Where there is now a Walgreen’s, a McDonald’s, a gas station and an entrance ramp onto Interstate 64/Highway 40, there was once a small town named Gumbo, which lay in the larger area known as Gumbo Flats, rechristened Chesterfield Valley nowadays. Settlement occurred out here early with the Long Family being prominent; Chesterfield Airport Road…
Tag: West County
Gumbo Cemetery, Chesterfield
Largely ignored by commuters and shoppers heading to the “lifestyle center” along Chesterfield Airport Road, Gumbo Cemetery has roots going back to the purchase of the land by German American immigrant George Krönung. It’s fairly large, and slopes up an incline. There are recent graves, including members of the Sappington Family. Long Road, which once…
Harugari Cemetery, Manchester
Off of Old Meramec Station Road is the Harugari Cemetery on land donated by the Seibel Family in 1877 in Manchester, many of whom are buried here. The Harugari Society dates to 1848, probably coming out of the revolution in Germany in that year, and aided immigrants in America. A couple chapters still exist. Harugari…
St. Joseph’s, Manchester
“Kick out the jams!“ Thanks to the eagle eyes of readers, I discovered that St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church once had an earlier location in Manchester. With the help of the Archdiocese, I was able to obtain photographs of that church, which was up Creve Coeur Avenue, which surprisingly a very historic street dating back…
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…
From the Vault: Manchester
Manchester is one of the oldest settlements in the St. Louis region, with its roots going back to the early Nineteenth Century. Manchester Road has long been a major artery not just through St. Louis County but the City as well, and was even known as Market Street Road for a portion of its history….
Wally’s, Fenton
Coming back from a wonderful lecture on the history of the John Busch Brewery at the Washington Historical Society, I thought it would be fun to stop at Wally’s Great American Roadtrip in Fenton off Interstate 44. It is huge! Just look at all of those gas pumps! I assume this is Wally? Your kids…
Celtic Meadows, Nearing Completion
I’ve looked at the former John F. Kennedy High School before, then during demolition, and then last year as initial site grading had begun. We were surprised that by mid 2023 that the subdivision was largely completed. I’m intrigued by the conversion of large institutional parcels being subdivided into smaller plots of land. Certainly many…
AMC Theater Closes at Chesterfield Mall
Update: An additional closed theater added in August of 2023. I was surprised to discover that the relatively new AMC theater at Chesterfield Mall had closed back on May 18 of this year. Yes, the mall is going to be demolished for redevelopment, but the Cheesecake Factory is doing very well and will continue to…
The Former Faust Estate
Always take that strange narrow road and see where it goes. We were recently visiting Faust Park in Chesterfield to look at the collection of historic West County structures on display there (see them here and here) and noticed there was a little road going to the east. Before we knew it, we had discovered…