I realized I have never looked at Tamm Avenue, the famous street that passes through Dogtown just south of Forest Park. Of course, there were clay and coal mines in the area, but really, according to my sources, they were mainly east of Hampton Avenue.

But not all, and one mine, the Gittens Mine, which operated from 1914 and 1917, was just west of Tamm and between Clayton and Berthold avenues, so right here. There were three 100-foot shafts into the earth, where the mining of clay occurred. I suspect these humble houses along Tamm Avenue through here are probably former miners’ dwellings.

Also, just to the east in the 1920s, there was unnamed coal mine that was accessed by a slop shaft, meaning that instead of a vertical drop, the mine curved gently down into the earth from access point on the side of a hill.

As mining subsided in the late 1920s, houses that are typical of that era began to spring up, as would be expected. Luckily, it doesn’t look like there’s much subsidence!

While Tamm Avenue is famous for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, most of the street on the north end is residential and not lined with stores.

For the most part, all construction was completed before World War II.

There are some stores, though before we reach the heart of the commercial district at Clayton Avenue, one of the few earlier thoroughfares left from when this area was rural.