Stately Homes, East St. Louis

By no means is the entire city of East St. Louis a wasteland, and in fact many streets still retain their original houses.

They could easily be in Tower Grove South or any number of neighborhoods in St. Louis.

Rather interestingly, these two houses with their distinctive turrets are the same design, but one has brick and the other tan stone.

While many houses were originally built of wood in the city, these houses are brick or stone, and are still surviving the ravages of time.

Also, I will be presenting about the exciting future of St. Louis Patina at 7:00 PM at the Contemporary Art Museum on July 12th, in conjunction with PechaKucha St. Louis. I hope to see you there.

Ainad Temple, East St. Louis

Long known as one of the last surviving institutions from the "old" East St. Louis, the Ainad Temple is a fascinating mix of brick and Moorish Revival decorative elements.

Inspired by buildings such as the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, it reflects an architectural frame of mind that was willing to borrow from any style that suited architects and their clients.

There was talk of moving two years ago, but I hope that they've changed their minds and chosen to stay.

Also, I will be presenting about the exciting future of St. Louis Patina at 7:00 PM at the Contemporary Art Museum on July 12th, in conjunction with PechaKucha St. Louis. I hope to see you there.

Some More Downtown East St. Louis

I'm always amazed by some of the beautiful storefronts on Collinsville Avenue, many featuring terracotta decorative elements that are still in good condition after decades of neglect.

Sadly, the back sides of many of the most elegant buildings in downtown are beginning to fail, and are slowing falling down into piles of concrete and rebar.

Grass lots are replacing what were once businesses, leaving the long sides of building exposed to view.

This house looks like it caught on fire at some point; despite the vinyl siding, I suspect this house is much older.

Also, I will be presenting about the exciting future of St. Louis Patina at 7:00 PM at the Contemporary Art Museum on July 12th, in conjunction with PechaKucha St. Louis. I hope to see you there.

Salon 482, East St. Louis

Also, I will be presenting about the exciting future of St. Louis Patina at 7:00 PM at the Contemporary Art Museum on July 12th, in conjunction with PechaKucha St. Louis. I hope to see you there.

Wendy's, East St. Louis

For some reason, when they tore down the rest of the Wendy's, they left the sign. On the other side it says "CLSED."

Also, I will be presenting about the exciting future of St. Louis Patina at 7:00 PM at the Contemporary Art Museum on July 12th, in conjunction with PechaKucha St. Louis. I hope to see you there.

Spivey Building, Revisited

I had the opportunity to photograph the long-suffering Spivey Building, supposedly the tallest building in southern Illinois. You can see previous pictures of the exterior and interior.

I was concerned that there was some new damage to the pediment of the building, but I looked back at old pictures and realized that it has been like that for a while.

The city wants to tear it down, but it has no money to do it. In many ways, it's sort of an awkward building; individual floors don't have much square footage, and there's plenty of room to build new buildings in downtown East St. Louis.

Bank Drive-In, East St. Louis

East St. Louis was still thriving in the 50's and 60's, and these really cool drive-up bank teller windows are evidence of that.

Built along an alley behind the bank, you can imagine cars swinging into these spots, and then heading out into the traffic of a bustling downtown.

Some More East St. Louis

I find East St. Louis sad but interesting; between the vacant lots are often times very beautiful buildings.

Churches are just as high quality as across the river, and they stand out amongst the landscape.

There are also lots of well-maintained houses, standing proud amongst the weeds of nearby vacant lots.

These two commercial buildings still have remnants of their signs; what were their original purposes, I wonder?

Armour Meat Packing Plant's End Coming Soon

Armour Meat Packing Plant, June 23, 2012

A couple of years ago, the new Mississippi River Bridge website published the following satellite image of the path of the Illinois approaches to the new bridge. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that only a portion of the historic stockyards around the old mule pens were in the way of the new road. My favorite ruin in the St. Louis area, Armour Meat Packing, sat uncomfortably close, but nonetheless safe for the time being.

You can understand my chagrin when I recently visited the site and found this new satellite image had been uploaded. If you look closely, you can see that new access road planned to be perpendicular to the new I-70 ends right in front of the main buildings of Armour. I would assume they plan on extending that road further, which of course would go right through the plant. Perhaps it's time for you to see it before it's gone.

18th and Lake, East St. Louis

What happened to this neighborhood!? It looks like the houses were hit by tank shells, and the apartment buildings look like they were the scene of room-to-room urban warfare.

I stumbled across this cluster of houses, scattered with older houses but also relatively recent apartment buildings, and wondered, "At what point does it get to this?"

There is still a fair amount of people living around the neighborhood, between the burned out houses and forested lots. Because much of East St. Louis was built of wood, most of it has disappeared, leaving no vacant lots but often times dense copses of trees.

All of it only a five minute drive from the Arch.

Abandoned Factory, East St. Louis

I continued down the hill and entered a neighborhood off of St. Clair Avenue. I can imagine a century ago, men would walk these sidewalks from nearby houses, and work in the factory.

I have no idea what the factory was, or when it closed, but the relatively new looking office wing (not pictured) suggests it only closed a decade or so ago.

St. Clair Avenue

I continued on Lincoln Trail westbound, and the signs started saying St. Clair Avenue; I figured that the road must continue all the way to East St. Louis. I passed the standard signs of late Twentieth Century abandonment: the destroyed motel, the desolate gas station, rows of abandoned ranches, some of them burned out. But the view, right as you come out of the trees and descend the bluffs to the American Bottoms, is spectacular, and I even spotted the Cahokia Power Station's six smokestacks in the distance.

East St. Louis Power Plant

Very little is known about the isolated power plant in East St. Louis. Surrounded by forest and weed-choked lots, its twin smokestacks stand in splendid isolation in the midst of the abandoned neighborhood.

Bloody Island

Bloody Island, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, has a history that is closely intertwined with the city. Originally, it was the location of duels between Missouri politicians, and then it became a liability as it began to threaten the port of St. Louis.

Robert E. Lee was the officer in the Army Corps of Engineers who cleared out St. Louis's channel and attached Bloody Island to Illinois, as it remains to this day.

Once the site of a huge network of railroad tracks and sidings that wound their way across the Eads and Macarthur Bridges, the area has returned to its forested origins, devoid of many signs of life and a few abandoned buildings, and all around desolate.

A few trains still pass through the area, as there is still an industrial presence at the various Cargill elevators along the riverfront.

But in general, a sense of abandonment permeates the area, and besides the red and yellow signs directing motorists to the Casino Queen, the dominant colors are browns, grays and traces of green.

The area is isolated, and not one where you should just go wandering without knowing where you're going. Oddly, Google Maps has Bloody Island labeled on its maps. And yes, there are remains of yet another roundhouse in the area.

Shots Around St. Louis by Jeff Phillips

I gave my friend in from China a tour around the city and parts of Illinois, and these are some of the shots he took.

Above, Armour Meat Packing Plant, and below a corner store in North City.

Below, I think this house is in Old North St. Louis.

Taking a shot of some houses while we were driving creates an interesting visual effect in the foreground.

The lines of the McKinley Bridge never cease to amaze me as well.

And finally, the view of downtown from the old National Stockyards. The day we were there the prostitutes out along Route 3 were wearing Santa Claus hats.

All photos by Jeff Phillips