I spotted this rare sight of a Prairie Line yard locomotive crossing South Broadway on a recent Saturday morning. Many people might remember that Anheuser-Busch once had its own short line railroad, the Manufacturers Railway, but InBev closed it. Apparently this railroad is now contracted to provide services that historic railroad once provided. The Lemp…
Tag: Soulard
Late Summer Odds and Ends
I had some leftover photos I didn’t have a use for, so as usual, I do an odds and ends post. The building above is on Sidney Street in Soulard just to the east of Interstate 55. By comparison, this corner storefront above on the Near North Riverfront is a real survivor, with most of…
Barley Cleaning House, Anheuser-Busch, Revisited
I looked at the Barley Cleaning House all the way back in June of 2015, almost a full decade ago, but I was traveling up Sidney Street, and it was looking great in the morning sun. Looking closer at the two turrets, it looks like the bricks have bee relaid, and there is even on…
Humboldt Elementary School
I’ve driven by the Humboldt School so many times I was beginning to be a bit embarrassed that I had never photographed it. At the bare minimum, just like the former Webster and Roe schools (and probably many more), Humboldt started out as older style–in this case more of an Italianate–school which was replaced by…
Fire, Soulard Church
Despite having driven by this church on the very edge of Soulard well over a thousand times, I came to the realization that I had never photographed it before the fire that struck it one night recently. Apparently painting supplies spontaneously combusted, which is completely possible if they are not allowed to dry properly; the…
End of Winter 2023 Odds and Ends
The old Soulard Branch of the St. Louis Public Library has had several uses over the last decade besides the commercial space facing 7th Boulevard. There was “The Library” and then “The Archives.” They’re both gone. Below, in McKinley Heights, I still can’t believe that Second Empire house below is sitting vacant; the property values…
South Broadway Athletic Club
The South Broadway Athletic Club is a Soulard and South City institution, though if you know better, it’s actually on South Seventh Boulevard, one block west from its famous namesake. The building served an earlier life as first the Russell Avenue Missions (despite the cross street being Shenandoah), an outpost of the Baptist Church, by…
Former Site of Union Park, Soulard
Along Russell Boulevard in Soulard is an interesting row of buildings, some quite old such as this one above and below which now houses artists’ studios (as well as an amazing terracotta frieze which is sadly obscured by a gnarled tree). I was alerted by a friend who once lived here. If anyone has a…
Bevo Bottling Plant, Morning Light
The Anheuser-Busch Brewery never ceases to be interesting to me, and on an early Saturday morning, I captured the Bevo Bottling Plant with the sun shining on it. As can be seen above, there was another building along Arsenal that is now gone; I suspect it was related to the logistics of shipping beer. The…
Sidney Street Between Thirteenth and Eighteenth Streets
This is a short block, and more of a creation of later powers than its original creators. Hemmed in by the interstate and Eighteenth Street on the west and the new Thirteenth Street on the east at least on the north side, it is only three to four houses long on both the north and…