We’ve been looking at the former farmsteads and cemeteries around Weldon Spring that were bought up and demolished for the federal government’s armaments plant during World War II and after (we recently discussed the processing of uranium in the area). This time, off lower Hamburg Road, we found some evidence of an old railroad spur…
Tag: Weldon Spring
The Mallinckrodt Chemical Company in the Twentieth Century
The Twentieth Century dawned with Mallinckrodt expanding rapidly. While originally based along North Second Street, it had now reached North Broadway, taking over two long buildings that had once served as power houses for streetcars. The company could now boast over 1,000 products. My favorite are the buildings labeled “cocaine” and “opium.” Edward Jr. had…
Lost Weldon Spring, Part Three: A Quarry and A Cemetery
Heading north of Highway 94 in search of more cemeteries acquired by the federal government for the uranium processing grounds, we should have known taking the “Lost Valley Trail,” really an old farming road, was going to set ourselves up for an interesting day of exploration. First up, I noticed a break in the rocky…
Lost Weldon Spring, Part Two: Four Cemeteries
Four cemeteries in one day of grueling hiking through the bush! First up is the John Murdock Cemetery. It’s relatively small with just a handful of burials. Look for the plants that are out of place! We really like the Heinrich Schneider Cemetery, located relatively close by on the north side of Highway 94. Again,…
Lost Weldon Spring, Part One: Two Cemeteries
We’ll be exploring and revisiting the area around the Weldon Spring containment dome over the course of this year, exploring and finding the remnants of human habitation that were abandoned when the federal government bought out the residents around the plant that would eventually process the uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons. Here and there,…
Enclaves of St. Louis #4: Weldon Spring Heights
I’ve recently become interested in suburbs of suburbs, which in this case is Weldon Spring Heights, which is a suburb of Weldon Spring. It is also another entry in the Enclaves of St. Louis. And like many municipalities in North St. Louis County, it is also just a subdivision, in this case located in St….
Abandoned McDonald’s, Weldon Spring
Let me ask you something. When was the last time you saw an abandoned McDonald’s? I learned from an industry insider that McDonald’s corporate policy is to demolish a closed store as soon as possible, in order to not damage the brand name. But in a twist of fate, due to this McDonald’s being attached…
Emmanuel United Church of Christ
The landscape around Emmanuel United Church of Christ has changed dramatically around the church since it was found in 1866 and when the current building was constructed in 1874. Of course this was originally an German Evengelisch congregation before that denomination joined together with other Protestant churches in the mid-Twentieth Century. And major roads have…
Thomas Howell Cemetery
Update: I visited the nearby Francis Howell Cemetery and another Howell family burial ground in the summer of 2023. The story of Thomas Howell is fascinating; he was an early settler out in St. Charles County, having originally been born in North Carolina. He is buried in the cemetery that bears his name, and his…
August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area
Formerly owned by the Federal government, the August A. Busch Conservation Area was purchased in his memory by his widow Alice Busch in 1947. I had always thought it was much older, and the government had requisitioned it during the war. There are still bunkers left over from the war (and in other parts of…