Aubin Fire Insurance Maps, 1874

C.T. Aubin also published an early fire insurance map for the downtown area of St. Louis; the city had already spread outside of the area shown, but what is show is probably close to 99% gone.  So these maps, and the cool key on the front page showing what each building would look like ideally,…

Laclede’s Landing

Update: I revisited Laclede’s Landing in extensus in November of 2022, starting with this introductory post. Hit the next post button to see the rest of the posts after jumping to the new post. Laclede’s Landing gets ridiculed so much because of its failed attempts at revitalization back in the 1980’s, that we forget that…

The Eads Bridge

Updated in September 2018 with rearranged photos and additional commentary. The Eads Bridge is my favorite bridge across the Mississippi River in downtown, though the MacArthur is a close second. The oldest bridge across the river at St. Louis, it utilized structural steel on a massive scale for the first time. Interestingly, though, there is…

Eads Bridge 135 Years Old Today

Update: The new bridge opened in February of 2014. The links that previously appeared in this article are now dead. The Post-Dispatch reports on the anniversary of the Eads Bridge. As talk continues for a new Mississippi Bridge, will the forthcoming span be as economically beneficial as the Eads was so many years ago?

The View from Al’s Parking Lot

The North Riverfront area, a nebulous area bounded by Laclede’s Landing on the south and the river and I-70 bracketing the neighborhood on the east and west respectively, is notable for its 19th Century industrial landscape. It is also notable for hosting one of the most famous restaurants in St. Louis: Al’s. On a recent…

Switzer Building

Update: The building has been demolished and the site cleared for a plaza. I made it down to the Switzer Licorice Building this weekend to see what was left after demolition work started earlier this week. There’s still a quite a bit left, with the majority of the building near the Eads Bridge gone so…