Lincoln Trail, St. Clair County, Illinois

The so-called Lincoln Trail is no longer a trail, but more akin to your standard strip mall artery. I saw traces of interesting roadside motels and drive-ups, but like so much of America, it's all just sort of looking the same now. I probably could have labeled this Manchester Road, and a lot of people couldn't have told the difference. Is this what we want America to become?

New Valmeyer, Illinois

A trip to Old Valmeyer would not be complete without a trip to New Valmeyer, high on the bluffs above the old town.Meant to be a planned community, some residents complained that the feel of the old town was lost in the new town.Perhaps that's only logical, as the grid is gone for the most part from New Valmeyer, replaced with a fairly standard suburban cul-de-sac plan.Unfortunately, it looks like the plan was never completed for a "Main Street" as the street facing the high school is nothing but barren lots. Surely something was planned for this area.Compare the New Valmeyer from the air to the Old Valmeyer. Barring flooding issues, which doomed the old town, which one would you want to live in?

1,000th Post: Sprawl and the Continuing Threat to Our Natural Environment

For my 1000th post at Saint Louis Patina, I considered having a "greatest hits" or featuring my favorite St. Louis buildings and neighborhoods. Then I realized I had already done that back on my third anniversary, which was only a couple of months ago in May. I realized I needed to focus on something else, and my idea was hatched last Sunday when my parents and I went out to see the destruction firsthand in the new right-of-way for the expanded 141. Several of my mother's teacher co-workers had commented on their dismay at the loss of so many trees at the intersection of 141 and Ladue Road so we decided to see for ourselves. As we came over the hill on eastbound Ladue towards the intersection, a collective gasp escaped all of our mouths.Due to stimulus money becoming available, the State of Missouri is proceeding with the final leg of the expansion of 141, or Woods Mill Road as it's called up this way. It's a process that has taken at least the last twenty years, when the first section, through Valley Park was completed. 141 has been choked with traffic for at least the last thirty years, if not longer, so one could argue that expanding the highway is merely accepting the reality of the situation--there are far too many cars on far too narrow of a road.Certainly no one would disagree that the intersection of 141 and Ladue didn't need some sort of improvement; the flooding that occurred because of the nearby creek has claimed far too many lives over the years. I fully support a new bridge and intersection that doesn't flood when it rains.But I can't help but express sadness at the destruction of so many trees, in what was once a rural, agricultural area of the county.Perhaps the State's rebuilding of 141 to Olive was inevitable; the traffic volumes at present seem to have demanded a solution. But I must admit that the whole 141 expansion has left me wanting. What was intended to be an alternative to 270 is a series of short sections of freeway punctured with stop lights, and arbitrarily low speed limits set not for safety but for revenue in the suburbs the road passes through (Yeah, I'm talking about you, Manchester). If so much had to be destroyed to build the road, at least the road should have been as well-built as possible.What I cannot fathom is the decision by St. Louis County to continue 141 north of Olive to connect with the Maryland Heights Expressway. There has never been a road there, and there doesn't need to be. The real reason is Maryland Heights' desire to develop the Howard Bend area, one of the last agricultural flood plains in the county. As Westport Plaza empties out, the suburb has decided to build its replacement in the floodplain, instead of taking the time to renovate and refurbish the aging Westport, which is still an architecturally interesting example of a mixed-use early 1980's development. What it comes down to is sprawl, and the Balkanization of St. Louis County that forces the tiny principalities--er, municipalities--of the region to fight over a finite number of tax dollars.We cannot continue to spread out our population at a greater rate than the population growth of our region. The metropolitan region is at least 17 times large geographically today than it was in 1950, but it is only 2.5 times larger in actual population.We cannot continue to waste our resources on expanding a region that cannot support the infrastructure required to get people from sixty miles outside of St. Louis to their jobs in downtown. We just can't support that. Everyone complains about road conditions, and chalk it up to "government waste" as the reason, but the reality is that there is no money to fix roads with such a small, dispersed tax base. We must begin to design our region to be more manageable fiscally. The continued march of the suburbs into our nation's food producing agricultural heartland is foolhardy, and will ultimately result in the decline of our country as America becomes reliant on foreign imports of food--something America has never had to do until now.

Yes, yes, I know, you don't want to live around those people, but your wasteful way of life is killing America. Houses are not McDonald's wrappers; we have to start taking better care of what we already have, and we cannot simply abandon neighborhoods when the houses get "too old." We must return to the City, and reuse the land that is currently sitting dormant. Thousands of acres in the heart of the City sit ready for new houses and businesses, but yet we continue to destroy our natural environment on our edges instead. How much more wasteful will America get?See the official websites for the two halves of the project here: for the 141 extension from Ladue to Olive, click here; for the "Page Olive Connector" project, click here.

Pleasantview Road, Washington Township and Sprawl

I drove back by Pleasantview Road to check on the status of the buildings I have been documenting for the last year.The abandoned farmstead has weathered the winter, and looks largely the same. I know someday I will drive by, only to see a pile of rubble, or less.The school building hasn't changed either, though the weeds are starting to grow up around the facade again.It makes me sick, but sprawl is coming to Washington, since you know, it's quaint and all and only a ten minute drive into Peoria. Note the brand new street in front of this barn; on the other side of the street is a subdivision of tract attached homes.Across the cornfield, another subdivision is going up. Why are giving up our sustainability for sprawl? We no longer produce enough food to support our population, and the roads needed to go to all of these spread-out houses aren't paid for by the taxes generated by these houses. A crisis is developing, but almost no one cares.

Driving Manchester Road

I originally had the idea of driving the whole length of Chouteau Ave/Manchester Ave/Manchester Road all the way out to Gray's Summit, but I got so annoyed at the traffic and absolute monotony of the drive, that I bailed at Geyer Road and drove by the old church Eli Lovejoy preached at. Below is my chronicle, though some of the pictures further out are hazy because everything was literally looking identical.Manchester Avenue in the Grove.
Manchester Avenue at Kingshighway.Manchester Avenue around Macklind.
Manchester Avenue around St. Louis Marketplace in Dogtown.Manchester Avenue at McCausland.Manchester Road at Hanley.Manchester Road somewhere in Rock Hill or Kirkwood.

Amazing how one street can change so much.

Zoning Felony, Washington, Illinois

This picture speaks for itself: the future of St. Louis unless residents demand better, rational zoning in our city.

St. Louis County Balkanization, Zoning and In-Fill Battles Continue

This post could perhaps alternately be entitled "Four Corners," because it is very much the story of how four corners can have so different fates. Starting from top to bottom:

1) The site of a large house that has sat empty for seven years, in Ballwin.2) Picardy Estates, a subdivision of attached homes in Chesterfield.
3. Marquette High school in Chesterfield as well.4. Finally, a bank in Clarkson Valley.
If the reader has been paying attention, he or she will note that three different suburbs control the intersection of Clarkson Road and Kehrs Mill Road, two old farm roads laid out in the 1840's or 1850's and never designed or platted to successfully channel large amounts of suburban commuter traffic.The corner in Ballwin, now the site of a large house and thick forested growth, is now slated to become a Schnuck's grocery store. Why? There are many issues, most notably the blatant decline of the city of Ballwin in the last ten years. The aging commercial strip along Manchester Road is obsolete and so choked with traffic as to be one of the most horrible places to drive, let alone walk, in the entire St. Louis metropolitan area--if not in the entire United States. The second issue is large chains seeking to poach off of their competitors' customers, successfully or not. The Clarkson corridor is flooded with grocery stores, and Schnuck's is undoubtably jealous of more upscale Dierberg's, Whole Foods and Straubs getting a piece of the action while Schnuck's sits on a run-down and decrepit store on Manchester.
The city of Ballwin, doomed by its suburban sprawl model, is grasping at straws as it attempts to revive its tax base and steal revenue from its neighbors. Chesterfield Valley, in all of its venal banality, is actually a more pleasant place to shop than Manchester Road, and increasingly smaller suburbs such as Ballwin must break its own laws in a frantic attempt to chase the almighty tax dollar.How can this be done better? Easily, with the combination of the 91 municipalities into preferably one, or maybe at the most twenty larger suburbs that are more economically viable. We see the desperation of tiny--no, minuscule--municipalities in North County and their speed traps, and we see the desperation of older suburbs such as Ballwin look on as their poorly built strip malls vacate and flee to the newly built north of Chesterfield. Then, just maybe, if we can come together and put our own individual desires behind us, we will see an end to the balkanization of our metropolitan area.

Exciting New Walgreens in Ellisville

Big Box Blunders

Big Box stores are a symbol of bad architecture in the new millennium. While in the past department stores sometimes constructed the most beautiful buildings in a city downtown (see Railroad Exchange, Syndicate Trust, etc.) the current level of artistic achievement in large retail is abysmal. And even worse, unlike a building such as the Syndicate Trust, big boxes are not necessarily easy to convert to new uses. But people are trying; read the articles at the Post-Dispatch and Washington Post about attempts at reusing these great behemoths.

Save Creve Coeur Park

I attended an open house last Monday where opponents of the ridiculous new development in the Howard Bend floodplain presented their opposition to the project. The open house featured great exhibits on why we don't need more sprawl in the Maryland Heights area, and by default--since the region fits together like a jigsaw puzzle--eastern Chesterfield as well. I was shocked to learn that Westport Plaza, already generating income for Maryland Heights, has some serious vacancy issues. Even more bizarrely, many of the proposed tenants of Howard Bend development already reside in Maryland Heights--so the city is already getting their tax dollars.

I know the reason: the Cult of the New, as I call it. Maryland Heights is terrified that companies and the general public have adopted a throwaway mentality for buildings, and not just fast food wrappers. Ten years old? Time to move on and discard the old.

View the group's website at Save Creve Coeur. Here is Maryland Heights's page on their project, and watch out for MoDot's unfunded plans for more sprawl connectors going through floodplains. Luckily, there's no money for the new roads.

Chesterfield Commons

I was stranded for six hours in the bane of my existence, Chesterfield Commons, while my car was having some installation work done at Best Buy. Those subwoofers that I always wanted are now fully installed, and prepared to annoy everyone in a four mile radius. I took the opportunity to photograph what has been described as the longest strip mall, or "lifestyle center" as they now call them now, on the planet.Supposedly the parking lot is the largest in the world as well, though I have to say I think the Indianapolis 500 probably has a larger parking lot, or even the Pentagon or Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey. Regardless, it is disgusting to behold, in all its blacktop banal glory.The car is king--no emperor--out here in Chesterfield, as illustrated above in the tiny right of way for pedestrians in front of Sam's Club. Below is one of the most dangerous intersections in the metropolitan area not just for pedestrians but for motorists. I literally had to run across this street to avoid getting hit. "Pedestrian" is code word in Chesterfield for "poor" and much like the Marquis de Evremonde from Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, people don't break for poor people out here. "Pedestrian" is also codeword for "non-white" out this way.Below is one of those megaplex movie theaters, you know, the one no one really likes going to because of the interminable long lines and overpriced concessions. Remember the neighborhood movie? Oh, that's right, they're going the way of the dodo.This picture cracks me up; no one actually rides their bike out here--it would be suicide. I suppose they're attempting to harken back to the Leave It To Beaver days when children could actually safely bike somewhere. I could have sworn these were red a few months ago.Below is a fountain that no one can enjoy, let alone visit, because there really isn't any safe way to get there on foot. Likewise, people are too busy avoiding crashes on the roads to look at them anyway.

Above is what I really hate about the Chesterfield Valley--pseudo-historicist architecture. The name of the restaurant doesn't really matter; certainly it is mass produced and served to people in troughs like cattle. The whole complex is literally surrounded by a moat; Chesterfield Valley, also known as Gumbo Flats, is a flood plain of course, and is marshy most of the year. I like the implications of the fortress mentality that these uncrossable drainage canals convey.


Below I caught a vehicle rolling the stop sign, oblivious to the possibility that someone might actually be using it. Not that anyone ever does, though.
More crappy, pseudo-historicist architecture masquerading as French Provencal cottages.
The worst part about this gargantuan development is that it was built way too quickly and way too cheaply. In twenty years, these buildings will be in awful, rundown condition. Already, the signs of over-expansion are showing in this row of crappy, dollar store and thrift stores. I thought this was ritzy Chesterfield!?The best part about it is that you, the America taxpayer, get to pay for its rebuilding in ten or fifteen years when it floods again like it did in 1993! And now that I think about it, that's rather convenient, isn't it? Build structures that will only last until the next deluge, and then build brand new ones with federal handouts? Brilliant!