When I first put these photographs together, I thought this initial building was a storefront, but on closer inspection, despite its façade’s parapet wall, it does in fact appear to be a single family house. This building below is definitely a storefront, with a cast iron column holding up the corner of the front façade….
Tag: Gas Stations
Gravois Avenue From Bates Street to Gertrude Avenue, Bevo
Gravois Avenue in Bevo has one of the best preserved commercial strips in the city, and I took a stroll along it a couple weekends ago. Further up Gravois, southwest and northeast of Grand Boulevard, the avenue is scarred by parking lots for car dealerships, while in Bevo there are only a couple, thank the…
Arsenal Street Between Ohio and South Jefferson Avenues, North Side
Why? Just why? We cross over Ohio Avenue as we continue our trek east down Arsenal Street, looking at the north side of the major east-west thoroughfare. We looked at the south side of the street back in May of 2022. I was actually pleasantly surprised with how this business cleaned up and reopened this…
Pennsylvania Avenue Between Haven and Fillmore Streets, Carondelet
Leaving behind Haven Street, formerly Nebraska, which we’ve looked at before back in March of 2021, we then see newer construction, including an early Twentieth Century gas station and then even more recent in-fill. Beyond Mott Street, formerly Malt and Miller streets, the next block is completely dominated by the retaining walls of the Sisters…
Cherokee Street Between Minnesota and Pennsylvania Avenues, North Side
Crossing Minnesota, again looking at some buildings I saw back in January of 2017, we see the same sort of corner storefronts that transition the edge of blocks to the middle. These photos above and below show the evolution of the street, from early Greek Revival rural construction, to later residential in the middle, to…
Good Hope M.S. Baptist Church, Revisited
I realized recently that sadly the church at West Florissant Avenue and North Grand Boulevard is clearly vacant. Formerly known as Water Tower Baptist Church, it had held out until recently, but judging from the windows that have blown open or are hanging by a single hinge, the telltale signs are clear. Like much of…
Sinclair Dinosaur Sighting
It has been over a decade since I last spotted the rare Sinclair Dinosaur, brontosaurus sinclairensus, in its natural habitat of a gas station. This one is in Iowa, in an undisclosed location. Note that the owner has chained it to the canopy support to prevent theft. The one in Dutchtown, which I photographed in…
Around Marshall County, Illinois, June 2022
North of Washburn is the town of La Rose, which is in Marshall County. The country actually has two parts on either side of the Illinois River. The town is dominated by a grain elevator, a part of which looks to be quite old. The booth for the truck scale is still standing, much like…
A Tour of the Sites Mentioned in the Federal Indictment
Update: As of August 26, 2022, all three former aldermen plead guilty to the allegations made by federal prosecutors and have been sentenced by a judge. The text of the following post has been updated to reflect the changes from allegations at the time of the original writing to guilty pleas. By now I’m sure…
The Beauty of Dutchtown, Part 47: Virginia Avenue Between Osage and Keokuk Streets
Virginia in between Osage and Keokuk, just north of Marquette Park is another quiet block due to it being one way southbound, and then Osage is one way to the west and east, so again there is little reason for anyone to drive down this street unless they live here. The houses are smaller, with…