Minnie Wood was a wealthy widow who found herself with around $2.5 million in the first decades of the Twentieth Century. She donated the land for the park that bears her name that was created by city ordinance in 1925. Later WPA and the city parks department held dance nights here. The pavilion is a…
Tag: Historic Buildings
Sisters of the Most Precious Blood and O’Fallon City Hall
I had never seen the Convent of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O’Fallon, and it is an impressive presence on Main Street in the historic area of town. Portions of the complex were sold to the City of O’Fallon for conversion into the rapidly growing suburb for its new city hall, whose…
Fort Zumwalt Park, O’Fallon
Fort Zumwalt is a real place, and not just the name of four high schools, and this reconstruction of the fortified log cabin that gives its name to the surrounding park and area gives us an idea of early settler days in St. Charles County. Interestingly, Fort Zumwalt, which was originally constructed by Jacob Zumwalt…
Mullanphy Emigrant Home in Serious Trouble
Update: I revisited the building in June of 2023; destroyed by fire on the night of September 14, 2023. Hey everyone, is it maybe the time for us all to start having a conversation about how the Mullanphy Emigrant Home is probably going to collapse into a giant pile of rubble soon? Honestly, it’s following…
Twenty Years Since 9/11, Revisiting Washington, DC, Part Two
We crossed over the Memorial Bridge into the Commonwealth of Virginia, and picked up the Metro to head to Alexandria and meet up with an old professor friend of mine. The Metro used to be the pride and joy of Washington, DC, but I was shocked at how far it had fallen. While it had…
Twenty Years Since 9/11, Revisiting Washington, DC, Part One
As a few of my readers know, I was living in Washington, DC on September 11, 2001, exactly two miles away from the Pentagon when the plane crashed into it. I moved back at Christmastime of 2006, and had only been back to the District of Columbia twice since then. I just returned for the…
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, Dayton, Ohio
Established in 1841, Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio is one of the oldest institutions in the rural cemetery movement. It’s interesting to compare it to Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, or to its similarly named counterpart in Quincy, Illinois. It is sited on some downright rugged terrain, creating a dramatic setting with deep…
Former Campus of the Principia
I learned recently that the Principia was once located on Page Avenue in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood, so I went and checked out the couple of remaining buildings from that era of occupation. On the northwest corner of the site, at Minerva and Montclair, there is this impressive building, which might have been a gymnasium…
Munson Building, Independence, Iowa
Update: New improved photography added in July of 2023. We spotted the Munson Building from a block away, and immediately our interest was piqued. At first, we thought it was the old Buchanan County Courthouse, and then, when we got a little closer, we assumed it was a church. Then we got up close, and…
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…