Saint Louis University’s medical college moved from its main campus at Washington and 9th, which had been founded in 1836, to a new location at Myrtle (present-day Clark) and 7th. In 1854-55, SLU and the medical college separated, and the latter became the St. Louis Medical College. What is interesting are these two prints, above…
Tag: Neo-Classicism
Saint Louis University, Downtown
I think many people might know that Saint Louis University was once located downtown, but may not realize that the buildings were an elegant ensemble of Neo-Classical edifices. Originally beginning as the St. Louis Academy in 1818, it was then the St. Louis College in 1829 now under the Jesuit umbrella, and finally University in…
Some Unique Vanished Churches
I think one of the more interesting aspects of the built environment in St. Louis is the number of churches we have lost not due to neglect and disinvestment but rather due to rapid growth. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the earliest churches in St. Louis that…
Bellefontaine Cemetery, Snow in January 2025
I usually try and make it up to Bellefontaine Cemetery after it snows, and the roads were in great condition inside its gates, so I drove around and took a few photos.
Mausolea and Tumuli, Bellefontaine Cemetery, Late December 2025
The Busch Mausoleum was looking beautiful with a cloudless sky framing it as we looked at some mausolea. The Farrar “mausoleum” actually holds a crypt below the floor of the colonnade. If you move the stone back, it slides on these tracks. Very nice. This is one of the oldest large-scale monuments in the cemetery….
Obelisks, Bellefontaine Cemetery, Late December 2025
Let’s look at some obelisks, which go all the way back to Egyptian architecture and religion. You can read about their religious significance in ancient Egypt here. The Romans were famous for stealing Egyptian obelisks and setting them up in temples in Rome, particularly at the Iseum in the Campus Martius. This obelisk group of…
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…
Jefferson City National Cemetery
Jefferson City has a small national veterans cemetery located south of the Capitol. The first burial was as early as 1861, and they continue to the present day. The gates were built for horse drawn carriages and I almost thought I wasn’t going to be able to fit my automobile out the exit. It was…
Bellefontaine Cemetery, August 2025
I hadn’t been by Bellefontaine Cemetery in a while so I thought I would swing by. The flowers by the gate house were looking wonderful. I tried to find monuments and mausolea that I hadn’t seen before.
Mount Hope Cemetery, Belleville
Now owned by the City of Belleville, Mount Hope Cemetery is a perfect example of how Protestant burial grounds owned by Lutheran or Evangelical congregations were not part of a larger entity such as a Roman Catholic diocese, so when the church associated with the cemetery folded, the accompanying graveyard suffered as well. In this…