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Quarry, Rockwoods Reservation
Rockwoods Reservation, in far western St. Louis County, used to be the site of intensive limestone quarrying for the creation of lime. The mine is now closed off from visitors, but you can still get...
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Lime Kiln, Rockwoods Reservation
Not to sound melodramatic, but I think the lime kiln in Rockwoods Reservation, which converted limestone to lime at high temperatures, is one of the most beautiful structures in the St. Louis region....
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Castlewood Lodges, Revisited
I photographed the old hotels and ruins around Castlewood again a couple of weekends ago; I would be interested to hear from readers if they can identify these structures. Is this house below once a...
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Sherman/St. Paul, Revisited
I returned to photograph the small hamlet of Sherman, or sometimes known as St. Paul, or even Jedburgh. I think Sherman is the most prevalent name. I was concerned to see the beautiful farmhouse...
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Zombie Road, Tamed
Back in the day, this trail was known as Lawlor Ford Road, and apparently was a very early road that allowed travelers to cross the Meramec River in western St. Louis County. The street sign is gone,...
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Open Pit Mining, Rockwoods Reservation
I wish I could go back in time and see what parts of St. Louis County looked like one hundred years ago, when large portions were out in the middle of nowhere. You would see sights like this huge...
View ArticleUnique House for Sale in North County
Shannon Howard, of NoCoSTL renown, alerted me to this amazing property in North County, which contains two historic log cabins built into its interior. It is the perfect house for someone who wants a...
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The Tortured Land Around Lambert Airport
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say, “Hey guys, let’s go hang out around the airport!” But surprisingly, the site of Lambert was once a cottonwood marsh known in French as Marais des Liards,...
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Northwest Plaza Demolition
I didn’t have much time so I snapped a couple of bad photos, but I will return and document more of the demolition of what was once the largest outdoor mall in the world.
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Maritz and Young Lecture This Wednesday, August 14, 7:00 PM, Missouri History...
I was pleasantly surprised to receive a review copy of the Missouri History Museum’s publication, The Architecture of Maritz and Young: Exceptional Historic Homes of St. Louis, by Kevin Amsler and L....
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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...
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Northwest Plaza Demolition Continuing
The demolition of Northwest Plaza, once the queen of the shopping malls of St. Louis, continues. As the ill-fated, and revealed by the demolition of the cheaply built enclosure of the mall in the...
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Friedens Cemetery
We looked at the Friedens Church in Hyde Park yesterday, and now we move out to the associated cemetery just outside the City of St. Louis on North Broadway, or Bellefontaine Road. The burial records...
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Mount Lebanon Cemetery
I often learn interesting things from my readers, and recently one visitor to my site informed me that the large potter’s field near the St. Louis Insane Asylum was dug up in the 1950′s and moved out...
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St. Paul Road Farmstead, Revisited
I am continually fascinated by St. Paul Road, which wanders back deep into the hills of southwestern St. Louis County. In particular, right at this horribly dangerous curve (the road is 1.5 lanes...
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Barretts Tunnel
The Barretts Tunnels, of which the western one is shown in these photographs, lie in West St. Louis County, just west of Kirkwood. The first tunnels west of the Mississippi, the tracks through here...
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St. Louis Institutions, Consigned to Museums
The Museum of Transportation possesses some of the best examples of steam engines in the world, but they’ve also taken in other transportation-related lost souls as well. The last remnant of the...
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Museum of Transportation, Sunset
The Museum of Transportation truly is a hidden gem, and a visit out west to its campus is well worth it. I visited the day after Christmas and snapped some photos of the late afternoon light falling...
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Great Snowstorm of January 2014 Coming In, Ballwin
I caught this view on the high ground at the corner of Kehr’s Mill and Clayton Road. The storm front was rolling in while I pumped gas. Time will tell how much damage the snow caused to many...
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