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St. Paul/Jedburgh/Sherman, Late Summer 2021
One of my most popular posts was my examination of the St. Paul/Jedburgh/Sherman area, far to the southwest in rural West County. We went back to see what was happening along St. Paul Road. It is...
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Whispering Oakwood, Denouement
Back in mid-August of this year, I had featured a house in Ballwin that had been the center of around a decade of legal and municipal wrangling due to the decoration of the front yard by the owner. We...
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Chesterfield Mall, Blocked Off
Back in January of 2021 we noticed that the owners of Chesterfield Mall were building walls blocking off the old Dillard’s and Sears wings of the mall, which were also the oldest portions. When I went...
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Suspicious Fires Week: The Old Bowling Ball Factory, Jennings
“Fire at an old bowling ball factory on Xograph Avenue in Jennings?” I knew when I heard about this strange occurrence, and how the St. Louis Fire Department had to join their colleagues in the County...
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Cragwold, January 2022
Oops, I didn’t see that tree branch in the way when I took this photo of Cragwold, Edwin Lemp‘s estate on the bluffs overlooking the Meramec River. The large windows overlooking the valley must have...
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Alswel, January 2022
I also decided to head down the Meramec River and see how the view of Alswel, which was William Lemp, Jr.’s house that overlooks the Butler Lakes, was doing. His death certificate actually says he was...
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Stratford Inn, Abandoned
The Stratford Inn recently suffered a fire that was probably caused by squatters. It had been abandoned for years, after a long run as an extended stay hotel. I think many Americans don’t realize that...
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Former John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, Under Demolition
My prediction that the old John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Manchester would be sold to a developer for houses has come to pass. McBride Berra is demolishing it for Arbors at Celtic Meadows. It...
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St. John Paul II, Formerly St. George, Roman Catholic Church
Dominating the commanding hill at the intersection of Gravois and Heege roads, the relatively new parish of St. John Paul II Roman Catholic Church in Affton was created by combining St. Dominic Savio...
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John F. Kennedy High School, Demolished
Kennedy High School is no more. There are only long piles of rubble. The machines who did the deed are sitting around surveying their work, and other Caterpillar products are awaiting their turn to...
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Concrete Block Buildings on the Rock Road
Historically known as the “Block House,” this roadhouse at 8124 St. Charles Rock Road has long been a tavern or roadhouse on the main route between St. Louis and St. Charles. And boy, judging from old...
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Homer G. Phillips Grave, St. Peter’s Cemetery
I was recently giving a talk about the importance of African American lawyer and civil rights activist Homer G. Phillips, and it dawned on me that I didn’t know where he was buried. I’ve looked at the...
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First Baptist Church, St. John
Rapid growth along the St. Charles Rock Road in the years after World War II translated into concurrent expansion of religious institutions along the corridor. First Baptist Church of St. John found...
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A Tour of the Sites Mentioned in the Federal Indictment
Northway Market, 5590 W. Florissant Avenue, Walnut Park East Legal disclaimer: all defendants are considered innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law, as laid down in the Fifth, Sixth and...
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Ethical Society of St. Louis
Speaking of ethics, I had the opportunity to visit the Ethical Society of St. Louis a couple of weeks ago, just after heavy rains had roared through the metro area, leaving dramatic skies in the...
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Woods Mill Center, Facing Demolition
There doesn’t seem to be much research or scholarship done on the subject, but there should be more study of shopping centers “left behind,” sort of like the Bates Motel, when a major traffic artery...
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Former Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, Early June 2022
I first visited the former Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church in Jennings in April of 2012, and at the time it was still occupied as a seniors’ center. In fact, it has become one of my most popular...
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Our Lady of the Presentation Roman Catholic Church
Updated with correct dates due to new information from the Archdiocesan archives. Our Lady of the Presentation Roman Catholic Church is located on Tudor Avenue at Brown Road, just southwest of St....
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Lake Sherwood
Note: The streets around Lake Sherwood are private. I recently was invited to visit Lake Sherwood in Overland, which is an artificially created lake created by the Laughlin Family. Henry Laughlin had...
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John F. Kennedy High School, Interior and Today
Henry T. Mizuki, Auditorium at John F. Kennedy High School, 500 Woods Mill Road in Manchester, July 1971, Missouri History Museum, P0374-04092-17-4p I dug up some old photos of John F. Kennedy High...
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