Way back in 1977, an eye-catching attraction downtown was the new geometric mural of Charles Lindbergh by Charles Fishbone and Sarah Linquist. It was clear from a distance, and became an abstract of 1,160 blocks of grey paint as you got close.
Four short years later, the garage that sported the mural was purchased and wrecked for the new Southwestern Bell building downtown. It was sad to see the Spirit of St. Louis so down in the dumps.
The archives was recently gifted this AT&T ad from 2011. It shows Park Avenue, looking east from Lafayette Square. The text trumpeted their plans to combine with T-Mobile. They would build out a “next generation high speed network,” while bringing more fiber optic cable to St. Louis.
Flash forward ten years and witness 909 Chestnut Street downtown, site of the 44 story, 1.4 million square foot, four years vacant AT&T building. Oof. There are no buyers, although several schemes for redevelopment have come and gone.
Antitrust concerns doomed the proposed AT&T/ T-Mobile merger in 2011. So much for the big fish eating the little fish.
In the ten years since this ad, Lafayette Square never got its high speed fiber optic upgrade either.
AT&T boasted of the great things ahead in their full page ad, then bailed out. Their ad agency at least recognized one thing that would remain. Namely, Park Avenue in Lafayette Square. It thrives as it quietly continues to develop. C’mon down and enjoy this proud old neighborhood with up to date 5G wireless service.
Credits
Photos of Lindy Squared, courtesy of On The Wall Productions of St.Louis
AT&T parody logo on thumbnail, from TechCrunch; Jason Kincaid; January 27,2010
5G coverage verified through speedtest.net at https://www.speedtest.net/ookla-5g-map
Good thing the land lines still work.
As always Mike, thanks for the memories!
I recall the Lindy Mural back in the day. But I forgot how short lived it was. An ever changing cityscape with promises from Big Corp. that never quite work out.
Keep the articles coming Mike!