In October, for our Unseen STL History Talks, we welcomed Mitch Goist, SeeSTL tour guide and local rehabber, to share his knowledge about bricks: how they’re made, how technology changed brick-making, why St. Louis is a “brick city,” where the clay comes from, and some of the challenges with older brick buildings today.
You can view Mitch’s slides below:
It was an incredible talk, and people are still buzzing about it a week later! Who knew bricks could be so much fun? (Okay, not a fair question, because based on our turnout, a lot of people do!)
Next Month
In November, we will have two speakers address wildly different—but equally fascinating—topics. Marc Blanc will be telling us the story of James Eads How, the son of the famous bridge builder, who was an itinerant worker, or "hobo," and used his money to create "Hobo Colleges," a network of free classes for migrant laborers, and the Hobo News. We will also welcome Gary Tetley, a local photographer and architecture historian, who is going to explore some of the important architecture of our city and how it’s changed over time.
Interested in more Unseen St. Louis history?
Be sure to subscribe to Unseen St. Louis for the latest information, and follow Unseen St. Louis on Facebook to learn more about the talks and find out about other fascinating aspects of St. Louis history.
And if you haven’t joined us yet, be sure to sign up for Unseen STL History Adventures on Meetup! We’ve already been to the Graffiti Wall, the Central Library, City Museum, the Missouri Historical Society, and more. And I have a lot more plans for the next few months.
Support Unseen St. Louis
Running Unseen St. Louis is a labor of love for me. Still, it takes time to research local history topics, network with speakers and meetup locations, share content on Facebook, run a meetup group, and promote everything.
And to the best of my ability, I’m committed to keeping the content of this Substack free and accessible to everyone without a paywall.
If you enjoy what I’m doing and want to help make these efforts sustainable for me, please consider signing up for a paid subscription to this Substack.
If that’s more than you can manage right now, you can also toss a few bucks my way via Venmo, @jadana17.
As always, thanks for all your support and interest in St. Louis history.
Unseen STL History Talks - All About Bricks