I looked at the French Market area almost a decade ago in February of 2011 when there was a thick coat of ice on the ground in the area south of the elevated lanes of Highway 40 in the area that is known as Frenchtown. It was once a bustling area, anchored by the French…
Tag: Streamline Moderne
The Beauty of Dutchtown, Part 44: Virginia Avenue Between Taft and Osceola
This section of Virginia Avenue is one of the first I looked at, way back in February of 2011, when I was seeking out the Stork Inn, which I revisited again in May of 2014. I was saddened to see the two story house on the left on Idaho Avenue, which comes in at sharp…
The Beauty of Dutchtown, Part 41: Virginia Avenue Between Delor and Itaska Streets
Passing by Delor, we see this Second Empire house on the west side of the street. Much of this section of Virginia was built in the Twentieth Century after this house, as the Whipple Fire Insurance map shows. After these two Arts and Crafts bungalows, there is a huge swath of vacant land, which was…
Uranium, Venice and Madison, Illinois
Update: Due to reader feedback, this post has been modified to reflect that the majority of the plant and a portion of the neighborhood are in fact in Venice. Portions of the plant and the neighborhood are in Madison. There’s a portion of Venice and Madison, Illinois that’s literally, not figuratively, on the wrong side…
North Broadway, Near and Far North Riverfront, Summer 2019
North Broadway never ceases to fascinate me. As usual, I refer to it as a street, and also an area. For example, the above and following two photos are on or around Holly Avenue. The image of east of Broadway, if you have one, is usually one of warehouses, factories, or sadly, abandonment. It is…
Under the Viaducts in the Mill Creek Valley, Part 3
Update: The building above was demolished in the fall of 2022. There are still some buildings just south of Highway 40 that were designed when Market Street still passed by their northern facades, such as the one above. But when the highway was built after World War II, they suddenly found themselves in limbo. See…
Under the Viaducts in the Mill Creek Valley
Update: See the second post in this series here and third post here. Historic photographs prove the valley between Chouteau and Forest Park Avenue was never some Lafayette Square-type neighborhood full of beautiful houses that deteriorated into a wasteland. No, it was always a gritty, industrial, traintrack-laced warren where coal dust and smoke scarred the…
The Factories on Etzel Avenue, Wellston
Update: The GE factory was demolished by December of 2022. The old General Electric Consumer & Industrial Lighting factory was closed in 2007, after being in business for over one hundred years. 175 employees lost their jobs. The giant buildings are now either completely abandoned or at the most, underutilized. Despite the famous riverfront in…
A Depressing Block
I’ve long said that this website is about breaking down prejudices and showing people that there are many great things about all parts of this city, but man, sometimes there is just nothing good to say about some isolated forgotten pockets of St. Louis. Let’s take the 4100 block of 21st Street, for example. There…