Built in 1953, the former Faith-Salem Evangelical and Reformed Church in West Florissant Avenue in Jennings boasts a massive 115 feet long by 15 feet high stained glass window. Designed by Frederick Dunn, whose name comes up frequently in the 1950s for the designs of Modernist churches, it is perhaps one of his more simple…
Tag: Jennings
River Roads, Then and Now
It had been awhile since I’d checked in at the site of the former River Roads Mall, and the contrast between 1962 and 2025 cannot be greater. But perhaps it also reflects the changing pattern of suburban shopping; large, anchor-based shopping centers are being demolished and replaced with single parcel stores, each with their own…
Former Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, Early June 2022
I first visited the former Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church in Jennings in April of 2012, and at the time it was still occupied as a seniors’ center. In fact, it has become one of my most popular posts. When I went back in December of 2016, things seemed to have been looking up, with…
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…
Suspicious Fires Week: The Old Bowling Ball Factory, Jennings
Update: Struck by fire again on the night of December 11, 2024. “Fire at an old bowling ball factory on Xograph Avenue in Jennings?” I knew when I heard about this strange occurrence, and how the St. Louis Fire Department had to join their colleagues in the County to help extinguish the flames on Thursday…
Jennings into Walnut Park
I spotted this interesting church off of Jennings Station Road just off of Interstate 70, so I thought I would take a look at the surrounding streets. At some point I crossed from Jennings into the Walnut Park West neighborhood, but it was hard to tell because the streets were equally beaten up and huge,…
Jennings, Early May 2019
I’m really worried about Jennings. I have visited a couple times over the years (yes, I understand that a couple of visits is not good enough to get a complete understanding of a community), and every time I go back, there are more and more abandoned houses. I can’t imagine losing the tax revenue of…
Former Corpus Christi Parish, Revisited Early May, 2019
By June of 2022, the site was severely overgrown with underbrush. It had been a few years since I had visited the old Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church in Jennings, and I thought I was due a return trip. It was not a happy return. The former sanctuary’s exterior was heavily overgrown, looked unkempt and…
Around Corpus Christi, Jennings, December 2016
Update: I went back and looked around other parts of Jennings in May of 2019. While its former parish church remains in good condition, I was saddened to see the old school is still sitting empty. There is a weird barbed wire fence around a portion of it, but not all the way around. I…
Former Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, Revisited
Update: The senior center is now closed, and the building appears to be abandoned. By June of 2022, the site was severely overgrown with underbrush. Due to the popularity of my first post on Corpus Christi, I thought I would take a look at how things were going around the old church. There is some…