South St. Louis institution the Trophy Room, featured in such preeminent television shows such as World Wide Magazine by Pete Parisi, also has another claim to fame; examination of the eastern wall of the Second Empire saloon reveals much older roots. First, Sanborn maps reveal something interesting: there used to be a row of houses to the east; one was still visible when Parisi visited back in the 1990s. All are gone now. I am intrigued by the yellow (wood frame) building adjacent to the Trophy Room, which the one marked “S” right at the corner.

But stop the presses! Something intriguing has been revealed when we look at the eastern wall in the back half of the Trophy Room building where the stucco or mortar has fallen off.

At least the back half of the building and the first two stories are much, much older than the front and third floors in the Second Empire style! That wall below is a construction method known as nogging, where a balloon frame has brick filled in between the vertical studs. There are very few buildings left in St. Louis in that construction style. And it points to a portion of this building being very old.

Let’s go to Compton and Dry in 1876. There’s a small farmhouse or store in the lower right, but it doesn’t really seem to be in the right place–it’s too close to the road. Is it perhaps the wood frame building seen next door to the Trophy Room in the Sanborn map? Remember, the County institutions, such as the Female Hospital (seen in the upper left), were already open out this way. It’s a fascinating chapter in a fabled South City tavern.