Face it, building demolition in the City of St. Louis is a fact of life. Much of the city is in “preservation review” where we know city staff will review applications for demolition permits, denials are heard in public before the Preservation Board. But because we value fiefdoms, some wards are excluded from this review process. With so many vacant buildings, how is the average citizen to know when an owner wants to raze their building just down the street?
The St. Louis Demolition Docket is a private news service that reports the demolitions of buildings granted by the City of St. Louis. The Preservation Research Office publishes and compiles the report from public records maintained by the Building Division of the City of St. Louis.
The most recent post, from June 17, 2015. Click to view post.
Big thanks to Michael Allen and everyone involved for putting this together. This new site can be followed on RSS, Twitter, & Facebook. I’ve added it to the links in the sidebar — under both blogroll & research sources.
Twenty minutes past 3pm a decade ago today, a hot Friday afternoon, a massive series of explosions began at the Praxair facility on Chouteau, on the edge of the Lafayette Square neighborhood.
The burnt-out building in 2010
From the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board:
CSB investigators noted the accident occurred on a hot summer day with a high temperature of 97 degrees F in St. Louis. At Praxair, cylinders were stored in the open on asphalt, which radiated heat from the direct sunlight, raising the temperatures and pressure of the gas inside the cylinders. At approximately 3:20 p.m., a propylene cylinder pressure relief valve began venting. CSB investigators believe static electricity, created by escaping vapor and liquid, most likely ignited the leaking propylene.
Praxair security camera video shows the initial fire spreading quickly to other cylinders. Exploding cylinders – mostly acetylene – flew up to 800 feet away, damaged property, and started fires in the community. The fire could not be extinguished until most of the flammable gas cylinders were expended. An estimated 8,000 cylinders were destroyed in the fire, which took five hours to control.
The investigation determined that the pressure relief set points, specified in industry standards, are too low for propylene and may allow the gas to begin venting during hot weather – well below the pressures that could damage the cylinders. Not only are the specified set points too low for propylene, the CSB found some valves begin releasing gas even before the pressure reaches the set point. Each time a pressure relief valve opens, its performance deteriorates – making it more likely to vent gas at too low a pressure in the future. (One Year after Gas Cylinder Fire and Explosions at Praxair St. Louis, CSB Issues Safety Bulletin Focusing on Pressure-Relief Valve Standards and Good Safety Practices)
Their video explains it all very well:
Today, a decade later, the site remains vacant.
The former Mackay Place with the Praxair site on the right
There has been proposals, but nothing has advanced to construction. Maybe a gas station will want to locate here to compete with the QuikTrip coming soon at Jefferson.
At the end of this month the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on two questions of marriage equality with respect to LGBT people. Forty-eight years ago they ruled on the divisive marriage question of the day: marriage between whites & non-whites, mostly blacks:
Few cases were more aptly named than Loving v. Virginia, which pitted an interracial couple – 17-year-old Mildred Jeter, who was black, and her childhood sweetheart, 23-year-old white construction worker, Richard Loving – against Virginia’s “miscegenation” laws banning marriage between blacks and whites. After marrying in Washington, D.C. and returning to their home state in 1958, the couple was charged with unlawful cohabitation and jailed. According to the judge in the case, Leon M. Bazile, “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents…. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” Judge Bazile sentenced the Lovings to a year in prison, to be suspended if the couple agreed to leave the state for the next 25 years.
The Lovings left Virginia and went to live with relatives in Washington, D.C. When they returned to visit family five years later, they were arrested for traveling together. Inspired by the civil rights movement, Mildred Loving wrote to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy for help. The couple was referred to the ACLU, which represented them in the landmark Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia (1967). The Court ruled that state bans on interracial marriage were unconstitutional. (Loving v. Virginia: The Case Over Interracial Marriage)
The court ruling is celebrated annually:
Loving Day is an annual celebration held on June 12, the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in sixteen U.S. states citing “There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause.” In the United States, anti-miscegenation laws were U.S. state laws banning interracial marriage, mainly forbidding marriage between non-whites and whites. Loving Day is not yet an official recognized holiday by the U.S. government, but there is a movement to persuade U.S. President Barack Obama to make it so. Loving Day is the biggest multiracial celebration in the United States. (Wikipedia)
If not for Loving v. Virgina, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas couldn’t live in or visit 17 states with his 2nd wife, but I expect him to vote again marriage equality later this month…he got his!
May 28, 2015Downtown, History/PreservationComments Off on St. Louis’ Gateway Arch Added To National Register of Historic Places 28 Years Ago Today
Twenty-eight years ago today St. Louis’ Gateway Arch was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Gateway Arch, click image to view National Register nomination
Five months from today, October 28th, is the 50th anniversary of the final piece being set into place. Click here for all National Register listings in the City of St. Louis, note that razed buildings, like the Century Building, are still listed on this page:
Finally, nominations for some properties and districts are provided for their historical value — the resource itself may have vanished.
History was made last month — for the first time in the history of St. Louis every alderman is a Democrat. Yes, we all know the City of St. Louis is a Democrat city — to get elected you need to be a Democrat — at least a DINO. But up until last month at least one member wasn’t a Democrat.
In 1949 Democrats took majority control of the Board of Aldermen but Republicans continued to have multiple members, dropping to one in 1977 but up again to two in 1979 when Fred Heitert was sworn in. The number was back to one after Jim Shrewsbury defeated the GOP incumbent in the 16th Ward. Republican Fred Heitert was an alderman from April 17, 1979 t0 April 19, 2011 — when his successor Larry Arnowitz, a Democrat, was sworn in. But that same day in 2011 an Independent, Scott Ogilvie, was sworn in representing the 24th Ward. Last month Ogilvie was sworn in to a 2nd term — this time as a Democrat.
So last month, on April 21, 2015, became the first time in St. Louis’ history that every Alderman was a Democrat. UPDATE 5/19 7:45am: Current seniority list.
How long will this last? If this is broken will it be by a Republican, an Independent, or a Green?
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