More Demolition in Downtown Granite City

Last year, the building at 1310 Niedringhaus Avenue in downtown Granite City burned. The neighbor at 1308 Niedringhaus (at right above) suffered some damage, but nothing that compromised its structural integrity.

Here's a look at those two buildings three years ago, seen at right below:
One can see that these buildings were part of an uninterrupted row of downtown buildings with storefront retail activity. Such blocks are few and far between in Granite City these days. Now there is one less, because the government of Granite City successfully pushed to have both the buildings at 1308 and 1310 Niedringhaus Avenue demolished. Today, the site is a gaping hole in the street wall.

Like many municipalities in the St. Louis area, Granite City lacks a local preservation ordinance that would establish a citizen review commission for demolitions -- and the ability to seek federal grants for preservation planning. Such an ordinance would enable Granite City to become a Certified Local Government under federal rules, a status enjoyed by Belleville, Collinsville, Alton and Edwardsville. (Read more about Illinois' Certified Local Government program here.) If Granite City had a preservation ordinance, the city might have a shot at stopping the steady spate of demolitions that have been eroding the downtown area in the past decade.

Relic of Early Anheuser-Busch Empire in Granite City

Under the 20th Street viaduct bridge in Granite City, Illinois stands a reminder of previous changes within the Anheuser-Busch empire. On Adams Street is a transfer terminal for the brewer built in the 1911 before the onset of prohibition. The brewer sent train loads of beer to Granite City by rail across the Merchant's Bridge, and the trains delivered the beer to this building. From here, teams of Clydesdales and later trucks carried smaller deliveries to local restaurants, taverns and lodge halls.

Anheuser-Busch closed the transfer terminal after World War II, when it became more feasible to simply truck the beer from St. Louis over roads. The transfer terminal remains, and is still in use as a transfer facility. Nowadays, truckloads are switched out here. At each of the four gable ends is a terra cotta medallion bearing a relief of the Anheuser-Busch eagle. The adjacent rail line does not have a spur to the old Anheuser-Busch transfer terminal. The terminal's use passed with time, then the railroad spur and finally the brewer itself.

Exuberant First Assembly of God Church

Located at 2334 Grand Avenue in Granite City, Illinois, is the former First Assembly of God Church. While the congregation, which has roots dating back to 1909, has moved to a larger building on Madison Avenue, it still maintains the exuberant mid-century church building.

Basically, this church is the average center-aisle front-gabled church form that has persisted in America since the colonial period. Yet it is adapted to the formalism of its era. The gable is not symmetrical. The entrance is not centered on the gable end but placed to one side on a glass addition.

Most prominent, though, is the use of colored glass. This church comes from a period in the late 1950s through the mid-1960s when modernist architects were abuzz with large, loud color experiments. In 1961, Plaza Square Apartments opened in downtown St. Louis; architects Hellmuth Obata Kassebaum and Harris Armstrong gave each of the six multi-story apartment buildings vertical metal stripes in different vivid, bright colors. Googie designs in restaurants and bus depots abounded. Homes has bright garage doors in green, red, blue and yellow. Young John F. Kennedy was president, the Russian threat seemed diminished and all was well. Why not play with churches, homes, schools and office buildings?

The architect of this church sure did play. We have a beautiful asymmetrical tapestry of aluminum-framed colored panes on the front elevation and striped of color on the sides. Obviously, the colored panes also provided an economical alternative to stained glass, but in way no less stylish.

The church remains a festive point on a tidy, quiet street of well-kept houses. A steel city, Granite City welcomed modernism with open arms, as evidenced by the iconic Granite City Steel Building downtown. This church is one of the best-kept examples of the mid-century modern period in Granite City.

Demolition Threats All Over Town

Vanishing STL alerts us to the possibility that the Washington University Medical Center may demolish the Shriners' Hospital and Central Institute for the Deaf buildings.

Meanwhile, Curious Feet notes two impending demolitions: a large storefront building at Page and Kingshighway in St. Louis and an old bank building in downtown Granite City.

Driving to Granite City

Driving to Granite City today I passed a familiar landmark: the abandoned Fantasyland strip club, a massive metal-clad hulk whose only noteworthy architectural feature is the neon sign on its front. Since the last time I passed by, there had been a fire, with the south end of the building sporting gaping holes ringed by black-stained siding. The fire was not completely shocking, given how easy access was to the shoddy and highly-flammable interior.

Four years ago, out of curiosity, I ventured inside with a friend. This has been my only trip inside of a strip club, and I have to say I was pretty downhearted after seeing the water-damaged carpeting, peeling paneling and other dingy trappings inside. The thought of the place in full operation -- lights down, stage lights on, dancers on the stage -- was more upsetting than anything. What fantasy could be limited to the dull confines and hasty construction of this strip club?

Further north on Route 3, at the intersection of 4th and Broadway in Venice, the corner storefront I've watched for years was halfway down. Men were palletizing bricks. The storefront, with excellent vernacular Romanesque brick detailing, has long been a landmark in this town.



Meanwhile, up in Granite City, condemnation notices adorned several downtown buildings, including the ramshackle but one-proud row of flats on Niedringhaus Avenue. With myriad careless window alterations, problematic masonry repairs and general disrepair, this row has suffered much over the years. But the original beauty is still apparent, and in a state with a historic rehabilitation tax credit a building like this in a downtown like this one would be facing better prospects.



Perhaps the condemnation notices are part of Mayor Ed Hanganuaer's continued mishandling of the historic buildings of downtown Granite City. In 2006, under the mayor's watch, 15 buildings in the downtown area were demolished at a cost of $90,000, including many structurally sound historic buildings. For that cost, the city extinguished the much greater economic impact of historic rehabilitation.

The next time I make the trip up Route 3 to Granite City, I will face a road missing a few of the markers myself and others use to know where we are -- to know what places we are passing through. Obviously, I am not sad to see Fantasyland fall; that building was nondescript and place-defying. Other buildings and structures along Route 3 are not. These are markers that beckon us to stop and learn, and that might entice some of us to invest time and money.

Granite City Wants to Lure Artists

Granite City considers artist relocation program - Michael Heil (Granite City Press-Record, May 23)

What Granite City officials need to note is that historic preservation is often a good part of attractive artists to an area. The idea of affordable buildings requires a stock of buildings with no outstanding financing to retire or transfer. Those buildings are usually historic. Unfortunately, Granite City has not pursued the most rational historic preservation plan for its downtown area; last year, the city went so far as to tear down 54 buildings, including many potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Perhaps the artist relocation idea will turn around the city government's inability to protect historic buildings.

Granite City Loses a Fine Building

Bad news from the metro east: The R.S. Holstein Company Dry Goods Building is downtown Granite City has fallen to the wrecking ball. Here we see the illogical results of reactionary planning. The building was in fine physical condition and was one of the most likely candidates for adaptive reuse downtown. However, the particular circumstances of its ownership and its being placed on a condemnation list foreclosed any chance of its future being considered as part of a broader strategy for historic preservation in the downtown area of Granite City (which still retains an impressive architectural stock). Granite City is working on a preservation plan, but to date has not enacted any effective ordinances that would render any preservation plan meaningful.

Then again, until Illinois passes legislation creating a Missouri-style historic rehabilitation tax credit, adaptive reuse of such buildings is highly unlikely.

Granite City May Get Tough on Bad Landlords and Tenants

Granite City considers four-strike plan for unruly tenants - Michael Heil (Granite City Press Record, December 19)

Read about a proposed new law Granite City is considering. This would be a good idea in St. Louis, too. The worst problem in urban areas often isn't the bad tenants, who tend to only stick around a few months, but the bad owners who gladly replace a bad bunch with another.

Only when some people start losing money due to their behavior do they change their ways.

Lofts on the East Side

Lofts outside the big city: 'The best of both worlds' - Shane Graber (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 30)

Good news for Alton, Granite City and Belleville: downtown urban living is arriving.

The Remains of the National Enamelling and Stamping Company Plant

This engraving of the National Enameling and Stamping Company plant appeared in the company's 1903 catalog.

In 1895, the St. Louis Stamping Company opened its new 550,000 square-foot plant in Granite City. The facility was designed by architect Frederick Bonsack. In 1899, the company's name changed to the National Enameling and Stamping Company (NESCO). Production continued at the plant until 1956, and subsequently the buildings were used for storage.

On October 27, 2003, the plant mostly burned to the ground in a spectacular blaze. Among the items stored inside were thousands of tires and propane fuel. The buildings had creosote-treated wood block floors that were gentle on workers' feet but highly combustible.

A detailed version of the story of the founding of Granite City and NESCO can be found here. Here are two views of the remains of the NESCO plant. The five-story building is the end part of the western wing of the building, seen at the right of the engraving above.

Granite City Demolished Restored Residential Building

Photograph taken on April 2, 2006 (Michael R. Allen).

In March 2006, the City Council in Granite City approved spending $90,000 to demolish 15 buildings as part of an effort to revive the ailing downtown area. Seven of these buildings had architectural merit and were structurally sound. While the other eight were marginally interesting and in various states of decay, these seven were all from the period of 1890-1920 and worth preserving in a city where historic architecture is one of the biggest cultural assets.

One of the losses of this demolition campaign was the tenement flats building at 2137 Edison Avenue. This four-flat building is reminiscent of the vernacular architecture of north St. Louis and was built around 1896 during the early wave of Granite City building. At this phase, many buildings here were designed by St. Louis architects who had previously done business with the Niedringhauses, founders of the new city. Most of the single-family homes and commercial buildings built around the start of the city were privately built on lots purchased from the Niedringhaus family real estate company, but the family developed some rental property to provide housing that could be available quickly. There is some possibility that the plans for this building came from the office of Frederick C. Bonsack, who worked for the family.

The flats were remarkably intact, down to the entry doors and casement still bearing the original varnish and hardware. All of the original wooden windows were present. If this building were in a historic district in St. Louis, it would be a sought-after candidate for tax-credit rehabilitation. The fact that it got demolished speaks to many of the inequities of preservation around St. Louis: the undeserved stigma of the east side's industrial towns, lack of an Illinois state historic tax credit, and general lack of awareness of east side vernacular architecture on the part of St. Louis-based historians.

The flats and the once-identical next-door neighbor. (Michael R. Allen)

The flats were demolished in May 2006. A twin stands to the north at 2141 Edison Avenue; however, that building is painted and has lost many of its original features including its central parapet.

Additional Photographs from April 2 and May 29, 2006 (Claire Nowak-Boyd & Michael R. Allen)

Granite City to Demolish Holstein Dry Goods Building

In March 2006, the City Council in Granite City approved spending $90,000 to demolish 15 buildings as part of an effort to revive the ailing downtown area. Seven of these buildings had architectural merit and were structurally sound. While the other eight were marginally interesting and in various states of decay, these seven were all from the period of 1890-1920 and worth preserving in a city where historic architecture is one of the biggest cultural assets.

One of these buildings is the two-story commercial building at 1308 19th Street in the heart of downtown that once housed the R.S. Holstein Dry Goods Company. This building draws upon the Georgian Revival style and possesses intricate detailing in white glazed terra cotta. While the interior needs gutting, the building retains historic and structural integrity and is a fine candidate for reuse. Perhaps Granite City government agrees, because as of September 2006 the building remains standing while the other 14 slated for demolition are gone. Economic Development Director Jon Ferry has commissioned a preservation study for downtown. Preservation of buildings like this one are essential components of such a plan, given the high level of demolition that has eroded the architectural context there. The city shouldn't overreact -- this building is neither a crack house nor is it falling onto the street. Ferry seems to understand the cultural and economic value of such buildings, so reuse may be forthcoming.

Of special note are the painted signs on the building's west wall.

One from None - nice caption, & nice photo.

While snooping around for some info on a Granite City ghost sign, I inadvertently came across a nice, tiny little blog post from Shreveport, LA.

This explains, very simply, a lot of the reasons why I am fascinated by vacancy, and why I think it's an interesting time to live on the North Side, and what I'm thinking about when I'm walking down the 14th Street Mall.

The Founding of Granite City: Industry and Apsiration

Based on notes for a bus tour that I gave during the 35th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial Archeology, June 2, 2006.

German immigrants Frederick G. and William F. Niedringhaus played a major role in St. Louis history by organizing the industrial city of Granite City, and a major role in American industry by pioneering the process of creating durable, affordable stamped and enamelled metal-ware. They came from Westphalia to St. Louis around 1858 after having trained under their father, a tinner and glazier. With $1,000 and three helpers, the brothers incorporated Niedringhaus & Brother in downtown St. Louis. Their first products were hand-made kitchen utensils, but early on they experimented with mechanized production. By 1862, the brothers began using machines to stamp utensils from single sheets of metal -- a technique on which they would build their fortunes. By 1865, they were making deep-stamped wares and were likely one of only two such makers in the country. The brothers began working with sheet iron imported from Wales.

The Niedringhaus brothers founded the more focused St. Louis Stamping Company in 1866, and enjoyed immediate success. Their seamless stamped tinware met the public demand for durable, affordable kitchenware. The first year's sales were $7,000 -- an amount that they would increase one-hundred-fold within eleven years. Production increased to levels that led them to purchase land north of downtown near the Mississippi River in 1870. They built a four-story brick manufacturing, warehouse and office building between 1871 and 1873. This building, still extant, was likely designed by architect August Beinke and faced Collins Street between Cass Avenue to the south and Collins Street to the north. By 1876 adjacent to the first building, the brothers built seven additional smaller buildings including a blacksmith shop, annealing building, galvanizing shop and boilerhouse. (Part of one of these buildings remains.) North of this block, the Niedringhaus brothers constructed a rolling mill in the style of the English tin-plate mills of the era. This railroad- and river-served mill could produce twenty tons of sheet metal daily and employed about 700 workers.

During this decade, the brothers developed and patented their famous granite ironware. Their attempts started in spring 1873 with manufacturing of enameled kitchenware like that William had seen on a trip to Europe. (He paid the maker $5,000 so that he could observe the process for weeks.) Three groups were working on developing such kitchen ware at the time: the Niedringhaus brothers; Lalance & Grosjean in Woodhaven, Long Island, New York; and Jean Vollrath in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

The brothers saw limitations to enameled kitchenware, and sought to improve its performance in American cooking, which utilized gas stoves made of iron. They came up with a process in which a sheet-iron body was coated in highly vitrified glass. The coating was virtually insoluble, blocking cooking oils and food acid that caused oxidation in iron. The glass coat was infused with iron oxide in artistic patterns, strengthening the glaze and giving the product an attractive speckled appearance like granite. The process for production was developed by April 1874, when the first piece was made. With the new process, granite ironware was lightweight, cheap and almost indestructible. The St. Louis Stamping Company began selling the wares worldwide. Locally, the company remained the only producer and seller of stamped japan, tin and iron wares. Total sales were over $400,000 in 1875.

Frederick Niedringhaus secured a patent on the granite ironware process on May 30, 1876. The St. Louis Stamping Company plant was updated with new plating machinery and a new building to handle demand for the newly-patended product. The new five-story building was completed in March 1877, bringing the plant size to two full city blocks. Between 1866 and 1877, annual sales for the company expanded from $7,000 to $700,000. The plant processed 550 tons of iron and 400 tons of tin each year, with employment at 450 men. This growth boom continued into the 1880s, with the product output reported in the Year Book of the Commercial, Banking and Manufacturing Interests of St. Louis at 5,000 tons by 1882-3. George W. Niedringhaus, son of William F., became treasurer of the company in 1884. George W. would become a major player in the development of the company in the next twenty years, and would later serve as president. As the founding brothers aged, George ensured that an active family member would remain involved in planning the long-term future of the stamping company. The company's national stature grew in the 1880s, and by 1888 there were St. Louis Stamping Company branch offices in Chicago and New York.

In 1888, Frederick G. Niedringhaus successfully sought election to the U.S. Congress as a Republican from the Eighth Congressional District of Missouri and served one term from March 1889 until March 1891. Niedringhaus had basically run for the office to secure steep tariffs against foreign tin plate, to secure the dominance of American companies like his own. Niedringhaus aided passage of the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890, which raised the duty on tin plate from $22.40 to $49.28 per ton. Two months after passage of the act, the Granite Iron Rolling Mills began to produce tin plate. By 1890, employment at the stamping plant rose to 900 workers. Upon his return to St. Louis, Frederick joined his brother in seeking a new site for the company's operations. The first plan was to expand near the stamping plant, but with the Rolling Mills' use of the Bessemer process for steel production, which used a lot of smoke-producing coal, a city location was politically impossible to secure.

Like many industrialists of the Gilded Age, the Niedringhaus family set their sights on open land outside of the city proper, hoping to find land not only for building a new plant but also to create a town that would house its workers and memorialize their entrepreneurship. This search inevitably took them east across the Mississippi; most available undeveloped land in Missouri around St. Louis was far west away from railroad trunk lines, good roads and the river. Many industrial concerns had made the move to the east side of the river, as we will see when we visit the nearby stockyards district later today. The land available was flat and sparsely populated; most was in use as farmland.

William Niedringhaus and his son George, whom many historians consider the driving force behind the land search, set out in August 1891 to survey lands just northeast and across the river from their stamping works in St. Louis. They visited the small town of Kinderhook (also known as Kinder) on the so-called Six-Mile Prairie in Madison County, Illinois.

The Six-Mile Prairie, literally a six-mile long fertile prairie, had been populated by farmers as early as the last decades of the eighteenth century, and sufficient population existed in its vicinity for the area to become Illinois' third official county in 1812. The Six Mile Prairie Township was organized in 1817, and the area received the name of “Venice” during this period. During the 1830s, the National Road segment through the Six Mile Prairie was completed. In 1849, farmers needing access to market banded together to build a plank road from Venice to the city of Edwardsville to the northeast. This road consisted of 12-foot oak logs split and laid face up on top of wooden rails, and original wood was found in excavations into the 1930s.

The improved road access led more farmers to the area, and eventually small towns like Kinderhook appeared on the prairie. Perhaps the biggest economic boon, however, came in 1856 when the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad built tracks south from Alton to East St. Louis across the land that would become Granite City. Without a rail bridge to St. Louis, this railroad terminated at Wiggins Ferry on the East St. Louis waterfront, from which train cars crossed into St. Louis via ferry. This situation changed little when the Eads Bridge was completed, due to railroads' not being able to obtain Missouri licenses needed to cross the river and later due to monopoly control of the bridge.

The Terre Haute and Alton line finally obtained a river crossing when the three-span truss Merchant's Bridge opened in May 1890. By then, Venice Township had incorporated in 1872 and there was enough population on the Prairie to support a schoolhouse.

Still, the area was very rural when the Niedringhaus family began to explore it. When they returned in 1892 to visit, they hired Kinderhook village schoolteacher Mark Henson as their land agent and scout. Henson obtained options on around 3,500 acres of land for the family, and they completed their purchase in 1893. they immediately set out to plan and built their new city, which the brothers infused with progressive ideals envisioned not as the conventional “company town” but a real city where residents might be factory workers but would buy their own lots and raise their own homes as they saw fit. William had studied Pullman, and thought that a more libertarian model would lead to a city that could be successful no matter what the St. Louis Stamping Company's fate.

The family's deliberation over the name favored Granite City, the suggestion of patriarchs Frederick and William honoring the family's product, over the less modest name of Niedringhaus offered by other family members.

By the end of 1893, the city had a plan designed by the city engineer of St. Louis. The design was inspired by that of Washington D.C., where Frederick Niedringhaus has just served in Congress. The brothers asked for an east-west thoroughfare diagonally crossing the city's grid like Pennsylvania Avenue in the District of Columbia. On this street they would bestow family name. They also planted over 14,000 trees along the city's new streets within two years of purchasing the land. Not all was progressive, though: blacks had to leave the town at sunset, and many black workers settled in nearby Lovejoy (now Brooklyn); the city charter forbade taverns; the Niedringhaus brothers made an estimated $4.8 million selling residential lots that had required $568,000 to purchase.

In 1895, the family hired noted St. Louis architect Frederick C. Bonsack to design new plants: one for the St. Louis Stamping Company, and another for a steel rolling mill to supply the stamping works. The new plant for St. Louis Stamping comprised 30 acres and produced graniteware and galvanized ware (among other products) for pots and pans, foot baths and gold miners' pans. Bonsack designed a wonderful four-story office building in the Romanesque style, featuring a wide Richardsonian arched entrance under a small tower. Within seven years, 1,200 people would be employed there. By the end of the year, the family opened the Granite City Steel plant that today is part of US Steel. The plant contained two 22-ton open-hearth furnaces and four mills capable of producing 20,000 gross tons of finished product annually. This facility was needed to supply rolled steel sheets to the stamping company. Originally, the plant only made the sheets but in 1905 diversified its output. By 1908, the plant made 4 tons of bar steel and tin plate daily, employed 2,000 men and covered 15 acres. The St. Louis plant would remain active until 1912, when the family closed it.

The city was incorporated in 1896 with a mayor-council form of government. No Niedringhaus family members would ever serve in city government, although they would have a hand in the finances of everything from banks to gas companies. The first city school, designed by Bonsack, was built in 1896 and named for Ralph Waldo Emerson, who epitomized the American individualistic democratic sentiment that the Niedringhaus brothers wanted their city to embody. Within ten years, population needs and steady increases in city revenue led to three additional schools' being built. With all the big industry located within city limits, the city government never suffered the same way that East St. Louis did. In East St. Louis, most major industrial concerns intentionally located plants outside of but close to the city line, so they affected the city but did not contribute to its upkeep.

In 1899, the Niedringhaus family's growing national reputation enticed them to rename their stamping company the National Enamelling and Stamping Company, or NESCO. NESCO kept its main office in downtown St. Louis, and founding brothers Frederick and William never moved to the city, instead residing in fashionable West End mansions.

In 1900, the city's population had grown to 3,122 people. By the middle of the first decade of the 20th century, about ten years after Granite City was founded, the stamping works covered 1.25 million square feet on 75 acres of land and employed 4,000 persons.

With its hundreds of jobs for skilled and unskilled laborers, the city became a magnet for immigrants. The first wave of immigration came to work at the NESCO plant and steel mills, and largely consisted of Welsh and English immigrants. Many Polish families migrated from St. Louis around 1900, followed by Slovaks, Greeks, Croations and Serbs who largely worked at the Commonwealth and American steel foundries. Later waves of immigration included Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Russians, Lithuanians. Finally, Mexicans arrived during World War I to take the place of conscripted laborers.

Inter-urban rail arrived in 1910 when the Illinois Traction System built a line through the city and south to the McKinley Bridge. This system connected a station in downtown St. Louis with Granite City and central Illinois cities such as Urbana, Peoria and Springfield. Also around this time, Granite City saw a local streetcar company open that operated until July 1958.

In 1924, NESCO had $30 million in assets, covered 75 acres and had a plant floor space of 1.25 million square feet. The company was employing 4,000 people. By 1930, the city's population had risen to some 25,000 people.

NESCO came up with yet another innovation in the 20th century, when it developed the single-coat-enameled NESCO Royal Graniteware. Yet the product's appeal would wane. Granite ironware could barely compete with aluminum cookware, Pyrex, Corning Ware and stainless steel as they were developed and mass marketed from the 1930s onward. NESCO enjoyed some success during World War II, when it produced helmets and “Blitzkrieg” cans for the US government. These cans held fuel or water and floated in water with all but the top quarter inch underwater. These almost-invisible cans made delivery of provisions at sea much easier for the US Navy.

Unfortunately, in 1956, NESCO closed its doors. Granite City managed to maintain its industrial growth for awhile even without the giant, although gradually decline has caught up with the city. Population peaked in 1970 at 40,685 residents; today's population is around 31,000 people.

Sadly, in November 2003 a huge blaze destroyed most of the remaining NESCO buildings. The buildings, some with wooden post-and-beam construction, had been used for warehouse space since 1956. By 2003, over 10,000 tires were stored in the buildings; the tires along with propane tanks allowed the fire to quickly spread out of control. Firefighters spent 14 hours battling the blaze, and the damaged buildings were immediately demolished. One four-story section of a building still stands along with a few smaller buildings.

Bibliography

Granite City, A Pictorial History, 1896-1996. Granite City, Ill.: G. Bradley Publishing, 1995.

Landmarks Association File: St. Louis Stamping Company Buildings.

Missouri Historical Society Library and Collections Center: Various Files.

Theising, Andrew. Made in USA: East St. Louis. St. Louis, Mo.: Virginia Publishing, 2003.

Society for Industrial Archaeology in Town This Weekend

Tonight is the start of the annual conference of the Society for Industrial Archaeology, which meets for the first time in St. Louis. Co-sponsors include Landmarks Association of St. Louis, the Missouri Historical Society and the UMSL History Department. Members are already out and about delving into the fabric of a city that fascinates all of them.

While a ruinous landscape is always of interest to SIA members, their delay in meeting in St. Louis gives them a chance to see some great examples of adaptive re-use of industrial sites. Although a small group, SIA members' scholarship is at the forefront of interpreting the history of American industrial cities. Perhaps the visit will inspire them to write a little more fondly of St. Louis.

Check out the conference schedule to see what SIA members will be doing while in town.

For the conference, I have been helping create tours, and will be co-leading a bus tour tomorrow to Granite City and the National City Stockyards that will include a rare guided tour of the US Steel facility in Granite City. I will be making a presentation on the founding and history of Granite City that will get posted on Ecology of Absence at some point. On Sunday, Landmarks Association is leading downtown walking tours; guides are Richard Mueller, Joseph Heathcott and myself. This should lead to three very different tours.

New Bridge Coul Widen the Gap

In a St. Clair County Journal article discussing the possibility of tolls being imposed on the proposed Mississippi River Bridge, mayors and alderpersons of several different Illinois cities were quoted, and all favor the new bridge. The mayor of Granite City, Ed Hagnauer, thinks that the new bridge will bring Missourians into Illinois.

One city rarely mentioned in discussions of the new bridge, and without an elected leader quoted in the article, is East St. Louis. Perhaps this neglect is due to the fact that new bridge has no real physical connection with East St. Louis, and will instead divert I-70 from even passing through the old city. The new bridge's backers tout the economic growth it will bring to Illinois, but overlook or dismiss the inequity such growth will bring. Cities farther east, liked Edwardsville and Collinsville will benefit greatly from a quick route connecting their new strip malls and office parks to the moneyed residents of St. Charles County. This economic flow will miss older cities close to the river, like East St. Louis and even Granite City -- cities that face depopulation, widespread poverty and a lack of economic growth. The bridge will allow the haves to gorge on growth while ensuring that have-nots continue to remain economically malnourished. It will carry people over the old cities and their minority populations, just as the highways built in the late twentieth century did for larger cities.

Proponents of the bridge dodge the issue. The bridge will spread the sprawl eastward, and balance out the effect of the far-west suburban growth in St. Charles and Warren counties. But it will be creating a distribution pattern resembling a donut, fueling new growth on the edges of the east side's developed area instead of helping redensify the inner core of east side cities.

East St. Louis is left out, again. Why not? Dealing with its problems is too difficult and requires careful, long-term action. Preventing exurban growth requires strong will on the part of politicians, who would have to tell their big-bucks backers "no." Building a bridge gives everyone a relatively quick dose of what they want: faster profits on new east side development, a short-term decrease in commute time between far suburbs in Illinois and Missouri and a fancy new structure to experience from a car.

Dead or Alive

On Nameoki Road in Granite City.

The Joys of Granite City

Today, Claire and I walked around the charming and amazingly intact downtown area of Granite City, Illinois, an industrial city east of St. Louis. We were struck by the walkability and density of the downtown core, which would make a great, vital business district. In fact, it already was the vital heart of the city until Route 3 was expanded. The new bridge over the Mississippi River will likely create more sprawl on Route 3 and drive the final nails into the coffin here, leaving behind a core much like that of East St. Louis. The writing is already on the wall, quite literally: vacant storefronts abound, sporting for-sale or for-rent signs. One block had three for-sale signs in a row.

The blocks are laid out well, with many one-, two- and three-story commercial buildings on the sidewalk line sitting amid opulent workers' flats, reminiscent of north St. Louis, and striking steel mill buildings. It's a great place to walk around, and would be even better with more activity. Too bad that may never return -- the close proximity to downtown St. Louis could be enhanced with MetroLink service and a renaissance could get underway.

There are, however, a few places to find instances of urban magic. We found a small resell shop at Niedringhaus and State. If we had not already eaten lunch, the Petri Cafe or one of the other remaining workers' lunch counters would have been a choice place to nosh. Other secrets seem to beckon for future visits, although I don't think we'll visit Henry Burns Furniture (why, Henry, why?).