Medium Essays (1001 - 3000 Words) Archives - Page 5 of 6

2020: Making A Case For Squirrels

Here’s a good word for the day: “anthropomorphize”. It means attribute human characteristics to an animal or object. If you’ve ever carried on a conversation with your dog, that’s really what you’re up to. It’s not a bad thing… and in its highest form, gives us cartoon characters. I want to discuss squirrels today, and yet I can’t Rocket J. Squirrel out of my head.

1884: The Opera Diva And Lafayette Park

Adelina Patti, the opera diva reminds me that I’ll read nearly anything put in front of me. This includes ingredient lists on food boxes, consumer warnings for everyday products, and clothing labels. I like to steal a glance at anything printed out for someone else to read, or printed on a consumer product to avoid legal action.

1891: The Granitoid Sidewalks Of St Louis

Some of the oldest sidewalks in St. Louis aren’t concrete, they’re granitoid. Let’s take a walk and explore our native surface material.

1876: Keevil, The Hatter

“Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
“I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone: “so I can’t take more.”
“You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “It’s very easy to take more than nothing.”

1951: An Anchor On The Corner In Lafayette Square

What’s in a building? It’s entire history, for one; and in Lafayette Square, that can be considerable.

2001 Park Avenue has been holding down the Northeast corner of Mississippi and Park Avenue for a long time. It appears in the Compton and Dry map of 1876, looking much like itself, but for today’s first floor windows and the long single story extension down Mississippi Avenue:

1939 To 1956: German House In The St. Louis House Years

In late August of 1939, Germany signed a mutual non-aggression pact with Russia. This pretty much ended any doubt about Hitler’s intentions toward Europe, or the counterbalancing effects of Communism to Fascism. On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland.

1975: A Felonious Bldg. Commissioner

The photo at top, left is of 1926 Hickory Street in April, 1970. It is a ‘before’ example of the kind of property recognized and restored in Lafayette Square back in the brave days. This story is about these empty hulks, and about what you can lose when you trust that your government works always in the public interest.

1849: The St.Louis Cholera Epidemic

The Coronavirus is a virus, all right, but it’s not the flu. It’s a dangerous situation, among other reasons, because we have no familiarity with it.

1849: The Benton Statue – East and West

There stands a neoclassical bronze statue of Thomas Hart Benton, complete with toga and sandals, in Lafayette Park. I recently put the compass of my iPhone in a line from the Benton statue’s nose. West 270 degrees bang on. There’s a reason for this.

1970: The No Tell Hotel Of Lafayette Square

The corner of Lafayette and Missouri Avenues shares the multi-address feature of the Sheble-Bixby house at Mississippi and Lafayette. It contains 2166 Lafayette Avenue, and 1700 and 1706 Missouri Avenue. While a single mansion, it was once the residential estate of local physician Dr Joseph Spiegelhalter and his six children. It was later the Missouri Hotel.