Suspicious Fire at Jamison Memorial Church

Something suspicious is going on in St. Louis, with back to back fires on Friday and Saturday nights over the Memorial Day weekend. The first casualty was the Jamison Memorial Church on Washington Boulevard at North Leffingwell. One of my sources had alerted me to its abandonment several years ago. I last looked at the…

Two Churches, Ste. Genevieve

While Ste. Genevieve is famous for being founded by French Canadian Catholics, there are other churches in town of historic importance, as well. Holy Cross Lutheran Church was founded in 1867, and reflects the increased German immigrant population in the area. In this case, it is interesting in that construction of the church began only…

Ste. Genevieve Roman Catholic Church, Revisited

Constructed in 1880, the current Ste. Genevieve Roman Catholic Church in Ste. Genevieve is the third church on this site, though of course the entire town was once located in a different location. I’ve looked at the church before, back in October of 2010. The parish dates from 1759, founded by Jesuits from Quebec, but…

South Kingshighway and Gibson Avenue, The Grove

Heading north up what is actually the old orientation of Kingshighway before it was swept to the northwest to create the cloverleaf with Highway 40, we see that the normal streetwall of this part of the Grove is two or three story buildings, not six or seven. The old Lambskin Temple. a Masonic building, has…

Downtown Civic Buildings, Lincoln, Illinois

Oh no, they pulled a Chambord on me! But anyway, the Logan County Courthouse, constructed in 1905, is a beautiful building, nonetheless. It is relatively unadorned, and seems to be constructed out of yellow limestone or sandstone. Like many palaces in Europe, the first floor possesses rusticated stonework, while the upper stories features polished finish….

Around Immanuel Lutheran Church, Washington, Franklin County

It wouldn’t be a German American town in Missouri without a Lutheran church across town from the Roman Catholic one! In this case, it’s Immanuel Lutheran Church, founded in 1862, with the current church constructed in 1882. But let’s look at the general neighborhood around the church, which is a combination of parking lots, intact…

St. Francis Borgia Roman Catholic Church, Washington, Franklin County

Heading east from New Haven, we’re going to be looking at Washington, Missouri in Franklin County. I’m actually kind of surprised, only two months from the sixteenth anniversary of St. Louis Patina, that I’ve never covered this important city on the Missouri River. We’ll start our tour by looking at St. Francis Borgia Roman Catholic…

New Haven, Franklin County

The land for New Haven was purchased by Phillip Miller in 1836 down along the river, and at the basis for the settlement was the selling of wood to riverboats that passed by. But first we’ll look up in the highlands, where streets follow the ridgelines from Highway 100. First up is the school, which…

Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio

Founded in 1844 and inspired like many American rural cemetery movement burial grounds by Père LaChaise Cemetery in Paris, Spring Grove Cemetery is the huge contributor to the field in Cincinnati. Like many others, a cholera epidemic and a desire to replace small urban cemeteries spurred its founding. An impressive Gothic Revival gatehouse welcomes the…

Lower Price Hill, Cincinnati, Ohio

When I spotted a small enclave of a neighborhood tucked at the bottom of the hills that form the western edge of the Mill Creek Valley in Cincinnati, I knew I had to visit. By poking around, I discovered this area is known as Lower Price Hill, settled early in the history of the region….