Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Franklin County

Originally known as the Evangelisch Lutheran Bethlehem Kirche, this congregation was organized in 1852. It is now part of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church. As can be seen on the front facade, the current church is from 1919, which makes sense stylistically. If you were wondering what U.A.C. stands for, it is Unaltered…

St. Louis Avenue Between North 22nd and North 23rd Streets, South Side

While I’ve looked at St. Louis Avenue numerous times over the last eighteen years, I’ve never actually published any photographs of the south side of the street in St. Louis Place (except for ones that have all been demolished and this one weird one). We’ll start at North 22nd Street and work west. First up,…

Friedens Sunday School Hall, Gutted by Fire

I’ll be upfront with you all and say I’m going to be reporting a lot of bad news in the coming weeks. First up is the former Sunday school hall for the now destroyed former Friedens German Evangelical Church, which had fallen victim to a fire in January of 2025. The hall, I believe from…

More of New Harmony, Indiana

We saw some other interesting buildings in New Harmony, including the Working Man’s Institute, founded by William Maclure in 1838. The current building is from 1894 and is still open to the public. Besides serving as a library, it also contains a museum of artifacts from the earliest period of New Harmony, as well as…

St. Mark’s, Six Months After the Fire

I thought I would check up on how the former St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church was doing six months after the severe fire that struck in the depths of winter. The answer: not very good. There has been little change other than the dramatic growth of plants, trees and other vegetation up the sides of…

Washington Boulevard, Revisited June 2026

I’ve looked at Washington Boulevard before west of North Jefferson Avenue, but I took another look a few weeks ago. Nothing has happened at the Jamison Memorial Church since the fire. Above is Central Baptist Church, an African American congregation which is over 180 years old, and I’ve always like its current Modernist home. This…

St. Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral, Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham was founded in 1871, and the first Catholic church, a rustic affair, was founded in 1872, so while Alabama is famous for the Southern Baptist Church, Catholicism still has a presence. The elegant church of St. Paul became the cathedral of Birmingham in 1969, after having been a co-cathedral with Mobile since 1955. Mobile,…

Gate City, Birmingham, Alabama

Heading north towards the outermost regions of Birmingham, we now explore Gate City, whose name is perhaps a little obvious. There was a pass through Red Mountain, which perhaps you can extrapolate received its appellation from the abundance of iron ore running through it (remember, iron ore is one of the three components of steel…