Brick Thieves Strike Again on Montgomery Street

The 2900 block of Montgomery Street has changed a lot in the last two years, and I covered the changes back in June (A Block of Montgomery Street Two Years Later.

Brick thieves have laid claim to the small house at 2946 Montgomery, shown in this 2007 photograph just to the right of the former North Galilee Missionary Baptist Church.

Here is a view of what the west wall looked like yesterday. While the other houses and church remain sound, the architectural context will be more diminished. The other side of the street is now down to two buildings, one of which has been fatally damaged by brick thieves.

On August 16, 2007, this block was the scene for a press conference against the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act and bus tour of McEagle-owned property organized by State Representatives Jamilah Nasheed (D-60th) and Jeanette Mott-Oxford (D-59th) and Alderwomen April Ford-Griffin (D-5th) and Marlene Davis (D-19th). McEagle had already bought out most of the buildings on that block, making it a perfect example of a block that had actually become vacant and dangerous because of the developer's acquisitions. (Coverage from the time: Urban Review and Urban Review STL Flickr.)

Times have changed, and some of the buildings are gone and two are on the way out. Also, the opinions of the elected officials involved with that event have changed significantly.