many people forget that there is a large population of Eastern Europeans in the Metro East, descendants of stockyards workers.
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 5
This beautiful, well-maintained church looks like it could fit in Webster Groves. It is actually off of State Street, in far eastern East St. Louis. It was a Presbyterian Church, originally.
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 4
The stone is worn off and eroded too much, but this was once a Baptist church, that is now abandoned. Thick undergrowth, which has started to lose its leaves, obscure much of the complex. Sometime in the 1960s, they added on a Sunday School wing, it appears. The buildings, like most of the houses in…
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 3
Update: The neighboring church was demolished by spring of 2019. The old parish school of St. Elizabeth’s is still standing, but it looks like it might be damaged as well. The stunning rectory is still standing, right next to the burned out church. The school building must have been even more impressive, before the rebuilding…
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 2
Update: Demolished by the spring of 2019. Christ Redeemed Missionary Baptist Church, formerly St. Elizabeth’s Roman Catholic Church, was gutted by fire back in January 2017. The heat of the fire is evident in the melted steel trusses. Such a sad loss.
Churches of East St. Louis, Part 1
Churches are a point of pride in East St. Louis, and they are often the last building standing in some neighborhoods. They are community centers, and provide hope in the thick forests of the city. This is Fifteenth Street Baptist Church.