st. louis - before the arch

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Dylan Leblanc

Found an aerial photo of downtown before the arch - http://www.builtstlouis.net/opos/ima...alpostcard.jpg

From BuiltStLouis.net - http://www.builtstlouis.net/opos/index2.html

I have a similar postcard showing a tight interaction between 19th century row neighborhoods, only on the opposite side of downtown, and a 20th century downtown, similar to the southside of downtown Philly.

[jerdenart]

Originally Posted by IWant2BeInSTL

jerdenart, that was the McLean Building at 4th and Market. i agree - it's probably one of my all-time favorite saint louis structures. if i could pick one building to recreate out of all that saint louis has lost, this would be the building. here's another photo from the missouri history museum archives:

McLean Building

apparently james henry mclean, the guy who built it, made his money off of magic elixers!

a couple of interesting historical links i found by googling:

http://www.americanheritage.com/arti...63_4_109.shtml

http://www.rdhinstl.com/mm/rs170.htm

That is fantastic. Thank you. If anyone else has more pictures of this building let me know!

[photoLith]

If the pieces of shit that destroyed this huge area instead got hit by a train than this neighborhood could have rivaled the French Quarter in New Orleans for tourism I bet. I really wish I had a time machine, Id go back in during the 1930's-80s and send Robert Moses and all his ilk to the bottom of the ocean with some cement boots.

[goat314]

One of the biggest mistakes St. Louis made was not building a elevated railway or subway system the way Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York did. It was definitely a city cut from a similar cloth and a lot of the original urban fabric probably would have been retained. Unfortunately, St. Louis opted for the redundant highway and wholesale urban clearance route.

[MolsonExport]

such wanton destruction. such a shame.