Clik here to view.
The Case of the Mysteriously Vanishing Rock Piles
I covered the shameful desecration of Rock Hill Presbyterian last year, and a friend and I drove out to see how progress on the reconstruction was going. It turns out the stones had been dumped on a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Conway Cemetery
We stumbled upon another rural cemetery in West County recently, off of Conway Road. The Conway Cemetery is named after one of the earliest settlers in the St. Louis County area, and the cemetery is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Old Bonhomme Church
Old Bonhomme Church is one of those pleasant surprises tucked away on one of the oldest roads in St. Louis County, Conway Road. Conway, and others, came together to construct a truly unique,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Priory, Interior
What is there really to say about the interior of the Priory? It is one of the most sublime spaces in St. Louis, and certainly the pinnacle of Modernist ecclesiastic architecture in St. Louis....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hadley Township, Demolition
Another obliterated neighborhood in the name of “progress,” another promise of economic prosperity in the face of the reality, another missing piece of our collective heritage. Maybe Menards will...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Friedens Chapel, Chambers Road
It was increasingly common the in the mid-Twentieth Century to establish new churches, or “chapels” out in St. Louis County as congregations’ members moved further out from the city. The Friedens...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Zion German Evangelical Church
Dating from 1871, the Zion German Evangelical Church sits in splendid isolation, with only a parking lot and cemetery surrounding it. The congregation, which still exists, dates from 1838. It is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kirkwood Junction
Along with various Webster Groves stations, the Kirkwood railroad station served generations of commuters to downtown and other locations. It still serves as an Amtrak station. The architecture is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Around Downtown Kirkwood
It’s interesting; Kirkwood’s main street, Kirkwood Road, doesn’t have spectacular buildings, but they’re all occupied, well-maintained and serving a purpose. Perhaps that is the most important thing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kirkwood Churches
I’ve always been intrigued by the massive Modernist churches of downtown Kirkwood. It seems in the 1950s all of the major congregations decided to rebuilt, perhaps reflecting the burgeoning population...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hanley House, Clayton
Martin F. Hanley bought the farmland on which his house sits in 1847. It is a simple, but elegant Greek Revival house with an interesting paint scheme. Abandoning the more typical white of Greek...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clayton-Forsythe Building, Clayton
I had never seen this building before, but it’s worth checking out; it turns out my colleague Toby Weiss had already discovered it years ago. As more of Clayton is demolished, this building is a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Vignettes from Castlewood
Valued reader Joyce Pharriss provided an invaluable window of life in what would become Castlewood State Park when it still operated as privately owned resorts along the Meramec River. From the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunset Memorial Park
There are so many cemeteries in St. Louis, and each one has its story. Located down along the major roads heading out of the city, such as Gravois in this case, or Bellefontaine or St. Charles Rock...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Busch Graves, Sunset Memorial Park
Tucked away in a hidden glade of Sunset Memorial Park, the graves of Gussie Busch and his brother Adolphus III are joined by other members of his family. The boy with the fawn has some significance,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sisters of St. Peter Claver
We couldn’t figure out if this small convent in Town and Country, off of old Route 141 was still occupied. There is a redevelopment notice posted out front saying that a school is moving in. The nuns...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fort Bellefontaine Staircase
Fort Bellefontaine Park, far north at the very end of Bellefontaine Road (Broadway in the city) remains one of the most beautiful but neglected sites in the region. What is interesting about the site...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More Fort Bellefontaine
Besides the iconic staircase at Fort Bellefontaine, there is also a spring that legends claim served as a water source for Lewis and Clark’s expedition. Back up on top of the bluff, past the...
View Article