Researching 2817 Cherokee Street
Recently while driving down Cherokee Street I noticed something I had never noticed before.
I’m usually so distracted by the beautiful glazed terra-cotta on the building on the right above, 2817 Cherokee. But the void between the buildings is what caught my eye. The short stone wall with the break and steps. Was there a narrow building between these that was torn down, I wondered? The answer is yes and no. The building we see today was constructed in 1936. The date on the building on the left is unknown except it is newer.
From the alley on the side of 2817 Cherokee to the corner at Oregon Ave contained five one-story brick homes (pink) with wood back porches & sheds (yellow) at the 9ft alley in 1909. What was platted as five parcels of approximate equal width in 1909 is now three parcels of different widths (27.5ft, 25ft , & 75ft). The above 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance map is from the University of Missouri Digital Library.
Neighborhoods and streets are not static. As the streetcar line on Cherokee Street brought more and more people to the street homes gave way to commercial development.
– Steve Patterson
And . . . . all change is good?!
I agree, neighborhoods change. But is this currently-vacant lot a good thing, a bad thing or just a curiosity? Was replacing simple residential structures with commercial structures back then a good thing because there was a streetcar in the street, while replacing similar residential structures with autocentric contemporary retail structures today is now a bad thing?
I guess I'm just not quite sure what point you're trying to make today . . .
The vacant land is part of the same parcel as the deco storefront building on the right. so it is not a vacant lot. No real point other than a curiosity really. But yes auto-focused retail today is a very bad thing. It is bad in suburbia and even worse when it replaces a pedestrian-focused commercial area.