In Unseen St. Louis, I’ve been researching lots of different topics about the city’s history. My goal is to touch on a wide range of topics to bring a new appreciation to St. Louis history that’s often forgotten.
The St. Louis Jewel Box, built in 1936. Photo by author, August 2021
For each article, I’ve started with my own questions, looking into things I’ve been curious about. I’ve explored the history of things I’ve encountered within the city, and I’ve dug into this history of things that I remembered from growing up here. I was born here, but left St. Louis for college in the 1980s, and only moved back in 2019. That means a lot of things are “new” to me—and I have lots of questions stored up!
However, I’d also love to hear from you. Let me know what you’d love for me to tackle in a future article! Memories, nostalgia, urban legends, weird places—if it’s about St. Louis or the surrounding area, I’d love to learn more about it too!
Here’s what I’ve written about so far:
A little but mighty bridge: an almost 100-year-old bridge crossing River Des Peres that got this whole thing started
The sulphur springs of Cheltenham: my further investigation into the history of Cheltenham area (specifically, Hampton & Manchester)
There were! I touch on it briefly in the article about the Kerry Patch. Also, Al Capone apparently had a still disguised as a coal mine over in Illinois. Definitely great topics for new articles. Thanks!
Firstly, thank you for taking so much time to create this blog, Jackie. I'm a somewhat recent transplant (2018), a writer myself (genre fiction), and have become enamored of the greater metro's history. I've been working on a cycle of stories and a novella all set in STL and drenched in the region's history for the last two years, and discovering your work was one of my most pleasant discoveries of the last couple months.
That all being said: a topic I'm extremely interested in (that would definitely be a lot to bite off) is STL's brick manufacturing history. There's so much interesting info out there but very little available online. Where exactly were the clay mines located in the metro? What was life like in Richmond Heights in the 1800s (originally established to house black miners)? Since STL brick is still sought-after today, what made the brick manufacturing boom die off around the 1960s? I'm not sure if this is something that interests you, but regardless I know you'll keep covering fascinating topics.
Thank you again for putting so much love into your work!
EDIT: I suppose I should add that I know this wouldn't be a brand new topic for your coverage, the city's brick history makes a prominent appearance in your Cheltenham article, but I feel that there's more there. I guess the argument could be made that there's always more left to find!
Oh man, you are totally speaking my language! I too am working on a novel series called The Favor Faeries set in St. Louis (mine is YA fantasy). That's actually how all of this research started - I was looking for places to set scenes in my novels, and I found this weird little bridge (which now features prominently in the story) and I was dying to know why it was there... talk about rabbit holes!!
Anyway, the first book is done and I'm currently serializing the second over on my other Substack storycauldron.substack.com (if you're interested, shoot me an email at storycauldron@substack.com and I can give you a comp paid subscription).
But bricks... that is definitely something I find fascinating. As you said, I did some work on it already but I totally want to do a follow-up just on the companies and the history of bricks and clay mining. I don't know if I can answer all of your questions, but I will definitely be returning to that topic. I just wanted to tackle other things for all the people who may not be as obsessed by bricks as I am! I have a few things in the works right now, but maybe in a few weeks I'll circle back to where it all began.
In the meantime, you should definitely go see the little bridge over the River Des Peres just east of Hampton. Easiest access is to go down Manchester and at Sulphur Ave (where Nick's Pub is) go across the RR tracks to the south. Then you will be in the heart of brick country - and at the location of the first train station in the country that was west of Downtown STL. :)
I cross that exact intersection multiple times a week (I'm based in Maplewood); I'll have to take that detour! Can't wait to hear more about your books, STL-set works are few and far between.
So sorry -- tried to get on the Discord account for Writers. You left me a note on substack office hours. I will try again in the morning but I think it didn't think i was human :).
Here is what it says," You finally got that invite to the super-secret Discord server you've been wanting to join, yes!
So... why isn't it working? There are a few reasons your server link may be 'Invalid'.
WHAT TO CHECK
Expiration: Your invite link may have expired. In this case, please contact the server owner and ask them for a new invite.
Invalid Code: You may not have a legitimate invite code. Please check your code and try again. Remember that invite codes -are- case sensitive!
Ban: You may have been banned from joining this server. Bans are based on IP address, so you would need to contact the server admins and ask them to revoke all bans in their Server Settings. Just because they remove your name, does not mean the invite will work.
100 Server Limit: A user cannot be a member of more than 100 servers. If you are in too many servers, you'll need to leave one before you can join.
someone else indicated that they had a problem joining discord. I think it’s something with Discord, not you. You might try again in a couple of days.
During Prohibition in the 1920's and 30's, were there gangsters in St. Louis, similar to Chicago?
There were! I touch on it briefly in the article about the Kerry Patch. Also, Al Capone apparently had a still disguised as a coal mine over in Illinois. Definitely great topics for new articles. Thanks!
Firstly, thank you for taking so much time to create this blog, Jackie. I'm a somewhat recent transplant (2018), a writer myself (genre fiction), and have become enamored of the greater metro's history. I've been working on a cycle of stories and a novella all set in STL and drenched in the region's history for the last two years, and discovering your work was one of my most pleasant discoveries of the last couple months.
That all being said: a topic I'm extremely interested in (that would definitely be a lot to bite off) is STL's brick manufacturing history. There's so much interesting info out there but very little available online. Where exactly were the clay mines located in the metro? What was life like in Richmond Heights in the 1800s (originally established to house black miners)? Since STL brick is still sought-after today, what made the brick manufacturing boom die off around the 1960s? I'm not sure if this is something that interests you, but regardless I know you'll keep covering fascinating topics.
Thank you again for putting so much love into your work!
EDIT: I suppose I should add that I know this wouldn't be a brand new topic for your coverage, the city's brick history makes a prominent appearance in your Cheltenham article, but I feel that there's more there. I guess the argument could be made that there's always more left to find!
Oh man, you are totally speaking my language! I too am working on a novel series called The Favor Faeries set in St. Louis (mine is YA fantasy). That's actually how all of this research started - I was looking for places to set scenes in my novels, and I found this weird little bridge (which now features prominently in the story) and I was dying to know why it was there... talk about rabbit holes!!
Anyway, the first book is done and I'm currently serializing the second over on my other Substack storycauldron.substack.com (if you're interested, shoot me an email at storycauldron@substack.com and I can give you a comp paid subscription).
But bricks... that is definitely something I find fascinating. As you said, I did some work on it already but I totally want to do a follow-up just on the companies and the history of bricks and clay mining. I don't know if I can answer all of your questions, but I will definitely be returning to that topic. I just wanted to tackle other things for all the people who may not be as obsessed by bricks as I am! I have a few things in the works right now, but maybe in a few weeks I'll circle back to where it all began.
In the meantime, you should definitely go see the little bridge over the River Des Peres just east of Hampton. Easiest access is to go down Manchester and at Sulphur Ave (where Nick's Pub is) go across the RR tracks to the south. Then you will be in the heart of brick country - and at the location of the first train station in the country that was west of Downtown STL. :)
I cross that exact intersection multiple times a week (I'm based in Maplewood); I'll have to take that detour! Can't wait to hear more about your books, STL-set works are few and far between.
Shoot me an email!
Jackie, I’d love to know about all the old bakeries - you’d mentioned one that had Paczki!
There are several places to get them for Fat Tuesday. They’re so good! It’s an interesting topic - I’ll have to ponder how to approach it. Thanks!
I can’t remember the name of the place you mentioned. Main St. Bakery?
I may have mentioned Missouri Bakery, but I don’t think they make them there. They make lots of other good stuff though!
That was it!
So sorry -- tried to get on the Discord account for Writers. You left me a note on substack office hours. I will try again in the morning but I think it didn't think i was human :).
No worries! Here's a new invite link: https://discord.gg/e8aFwQTq
I didn't see this soon enough. Sorry! It perhaps has expired?
It should be good for seven days.
Here is what it says," You finally got that invite to the super-secret Discord server you've been wanting to join, yes!
So... why isn't it working? There are a few reasons your server link may be 'Invalid'.
WHAT TO CHECK
Expiration: Your invite link may have expired. In this case, please contact the server owner and ask them for a new invite.
Invalid Code: You may not have a legitimate invite code. Please check your code and try again. Remember that invite codes -are- case sensitive!
Ban: You may have been banned from joining this server. Bans are based on IP address, so you would need to contact the server admins and ask them to revoke all bans in their Server Settings. Just because they remove your name, does not mean the invite will work.
100 Server Limit: A user cannot be a member of more than 100 servers. If you are in too many servers, you'll need to leave one before you can join.
Katie again: is it possible you are at 100?
Hi Katie. Here's another link: https://discord.gg/Yxy9KWWXcr
Also, it's a public group. If you Google "Substack Writers Unite Discord" you will get a link to join directly.
If that still doesn't work, first I will commend you on your tenacity, and from there I would ask you to shoot Discord a message https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Also the 100 server limit would apply to you, not to the Substack writers server.
Thanks -- all new information. I appreciate your tenacity!
Than it must be something else. I have been rejected for some reason. Perhaps I need to give it a rest for a few days?
someone else indicated that they had a problem joining discord. I think it’s something with Discord, not you. You might try again in a couple of days.
I tried this invite again today and it says Invite is Invalid.