Abandonment, Eureka, Illinois

My parents and I could have sworn people were living in this house less than a year ago. Sadly, it seems the depopulation of Small Town America is continuing.

Family Farm, Late Summer 2010

The family farm was a treat this Labor Day weekend, as the weather was perfect, with sunshine and white, puffy clouds buffeted by a pleasant breeze.
Grass has begun to grow in what had been a muddy cow lot only a year before. Ongoing efforts to regrade and clean up junk have been largely completed, leaving the barns in more idyllic, accurate historically settings.The corn is about ready to be harvested, and should be ready in the next couple of weeks. The stalks, already drying out, are rustling in the wind.I like how this ear of corn is peaking out from the row. This is field corn, meant for animal consumption, not human.Below is the last of five cottonwood trees, planted approximately one hundred years ago, still clinging to life. We were sure it was a goner.Everything is green, and the whole area is lush despite a dry August. Off in the distance, you can spot a neighbor's barn and house.This huge granite boulder was moved by my great-grandfather and a hired hand with horses; there were no bulldozers available one hundred years ago. It was deposited millenia ago by glaciers, and was deposited here to get it out of a field.Wild grapes have begun to return to rural areas of Illinois, after being decimated by Roundup. Hopefully next year they will bear fruit.A cow has just given birth to a calf in the last week, and we were delighted to see it prancing around its mother's side while we were looking at a pasture.See earlier posts about the farm here.

Grimm Road, Goodfield, Illinois

Alerted by my parents, we went back and checked out Grimm Road, on the outskirts of Goodfield, Illinois. We were fascinated by this massive, masonry arch that allowed a road to pass under the railroad tracks. Why is there such a massive, expensive viaduct for a country road, we wondered.Further on up, and before a "no trespassing" sign at a fork in the road, we came across this small, dilapidated building. We realized there was a scale embedded in the concrete in front of the building, alluding to the building's past use. My father realized that he remembered there being a quarry down the road, and the small building was where trucks leaving the quarry were weighed and charged accordingly for the rock.Further on up, is the Apostolic Cemetery; Goodfield is known for having a large community of that denomination.

Abandoned Diner, Goodfield, Illinois

The diner outside of Goodfield hasn't changed much in the months since I last photographed it.

Twelfth Street Tunnel Immortalized by Painting at Saint Louis Art Museum

I realized that the American realist paper Joe Jones, the subject of an upcoming special exhibit organized by the Saint Louis Art Museum, painted the Tucker, or 12th Street, Tunnel back in 1932. See the painting here, and in the upcoming exhibition. The tunnel should be completely demolished this next year, at which point it will pass into history. See the tunnel in photographs here and here.

Note: Due to vagarities at the Art Museum's site, the wrong painting might come up when you click on the link.

Manchester Avenue Lane Reductions

Yesterday, on an on-line chat at the Post-Dispatch, Todd Waeltermann confirmed that Manchester Avenue between Kingshighway and Vandeventer is being reduced from four lanes to two. Due to the increased pedestrian activity, this is a great step towards making the Grove a more desirable place to live. Frankly, the old four lanes were way too narrow, making the outside lanes undriveable most of the time anyway. The new curbs will codify what was really reality, and hopefully make traffic on that stretch of Manchester less aggressive.

Modern STL Launched

A group of local preservationists and friends have launched Modern-STL, a new non-profit dedicated to protecting modernist architecture in St. Louis. Check it out, and join up if possible.

Downtown Views

More Benton Park

Benton Park

Pruitt-Igoe Nature Preserve

Wow, the old Pruitt-Igoe site is looking really lush this time of year! I can't wait to see what exciting new development will be occurring on the site soon!

Tower Grove East Summer Nights

Benton Park Mansard Roofs

Invented, or at least popularized by the great 17th Century French architect François Mansart, the mansard roofs of inner neighborhoods represent some of the oldest remaining houses in the city.

Benton Park Restaurants

Benton Park is anchored by its neighborhood restaurants, some of which can be seen here. Niche, above, has garnered national attention for its food and location.Sidney Street Cafe continues to operate in the neighborhood, long a symbol of its revitalization.Frazier's Brown Bag is another great restaurant across the highway from the brewery.I've never been to Yemanja or Benton Park Cafe, but I've heard they're good as well.

14th Street Mall, Old North St. Louis

Now that the street is in, I went back to the 14th Street Mall, now gone and renamed Crown Square. It looks sharp.The best part is I noticed buildings I had never seen before, and buildings I've remembered for a long time with their last ten coats of paint removed.This building below always reminds me of something that should be along a boardwalk on the East Coast or something.I have absolutely no recollection of this building, though its stream-lined design in vitrolite (?) is very cool.