I recently stumbled upon the plat map of Kinloch Park, which as its name suggests, has to do with the street grid of Kinloch, the historically middle class African American suburb in North County. But it is not so simple. Kinloch Park formed only the northwest portion of Kinloch, and that part has actually been…
Tag: Neo-Classicism
Former Lunatic Asylum, Revisited
Out west on Arsenal Street Road, even further west than Kingshighway, was a cluster of buildings that any county with a sizeable population would have possessed in the Nineteenth Century: a poor house and “lunatic asylum.” St. Louis also had a home for prostitutes which morphed into an institution where society interned “difficult women.” The…
Manchester United Methodist Church
Just up from Manchester Road from the Lyceum on Woods Mill Road is Manchester Methodist, which has a history dating back to 1826, when the founder of Ballwin, John Ball, donated the land for the first wood frame church, which would be built in 1837. This Neoclassical church would be built in 1856. Before the…
East of Downtown, Alton
Heading east on Fifth Street from Easton Street (named after Rufus Easton, the founder of Alton), we see some very early housing. We then angle onto the diagonal Court Street, which mysteriously exists for only about three blocks. We then hop onto Fourth Street as we head out of town. I really like this two-car…
Glenway Avenue, East Price Hill, Cincinnati
Wow, East Price Hill is up a really steep hill! And again, just like over at Mount Auburn, a funicular railroad gave residents the ability to settle this neighborhood in the Nineteenth Century. I started at the intersection of Warsaw, Glenway and Seton avenues where they merge with Quebec Road. East Price Hill has been…
Oak Hill Cemetery, Youngstown
Located across the Mahoning River from downtown Youngstown, Oak Hill Cemetery takes its name from the neighborhood in which it is located. Founded in 1853 by a group of prominent citizens, it fits in nicely with the Rural Cemetery Movement that took off in the years before the Civil War. Interestingly, the cemetery does not…
Lake View Cemetery and Little Italy, Cleveland
A little bit of a latecomer in the Rural Cemetery Movement, Lake View Cemetery was founded in 1869, east of downtown Cleveland on rugged, steep terrain. While due to the growth of the city and mature trees, the name comes from what had once been a commanding view of Lake Erie. The grounds are lush,…
South Bass Island and Perry’s Victory Monument
A critical moment in the early history of the United States, and also the Midwest, was the Battle of Lake Erie, where the Navy secured the large body of water for America from British control. On my journey from Toledo to Cleveland, I decided to take the ferry out to South Bass Island from Catawba…
Forest Cemetery and La Grange, Toledo
At Cherry Street, I found the private street from Hell. I drove in Birckhead Place, which has streets that look like they have recently been the epicenter of a Ukrainian and Russian artillery duel. Maybe it’s time to swallow your pride and let the City of Toledo make your streets public so they’ll get fixed?…
Collingwood Boulevard and Ashland Avenue, Old West End, Toledo
South of the cathedral on Collingwood are a whole bevy of interesting houses, and a nice change of pace from Detroit’s architecture in a neighborhood known as the Old West End. This first mansion is the Edward Ford House, and like so many gigantic manses, was repurposed as an institutional building, becoming the Red Cross…