The Anheuser family had a country estate on the banks of the Mississippi just south of Kimmswick that is now a park. The house was originally built in 1867 but the Anheusers bought it in 1916. I suspect the family could have easily taken the train directly to their estate on the tracks, which may…
Tag: Barns
Family Farm, Mid March 2026
We made our first trip up to the family farm and things were looking good. While it was overcast at first, the sun came out finally. There was a bull in the barn, but other than him there were no other cattle around. The power lines a mile or so away captured my attention, as…
Family Farm and Environs, Early November 2025
I visited the family farm east of Peoria for the last time this year, but will be back up in the spring, as usual. The harvest has been over for weeks, so the landscape has been transformed to the fallow fields with its stark beauty. I photographed this corn crib to the northwest of the…
Family Farm, August 2025
I somehow managed to miss the hottest day of August in St. Louis by escaping to the family farm near Deer Creek, Illinois. It was still hot up there, and I was treated to an amazing light show both nights as storm rolled through the area on Friday, and then on Saturday, I witnessed a…
Family Farm, Early June 2025
I visited the family farm last weekend, and it’s perhaps evident, if it wasn’t already in the photos of the tornado damage, that the smoke from another natural disaster, the wildfires in Canada, was affecting the sky in the background. Longtime readers will know that the farm was hit by a tornado back in March…
Cottleville, St. Charles County
They’re doing some great things out in St. Charles County. Yes, I know you might be really surprised to hear me say that, but it’s true. Let’s head out to the historic town of Cottleville (where yes, they were still repairing some damage from the unrelenting severe storms that have hit our region this spring),…
Family Farm, Late March 2025
Time to get back to the family farm now that the weather is getting warmer and the sun is staying up later. Planting has not begun yet, of course, so the landscape has not yet transformed.
Former Deep Springs Farm
An interesting relic of St. Louis County’s attempt to build a poor farm in the southwest corner of St. Louis County lies buried inside the innards of a hotel built in 1980. It is just north of the small hamlet of Allenton. Two stone barns, built as the next poor farm, are now conference center…
Family Farm, November 2024
I was up at the family farm in Illinois in mid November and things were looking good after harvest, which had finished by the time I visited. The cattle had been let out into the corn field for the purpose of cleaning up any missed cobs that had been left behind by the combine.
Historic Farmstead, Route 94, Eastern St. Charles County
This farmstead along Highway 94 in the eastern “peninsula” portion of St. Charles County has several interesting buildings. The first one is the historic Greek Revival farmhouse, perhaps from the 1860s or thereabouts. There’s a nice barn that is collapsing, but the real interesting feature is below: it appears to be a grain silo, but…