Update: The sale of the property mentioned in this post did not happen, but individual parcels are still for sale. Due to an eagle-eyed reader, I learned recently that the historic freedmen’s settlement of Westland Acres recently sold for a substantial amount of money. Inhabited by the descendants of freed slaves for generations, I suspect…
Tag: Wildwood
Historic Pond Drying Up
Remember last year when I posted about all the great historic, if abandoned buildings out in Pond, a small hamlet along Manchester Road in Wildwood? Well, the historic Pond Hotel was demolished, and so was the Italianate farmhouse I documented.
Old Slave Cemetery
Update: The Wildwood City Council voted to keep the name in 2013; there has been no other effort to change the name since then. My family and I took a drive out to Old Slave Road and looked to see if we could find the slave cemetery at the heart of the recent controversy over changing…
Zombie Subdivision, Wildwood
My parents and I headed out to our favorite zombie subdivision in far western St. Louis County, off of Wild Horse Creek Road. What was intended to be a high-end subdivision sits largely empty, with the empty lots not even being mowed anymore.
Abandonment and History
Update: I have no idea where this farm is, or its current status. I came across this abandoned farmstead in the west central portion of Wildwood; the barn is starting to deteriorate and has collapsed on one side. A simple house nearby sits empty. I often remark that while the population of Wildwood is higher…
My Arm, Wildwood
My arm, accidentally photographed somewhere around Glencoe, Missouri.
Orrville, Wildwood
Orrville, a small town buried deep back in the wooded hills of northeastern Wildwood, sits just off of old Eatherton Road. The country store building survives, but is now a private residence. This is the only town where I was able to photograph all of the buildings in town. Below is a plat map of…
Italianate Farmhouse, Wildwood
Update: The house was demolished by June of 2013. Two photos from the vault added January of 2020. Just east of Pond is this rustic, but beautiful Italianate farmhouse. The paint is faded, but the intricate details remain. Will someone save it before it is demolished? I hope so.
Big Chief Roadhouse, Pond, Wildwood
Pond was long a good place to stop for travelers heading west from St. Louis. While the earlier Pond Hotel served the travelers of the 19th Century, the Big Chief Hotel provided more elaborate lodgings for the new automobile travelers passing through the area. Spanish Colonial Revival in style, which is obviously not native to…
Pond, Wildwood
Updated: Thanks to Lynn Josse, I have learned more about the long, dilapidated building pictured above and below; it was the Pond Hotel, and you can read about its plight here. Unfortunately, the Pond Hotel has been torn down, as of July 22, 2013. Historic photograph of the cycling club in front of the monument…