Old North St. Louis

If you travel north from downtown St. Louis it fees like you're heading into a different city. The fancy stadiums and ballparks are far in the rearview mirror. Gone are the manicured grounds of the Gateway Arch. Instead you see blocks of abandoned homes and lots that are home to nothing but piles or rubble or grass.

I was passing through and had to pull over and stop at the remains of this old church - The St. Augustine Catholic Church. It was built in 1896, but closed in 1982 as the congregation dwindled. The church was sold and used by a different congregations for a few years. But then the church would be permanently closed, and left abandoned. The building would suffer several fires and was almost entirely torn down in 2024, except for the steeple. It still stands as a reminder of the historic church that once stood here for over a century.



At one point, St. Louis was the fourth largest city in the country and had a population of over 800,000 people. But now the city has a population of around 300,000. The drop in population seems to have hit the neighborhoods of north St. Louis the hardest.



I'm not an expert on St. Louis by any means, and I've been trying to do some research on this area. According to the website "Built St. Louis," this area declined for several reasons - like unemployment, middle-class flight, racism, population loss, housing age, highway construction, redlining and negative perceptions.





It's surprising to see so many abandoned homes, especially in an area so close to downtown. It seems like it would be an ideal place for redevelopment.





It was sad and eerie, but it makes you wonder what these neighborhoods were like in the past. Back when the streets weren't quiet and empty. Back when the abandoned homes weren't empty and crumbling. When this area was filled with people and life.

Saint Louis

One of the things that you are contractually obligated to do when you’re in St. Louis is go to the top of the Arch, so we of course took the kids over to the massive monument along the Mississippi River. I was eager to take a few pictures from the top, trying out a few different lenses (primarily the fisheye). I carried my big camera bag with me through downtown, through the park, through security, and into the tiny little elevator that goes to the top. When we finally arrived at the observation area, I got my camera out and turned it on. Or tried to turn it on. Turns out that I forgot something – the battery. It was sitting on the charger, back in our hotel room. Whoops.

The amount of time you have at the top is short – only about ten minutes. I managed to get a few pictures with my cell phone before we were herded back into the elevators and sent back down to the ground.





Later on the trip we got a bit of a different view of downtown, this time from the St. Louis Wheel. The Ferris wheel sits by Union Station, and stands 200 feet tall.



Our hotel was right by Union Station, the massive old train station that sits on the edge of downtown St. Louis. The station was built in 1894, and was the largest and busiest train station in the world when it opened.



Ridership at the station peaked in the 1940s, when it saw over 100,000 passengers per day. But by the 1970s, rail travel had declined significantly. The last Amtrak train left the station in 1978, and the once-grand station fell into disrepair. A few scenes for Escape From New York were filmed inside the empty station, like this scene filmed in the Great Hall:



A few years later, the station underwent a massive renovation and was converted into a fancy hotel and an indoor mall.



In the decades since, the attractions at Union Station have changed and evolved. The Hooters and Hard Rock Café are gone, replaced with an aquarium, ropes course and the Ferris wheel.



And here you can see the lights on the wheel, reflected in the windows of a hotel across the street.



From there I headed closer to the river, and ended up at the top of a parking deck that provided a pretty nice view of the Old Court House and the Gateway Arch.



I had to pay $4 to drive around the parking deck and get these shots...



From the Old Courthouse I headed a few blocks over to the Old Cathedral (formally called the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France). And the Old Cathedral is indeed old, dating back to 1834.



And then I headed back over to the Arch for a few pictures (and this time I remembered to bring the camera battery).



It was a cold night, and the park grounds were quiet and devoid of other tourists and people. Except for a park ranger who drove by, I was the only person out there.









It was starting to get late and I needed to get back to the hotel, but I stopped by one of the ponds in the park for one last shot of the Arch. There wasn't much wind, and the Arch was perfectly reflected in the still waters.

Chain Of Rocks Bridge

For Spring Break this year we headed up to Missouri and did a little visit to Saint Louis. It's a great city to visit, especially for kids. Our boys got to run around the Science Museum and feed the goats at Grant's Farm. Our five year-old Elliott, who is still obsessed with cars, was amazed by all the antique vehicles at the National Transportation Museum. And I even found some time to take pictures, including a trip to the historic Chain Of Rocks Bridge.



The bridge over the Mississippi River was built in 1929, and it cost a grand total of five cents to cross when it opened. By 1936, it became the river crossing used by Route 66 as it made its way through St. Louis. The Route 66 history is commemorated on the bridge by a vintage motel sign, originally belonging to the 66 Auto Court in St. Louis. The motel was advertised as "St. Louis’s Finest Modern Auto Court." The motel closed in 1978 and no longer stands, the only lasting memory being this sign that still greets travelers retracing the path of the Mother Road.



The bridge is 5,323 feet long, and has a rather distinctive 30 degree bend in the middle. The sharp bend was added to make it easier for boats to navigate the river around the bridge supports, two water intake towers, and a series of shoals and rapids called the Chain of Rocks. From the bridge you get a good view of the rapids, and the two water towers. The first tower here was built in 1894, and was used to divert water from the river to a filtration plant. In the background, about 20 miles away, you can see the skyline of downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch.



As the city grew, along with the demand for more fresh drinking water, a second intake tower was built in 1915. It was large enough that it also contained living quarters for workers who maintained the towers and the pipes.



The Chain Of Rocks Bride closed in 1968, after a new bridge was built just upriver. And for awhile, the bridge sat abandoned. It was nearly torn down a few times, at one point the army wanted to demolish it for practice. The bridge did get used one time as a filming location for the classic movie Escape From New York:



In 1998 the bridge reopened as a pedestrian and bicycle crossing, and is now part of a massive trail system that runs for 300 miles along both sides of the river. It was peaceful and quiet on my visit (no cars with chandeliers or disco balls crashed through), with a nice breeze over the river and several groups of people either walking or biking across.

Falling Spring Mill

Our next stop was Falling Spring Mill, which sits within the Mark Twain National Forest. As we drove down the bumpy dirt road to the mill, we were shocked at all of the downed trees along the way. What happened?

It was a tornado. A few months ago a tornado tore through the forest. It took out the trees and then passed right through the little day-use area at the mill. A century-old cabin was almost entirely destroyed, it's roof torn off and laying in a twisted heap among the downed trees that have not yet been cleaned up. Luckily the Falling Spring Mill managed to mostly survive the tornado, it only lost its roof but the building is still intact.



I set my camera bag down on a picnic table to change out lenses, and then went to get a few pictures. About 500,000 gallons of water pour out of the spring every day, which empties out of a hole in the side of the bluff and makes a nice little waterfall.



Next to it is the mill, which was built in 1927.







We weren't alone while we were there, we were joined by a swarm of gnats and mosquitoes. Every time I stopped to get pictures, I would be beset by bugs. It must have looked like the dust cloud that follows around Charlie Brown's friend Pigpen (except it was annoying little bugs instead of dirt).



So I tossed the tripod and the camera in the back of the car, and then we headed out to our next destination - Alley Mill. The mill and its spring are very scenic and photogenic, and are located about a 40 minute drive away.

Careful readers of this blog might have noticed that I mentioned at the beginning that I set my camera bag down on a picnic table. So we arrived at Alley Mill, and I went to get the bag out of the back of the car and I was hit with a painful and sudden realization. It wasn't there. I left it behind at Falling Spring Mill.

Panic set in. That bag has lots of camera equipment in it. And it was just sitting out, ready for someone to just happen along and take it. Since we were already at Alley Mill, we took a quick look around. I was distracted and not really thinking straight, worried about the missing bag. I tried to take a few pictures but my heart wasn't in it, I was eager to get back to the car and go and retrieve the bag. But Alley Mill is a beautiful spot, the mill was built in 1894. It sits by a picturesque spring that discharges about 81 million gallons of water per day.



For better pictures of the Alley Mill and Spring, please take a look HERE and HERE.

We turned around and drove all the way back to Falling Spring Mill, back down the bumpy dirt road. We pulled into the parking area and, thank goodness, saw the camera bag still sitting there innocently on the picnic table. Luckily no one else must have driven down to the mill in the two hours we were gone (or the gnats didn't carry it away), since everything was all accounted for inside.



It was a chaotic end to our road trip. After that we drove to my Aunt's house, and then the next day Jonah and I drove back home (after making sure that the camera bag was packed and with us on the way back).

Big Spring

There are springs located all across the Ozark Mountains, and it is quite easy to find which one is the largest. That would be the one called Big Spring, and as the name suggests it is quite large. It's not only the largest spring in the Ozarks, or in Missouri. It's one of the largest springs in the world.

About 293 million gallons of water pour out of Big Spring every day (for a comparison, only about one million gallons of water pours out of the 47 springs at Hot Springs National Park every day). The springs erupt from the base of a limestone bluff and instantly create a river.



The spring water has a bluish tint to it, thanks to particles of dissolved limestone and dolomite.



The spring is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, which protects parts of the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers. It is a really neat park to visit, especially in the Fall.

Springfield, Missouri

A few weeks ago I took Jonah up to Missouri so we could visit Silver Dollar City so we could celebrate a successful end of the first grade. I have an Aunt who lives in Springfield, so we stayed with her over the weekend, and got to see some sights. Springfield is home to the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium, which is right by the Bass Pro Shops Headquarters. We went through the aquarium, which contains 1.5 million gallons of water and has over 35,000 fish, birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians on display. It is really neat, but expensive. The ticket price cost an arm and a leg (and a fin?).

I tried taking pictures with the camera but most of them didn't turn out. I managed to get this shot of guy, not sure if it's a croc or a gator.



And then there was the jellyfish room...



Springfield is also known as the birthplace of Route 66. Way back in the 1920s, the course of Route 66 was mapped out at a hotel in Springfield. The Mother Road passed through Springfield, and you can still find lots of old buildings that travelers would have driven by back in the olden days. One of those places is the old Shamrock Court Motel, which was built in 1927. Sadly it's closed and empty now (but up for sale).







Down the road is a park that has a reproduction of a sign for Red's Giant Hamburg, a restaurant on Route 66 that has operated for decades. The restaurant was a staple on Route 66, but closed in 1984. But a few years ago, it was reopened and features the same recipes as the original. We ate there and it was pretty tasty! Apparently it was called Giant Hamburg because there wasn't enough room on the sign to fit all of "hamburger."



And one last shot from Springfield - we stopped to get gas at this station, which was right by some old silos. They had some neat vines growing on them so I ran out with the infrared camera for a quick picture....

St. Louis

Despite all the pictures in the last post here, we did see more of St. Louis besides the Arch. But I didn't bring a camera into most of the other places we visited (like Busch Stadium or the Zoo). One afternoon we drove away from downtown and visited Crown Candy Kitchen, a cute little restaurant we saw featured on a TV show. The food was good (Jonah was excited about the ice cream and candy), although none of us were brave enough to order the sandwich with 14 pieces of bacon on it.

On the way up there, we passed by a good number of interesting old buildings. Of course I didn't have a camera with me - they were resting back at the hotel. Now I do realize it takes a certain level of person to fall in love with and to be married to a photographer. Someone with infinite levels of patience and grace, who will let an absent-minded person drift off into thoughts of driving around looking for photogenic old buildings. Luckily I married one of those saintly people. And after lunch, Caroline said she would look after Jonah for a bit if I wanted to go and take a few pictures. So I took her up on the offer and hurried to get a few pictures while they visited the City Museum.

So with cameras in hand, I backtracked by some of the neat old buildings that we drove by earlier.















Of course I wasn't the only one out there with a camera....



This graffiti was on a nearby building, which just made me think of the poor sister in Parasite.



St. Louis has a deep history. The area that is now St. Louis was the home of the Native American Mississippian culture, who built massive mounds on both sides of the Mississippi River. The city of St. Louis was founded in 1763, and it would soon grow in prominence as the U.S. began moving into the western frontier. In 1904, St. Louis hosted both the World's Fair and the Olympics, and was the first city outside of Europe to host the games. The population of St. Louis peaked in 1950 at 856,000. But it has been steadily decreasing since then, with a current population sitting around 300,000 people.

The reasons for that population loss are many, and have been written about by people much more knowledgable about it than I am. But the evidence of that population loss is evident by the number of abandoned homes, many of which were built prior to World War II.







These neighborhoods are not empty, and I felt incredibly self-concious driving around taking pictures. I was some guy from out-of-state, running around taking pictures of the buildings that had been left behind in this area of the city. I didn't want to seem exploitative, since I do love finding and taking pictures of old buildings. But I really don't think anyone saw me or really cared that I was there, but I hated that someone might have thought I was there with bad intentions.



And another shot of the same building, but this one was with the infrared camera:



Nearby was this old Catholic church, which was built in 1889. Although the church has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it closed in the 1990s. The building has since been turned into a private skateboard park, with ramps and slopes installed where the congregation and altar once stood.



I stopped at a few other places nearby, like this old industrial-looking building:



And also this partially-burned old brick home.



Further down the road was this old block of homes. It would be amazing to know the history of this building, and the people who once lived here.





Nearby was another set of old homes, these completely covered with vines.



From there I headed back towards downtown and stopped at Union Station. The iconic station was built in 1904, and it became one of the largest and busiest train stations in the world.



Across the street from the station is the fountain called "The Meeting of the Waters." The fountain is meant to celebrate the meetings of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. The male figure represents the Mississippi River, while the female figure represents the Missouri. They are joined by 17 water spirits, which are symbolic of the 17 smaller streams that empty into the two rivers. The fountain sits in Aloe Plaza, and was installed in 1939. Since the two main statues are nude, I'm guessing it's named Aloe Plaza since that's what the naked statues would need to use after getting sunburned from having so much exposed skin.



There are a bunch of family-friendly attractions around Union Station, and we returned later that day with Jonah to go up in the Ferris wheel. The wheel stands 200 feet tall and provides some great views of Union Station and downtown St. Louis.