I discovered a cache of old photos from sixteen years ago of the Hunter Meat Packing Plant in National City taken in November of 2008. Wow, what a place. It opened sometime around 1900 and at its height employed 1,500 workers, and when it closed in 1982, around 1,100 people were laid off. Demolition began…
Tag: Factories
Lemp Brewery from the Air, 1930s
I really love this amazing aerial photograph of the Lemp Brewery, a decade after International Shoe had taken over. You can see how the shoe company had already added several floors onto a couple of buildings and altered the smokestack of the third boiler house or power plant to say ISCO. The railyard is still…
Fox Park Warehouse Conversions
My, how things have changed since April of 2013 when I first photographed the former industrial area of Fox Park near the intersection of South Jefferson and Gravois. The huge warehouse at the northwest corner of Sidney and Texas has been renovated into apartments; it was once part of the Koken Barber Supply Company. I…
Crunden Martin, On the Cusp of Redevelopment
There is a slight chance that the redevelopment of the Crunden Martin buildings might actually happen this time, and I’m cautiously optimistic due to the involvement of some people I know in the project. Looking at the building damaged by fire over a decade ago, it looks like there has been the loss of much…
Washington Boulevard Between North Compton and Garrison Avenues
Stretching out to the west of Jefferson Avenue was the massive Daniel D. Page Addition, which encompassed thousands of parcels, largely platted between 1858 and 1871. Page was the second mayor of St. Louis and he also was heavily involved in real estate. A substantial portion of what we now call Midtown was once owned…
The River des Peres Along Manchester Avenue
I’ve long been intrigued but sort of flummoxed by the industrial valley that lies along the Middle River Des Peres Valley, paralleled by Manchester Avenue, which is really the second, or “New” Manchester Road, which replaced the “Old” one, now signed as Southwest Avenue. There was and is industry, but it was never “cool” industry…
New Stray Rescue Sanctuary
I was excited to learn that Stray Rescue, which I’m sure many of my readers have heard of, is expanding to a new location in the Bevo neighborhood. For those who don’t know, Stray Rescue saves dogs and cats left on the streets, many of which are in severe distress. They’re a great organization and…
Demolition, Former Meier and Pohlmann Furniture Co.
For the life of me, I don’t think I ever photographed the old furniture factory at the corner of Blair and Palm, but the northwest corner of the massive complex in Old North was recently partially demolished due to some collapse onto the street. New grass has been sown, but from the looks of it…
Downtown Granite City, Spring 2024
I was visiting Granite City to see another amazing GCADD exhibit, so I thought I would photograph the downtown again, it having been five years since the last time. Everything looked the same, but there were some differences. For starters, the Moose Lodge has been demolished. The steel mill is still there for the time…
The Stockyards and Industry Today, St. Joseph
Opening in 1887, the St. Joseph Stockyards was just one indication of the importance of the city to the burgeoning trade in the West. It once stretched to 413 acres and moved a half million animals a year in the 1920s. A beautiful exchange building sat at the front door, and according to my research,…