I had originally headed west on St. Louis Avenue based on an unfounded tip that Sarah Lou’s had caught fire. Thankfully, it had not, and I ended up having a great conversation with an older gentleman waiting for the bus out front about the restaurant’s amazing fried chicken instead. Sadly, from the looks of it,…
Tag: Churches
Washington, At Night
I was giving a lecture out in Washington, Missouri, and I had some time to kill so I walked around the downtown, taking some pictures of the historic architecture. Above is St. Peter’s United Church of Christ which was founded in 1844. Below is the City Hall. I wandered down some of the other streets…
Former Immanuel Congregational Church
Looking at the former Immanuel Congregational Church from the southwest on Jamieson Avenue, you would think that you have your standard Colonial Revival church. But look closer at the color of the brick on the nave, and come around to the northwest side where you spot the belltower; this church was originally constructed in a…
Tennessee Avenue Between Chippewa and Miami Streets
I thought I would look at Tennessee Avenue in the Gravois Park neighborhood, starting at Chippewa Street, heading north. Skipping by some in-fill and vacant lots, we arrive at the southwest corner of Winnebago, where there is this church. While the neighborhood was platted out early in the St. Louis Commons, most the housing stock…
East of Downtown, Alton
Heading east on Fifth Street from Easton Street (named after Rufus Easton, the founder of Alton), we see some very early housing. We then angle onto the diagonal Court Street, which mysteriously exists for only about three blocks. We then hop onto Fourth Street as we head out of town. I really like this two-car…
State Street and Environs, Alton
Working my way around on Mill Street over to Carroll, I saw some of the wide variety of houses on the steep slopes of the bluffs to the west of downtown Alton. Below is looking up William Street. Finally, I turned up State Street, which is the main artery up to the bluffs above the…
Downtown, Alton
We’re going to swing back through Alton for a few days. Like Hannibal, Quincy or even Cairo, and a bunch of other towns, I can’t help but imagine that except for a few twists of fate, Alton could have been the center of a metropolitan area of two million people, or at least maybe a…
Demolition and East Alton
Learning that the Citizens’ National Bank was going to be demolished, and hoping maybe I could coax some important architectural elements from the crews working there, I headed up to East Alton on a recent Saturday. East Alton is an interesting town, with parts from the Nineteenth Century but also with clear signs of a…
Down By The River and the South Side, Peoria, August 2023
The public housing down by the river, which I first spotted way back in December of 2008, are finally being demolished. I had discovered they were built when Peoria demolished the red light district where Richard Pryor had grown up. The new buildings going up are nice, and they even feature the latest navy blue…
Vine Street Over to Race Street, Over the Rhine, Cincinnati
“Lord, on this day of thanksgiving, we thank you for our loved ones, family and friends. We also thank you, oh Lord, that Chris has almost run out of photos from his trip back in August.” Heading down the hill from Clifton, passing through some other neighborhoods, I reached what I call “upper” Vine Street…