Forward, Into The Past
Horses are beautiful creatures; large, strong and well-suited to working with people. They found an immediate home in the heart of American cities.
St. Louis had challenges on many levels in dealing with its own waste. Without a dissipating wind the coal smoke hung like a low shroud over the city. Sewage often refused to drain properly, garbage was dumped in open pits, and animals died without proper burial.
Continue reading “1887: Horse Manure and The City”If you check out the featured image, you’ll note that the most prominent building remaining from the old City Hospital complex is now known as the Georgian Condominiums (white arrow.) Behind that was the old Malcolm Bliss Hospital, shown with the red arrow.
A recent essay dealt with the history of 1717 Park Avenue and its long backstory. https://lafayettesquarearchives.com/1896-a-stable-history-of-1717-park-av/
A 1932 photo from that essay reveals the property next door. It’s still recognizable as today’s Square One restaurant and microbrewery. That two story building and side garden at 1727 Park Avenue was Mary’s Dreamland in the 1930s, and entertained the night crowd throughout its long tenure.
Continue reading “1933: Mary’s Dreamland On Park Ave”The Meyerkord building at 1717 Park Avenue currently houses various law firms. It recently sold from one group of lawyers to another. Last year I walked past and pondered the earlier group’s motto, “A Legacy of Legal Innovation” in the lobby. I still wonder how innovation factors into personal injury litigation. That, and how this building, looking more like a restored two-story garage, came to be here.
Sanborn Maps have been created for around 12,000 cities in the US, Canada and Mexico. They were designed so that insurance companies could gauge their risks, and therefore their liabilities from fire. These maps have been published since 1867. The largest collection is online at the US Library of Congress. A more local assortment from the early 1900’s is also available on the Missouri Digital Heritage site, referenced below.
They’re intriguing to explore for the snapshot they provide of our neighborhood during a particular year. Here are a couple of extracted examples, from the 1903 and 1908 Sanborn Maps.
Continue reading “1903: A Lafayette Square Sanborn Map”
In his book about Lafayette Square, John Albury Bryan wrote that Phillip North Moore and his wife Eva Perry Moore were the most distinguished couple to have ever lived there.
Ever heard of Sadie Hawkins Day? This old-timey observance presents a fine opportunity for the gentler sex to giddy up and grab the guy who’s been a little…reluctant. There’s an old riddle about why bachelors make poor grammarians (When asked to conjugate, they decline.) Well, this whole Sadie Hawkins thing started back in 1937, with cartoonist Al Capp and his comic strip called Lil’ Abner.
A race would be run by all the eligible bachelors of Dogpatch. The slowest of this lot would be the first Sadie would catch. By rules of the game, he must consent to marrying her.
Continue reading “1977: Sadie Hawkins Day”
18th Street at Chouteau has a rich history of causing traffic flow issues. Due to a quirk in the layout, there was nearly always a sharp jog (or dogleg) to the west as one headed south, then 18th Street continued as Second Carondolet. It was this way as far back as 1875, as shown in the Compton and Dry pictorial map:
Continue reading “1930: The Dogleg Corner of Lafayette Square”July 10, 1931. The Great Depression was in its second full year. Nationwide unemployment stood at 16% (it would rise to 25% by the end of 1932), and year over year growth constricted by 8.5%. Even the news seemed slow that Friday. The afternoon’s Post-Dispatch noted Secretary of State Stimpson, concluding disarmament talks with Italian dictator Mussolini. The German Reichsbank, reeling from its efforts to pay postwar debts and struggling to remain solvent, sought an international loan of $400,000,000 from the Bank of England, the Bank of France, the Federal Reserve Bank and World Bank.
Continue reading “1931: Strange Interlude on Park Avenue”
Frank Absher of the St. Louis Media History Foundation recently sent me a color postcard from the German House of September 1929. It served as an invitation to the dedication of the huge building that still sits at 2345 Lafayette Avenue. This was its very beginning. KMOX, on the air for four years by then, was on hand to live cast the event.
Continue reading “1929: Launching The German House”
