St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church is the massive first parish in Breese, Illinois. Founded in 1858, the current church is from 1867. It’s a massive church, expressed in the German Gothic Revival style with a central spire and two octagonal turrets flanking. The interior, which was closed when we visited, is most likely a typical…
Tag: Monuments
Breese, Illinois
We went east to check out the small town of Breese, Illinois, which lies in Clinton County. The main historic commercial strip is along Second Street, interestingly. Did you know that Second Street is the most common street name in the United States? There is this nice bank building in the Beaux-Arts style, complete with…
Courthouse Square, Perryville
We’ll start our tour of Perryville in the courthouse square, with the Perry County Courthouse, constructed in 1904. The architects were Caldwell and Drake of Columbus, Indiana and the building cost approximately $32,000. It is on the National Register. And of course there’s a statue of a Union soldier in the lawn out in front….
From the Vault: The Roof of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, October 2006
It’s hard to believe that just under twenty years ago I was allowed to run around on the roof of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and take these photographs. Above is looking west down Constitution Avenue NW and the National Archives and Federal Triangle. Above, this is looking east at the U.S….
Monuments and Sculpture, Bellefontaine Cemetery, Late December 2025
What better way to celebrate the unseasonably warm weather the day after Christmas than to head to Bellefontaine Cemetery? So today and the three following days, we’ll look at four different themes of various sights we saw as we walked the grounds away from the roads. We saw old favorites and many new ones. Take…
Muscatine, Iowa, Part Three
We continue our walk around downtown Muscatine, passing by Wesley United Methodist Church, walking down West 4th Street. We then cut through a parking lot. The Muscatine County Courthouse was constructed in 1907 according to designs by J.E. Mills of Detroit. It was under rehabilitation when we went by, with what looks to be brand…
Koplar Fountains, Jewish American Memorial, Forest Park
I’d first looked at the Jewish American Memorial back in April of 2014 and then again in December of 2019 (twelfth photo), but I had never noticed two triangular shaped fountains on the plaza around the monument. Named after the Koplar Family, who no doubt paid for their construction, they are accented by some beautiful…
Public Lot, Calvary Cemetery
I thought I had photographed these monuments before, but it seems that I have never featured them before. The monument above commemorates two members of the Nimíipuu people who died in St. Louis in 1831. More commonly known by their French name, the Nez Perce, which means “pierced nose,” the delegation was one their east…
Oak Grove Cemetery, St. Charles
Oak Grove Cemetery in St. Charles, not to be confused with the one in North County, has a history that goes back to at least 1860. Interestingly, for whatever reason, the City of St. Charles took over ownership in 1860, which is the same date that I could find for the cemetery in the historical…
Nauvoo, Illinois
We visited the historic Mormon settlement of Nauvoo on our journey north up the Mississippi River looking at Iowa cities back in May. Of course, Nauvoo is in Illinois, and it is in an isolated corner of the state. There are numerous houses and other buildings from the historic period that have been restored, and…