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Restored B-25 Bomber
We had the opportunity to see a restored B-25 bomber out at Spirit of St. Louis Airport a few weeks ago. There are few left, and it was fun to see the plane up close.
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Anyone Remember Allenton?
Cross over an extremely narrow railroad viaduct, and you’re right in front of the old, vanished southwest St. Louis County village of Allenton. Destroyed when Eureka annexed the unincorporated town...
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The Mysterious McMansion
There was a perfectly fine Colonial Revival house on this property, which is a valuable parcel of land that includes land for horses and a large stable. The house has been under construction now for...
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Hardee’s Iceplex, Under Demolition
I guess I don’t understand why it was a good idea to tear down the ice rinks out in Gumbo Flats. Was it low quality? I just remember friends in high school having to practice at 2:00 AM in the morning...
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From the Vault: Westport Plaza
I dug some old photographs of Westport Plaza out of my files; I do not remember how old they are, but they are certainly from a long time ago, at least pre-2012. I like them as they capture a time in...
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The Spanish Revival Mansion
Built in 1924, this cool Spanish Revival mansion way out in West County surely has a fascinating story behind it. In that year, this was out in the middle of nowhere. It looks like a Maritz and...
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Old Farm House Revealed
The cutting through of a new section of Wild Horse Creek Road off of the old Olive Street Road, which began its life as a plank road, has opened up new pieces of land for development out in...
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Ionic Order
There’s been an exciting new advance in McMansion architecture: the appearance of the Ionic Order in Post-Modernism. Perhaps in twenty years the Corinthian Order will appear, and in another forty the...
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Westland Acres
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...
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Chesterfield Mall, 99% Dead
So this is how it all ends. With Macy’s chugging along, and apparently the Cheesecake Factory and the movie theater locked into long leases or owning their own buildings, Chesterfield Mall seems to...
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Remembering Tom Maher
I was able to attend the memorial service for Tom Maher, who was a long time reader and commenter on this website, having left, according to my estimates, hundreds if not over a thousand comments over...
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Ridgeview Place
My family and I thought it would be fun to go by the condominium development built off the side of our normal house subdivision and see how things were going. Wait a minute, what the heck is up with...
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Company Houses, Marshall Road, Valley Park
Those are company houses, if I’ve ever seen any, I said to my companions, as we drove down Marshall Road in between 4th and 5th streets in Valley Park. The houses seen in my photographs are just above...
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Benton Street Between Third and Sixth Streets, Valley Park
I willing be a guest on KMOX AM 1120 at 8:20 AM on Friday, January 17, 2020 talking about the 100th anniversary of the beginning of Prohibition. Please tune in if you’re able! Valley Park has some...
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St. John United Church of Christ
We realized we had never looked at St. John United Church of Christ up close, despite long admiring its unrivaled location sitting high upon a hill overlooking the intersection of Manchester and...
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Bethel United Methodist Church, Wildwood
Bethel United Methodist Church is a congregation whose roots go deep into the history of West County, all the way back to 1858. In fact, I did not realize it, but I had photographed its original stone...
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Two Houses in Wildwood
There’s this genteel old farmhouse sitting out on St. Albans Road on Manchester Road, way out in Wildwood. It was built in 1910, but I don’t know anything else about it. It was a nice house, with what...
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Quarry, Rockwoods Reservation, Revisited, February 2020
It was a beautiful unseasonably warm day yesterday, so I headed out to Rockwoods Reservation. I had heard some reports of devastating flash floods washing out trails and bridges, so I was not able to...
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Open Pit Mining and Rail Bridge, Rockwood Reservation, February 2020
I finally had the chance to go looking for the open pit clay mine I had seen in a historic photo at the Rockwoods Reservation visitors’ center. I found the piers for the narrow gauge railroad that had...
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Bluff View Park
Opened on August 7, 2015, Bluff View Park off Old State Road is a wonderful new addition to St. Louis County Parks. There seems to be a previous history to the acreage, as there are the remnants of an...
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