I looked at the Mary Brown Center back in November of 2024, but this time we examined the building more closely. We noted cool little details such as downspouts that emptied into planters, which sadly were weed-choked, but I could imagine if planted with flowers must have looked great. Also, we examined the roof of…
Tag: Parks
South Ninth Street Between Lami Street and Russell Boulevard, Soulard
Crossing Lami Street and continuing north on South Ninth Street, we pass by a corner store with a turret that most likely once possessed a conical roof, now gone. While we see Second Empire houses, we begin to see earlier houses such as the Greek Revival or as it’s sometimes known, the Federalist Style. At…
Essen Log Cabin, Reborn
There’s some good news to report for a change, since it seems like it’s been a lot of bad news lately. A log cabin, that was literally stolen and thankfully recovered, has been rebuilt in the new Village Green Park in Wildwood a decade after its theft. The Essen Family were longtime settlers in West…
Old St. Marcus Cemetery
Readers who grew up in South St. Louis might remember the sad abandonment and despoliation of Old St. Marcus, on Gravois Avenue just northeast of the city limits. Originally founded by St. Marcus Evangelical Church, a storied German congregation, it suffered from disinvestment and abandonment, while its counterpart, across the border in Affton continued with…
North Up Blair Avenue, Hyde Park, May 2026, Part Three
Continuing north up Blair in Hyde Park, we see a Gingerbread house and then the styles go back to what we would expect to see in the neighborhood. Windsor Park was a former quarry, which I’ve talked about before in the past. This little church is still in great condition. But there’s a lot of…
North Up Blair Avenue, Hyde Park, May 2026, Part Two
At Salisbury, we continue on past the fire station, which has been there for over a century, though the one below is not the original. The park is probably the original topography of the land. It starts to get very leafy north of the park as we continue up Blair Avenue. There have been many…
Anheuser Estate, Kimmswick
The Anheuser family had a country estate on the banks of the Mississippi just south of Kimmswick that is now a park. The house was originally built in 1867 but the Anheusers bought it in 1916. I suspect the family could have easily taken the train directly to their estate on the tracks, which may…
Byrne’s Mill, Jefferson County
Well, we discovered there’s not much left of Byrne’s Mill (not to be confused with Byrnesville, which wan named after a totally unrelated man) except a stone pier, but there is a nice write up at the city’s website about the historic site.
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….
Othaniel Castlio Cemetery, Busch Wildlife Conservation Area
Deep inside the August A. Busch Conservation Area, walking across the earthen dam that created Lake 37, we were on the hunt for a family cemetery that was left behind when the land was confiscated for the production of munitions for World War II. This was farmland, of course, that had been settled far back…