Mound City!

Saint Louis has two nicknames: the "Gateway to the West" and the lesser known "Mound City."  The latter name comes from the abundance of man-made earthen mounds built by Mississippian cultures in the later centuries of the first millennium and the early centuries of the second millennium.  The mounds that Saint Louis city gets its nickname from were flattened long ago as downtown expanded and the city's population boomed in the middle and late 1800s.  The focus of this blog post will be two man-made hills outside the city limits:

Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (Collinsville, Illinois):

...and the Weldon Spring Radioactive Waste Disposal & Storage Cell, formerly home of the Weldon Spring Ordnance Works & Chemical Plant (Saint Charles County, Missouri):

A quick comparison of the two sites:

• Monks Mound is approximately 100 feet tall, the Weldon Spring Disposal Cell is about 75 feet tall.
• The base of Monks Mound cover about 13.1 acres, roughly the size of the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
• The base of the Disposal Cell covers about 45 acres and stores approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of radioactive waste.
• Construction of Monks Mound by the Cahokia Indians began 900-950 A.D. and was completed around 1200 A.D. It was built so their leader could live closer to his relative, the Sun.
• Construction of the Disposal Cell began in 1997 and was completed in June 2001.

Quite a comparison!

A look up the staircase to the first terrace of Monks Mound.  Monks Mound consists of four terraces and gets its name from Trappist monks who planted gardens on the terraces and operated a nearby mission long after the Cahokia Indians had left.

A view of the staircase that leads you halfway to the summit of the Weldon Spring Disposal Cell.

Looking east from between the second and third terraces of Monks Mound - the green-ness of the land is absolutely beautiful.

A view of the Disposal Cell from halfway up the trail to the summit - the landscape is quite alien.

A view from the summit of Monks Mound.  Downtown Saint Louis and the Gateway Arch can be seen in the background.

The view from the top of the Weldon Spring Disposal Cell may not be as impressive, but you can see the steeple of Saint Joseph Catholic Church, where Christi and me were married! (Look for the white triangle in the center of the photo)

The fourth and highest terrace of Monks Mound.

The summit of the Disposal Cell.  Four large plaques offering a history of the World War 2 era ammunition plant that once stood here, history of the local area, timeline of events related to the disposal cell and clean-up, and information of the cell itself are located here.  For example:

Here is a cross-section of the Disposal Cell.  The waste housed within the cell includes: dinitrotoluene (DNT), trinitrotoluene (TNT), uranium, radium, thorium residue, and "Agent Orange," a deadly herbicide that was produced here by the U.S. Army for use in the Vietnam War.  Yum!

This "zoom" view from Monks Mound shows you Midtown Saint Louis - the tall skyscraper in the center is the Continental Life Building (please see my previous post by clicking here) and the light green-topped building on the center-left is Griesedieck Hall, a Saint Louis University dormitory.

This "zoom" view from the Disposal Cell isn't as impressive, but you can see Chesterfield Mall, located far across the Missouri River from here, very clearly.

It is quite fascinating how different these two mounds are in their purpose, but still very impressive in their man-made nature.  One mound was built for a spiritual purpose, the other for waste.  Thankfully our nickname "Mound City" is derived from the former and not the latter.

The College Church

One of the most recognizable pieces of Midtown's skyline is the spire of Saint Francis Xavier College Church, also called the "College Church" by locals and students of Saint Louis University (SLU).  The cornerstone was set in 1884 and has served the faculty and students of SLU (a Catholic university run by the Jesuit order, aka Society of Jesus) and was modeled after Saint Colman's Cathedral in Cobh, Ireland.  Please enjoy these photos of this beautiful church!

The skyline of the Midtown district.  Most of what you see in the foreground, center, and left is Saint Louis University.  To the upper right you can see the Continental Life Building - click here for more photos.

As previously stated, the College Church is modeled after Cobh Cathedral in Ireland, which is known for it's disproportionately large tower and spire, which becomes even more exaggerated because it sits atop a hill in the city of Cobh.  The College Church's tower fits this building very comfortably.

A view along the side of the church, between the church and Bishop DuBourg Hall, the administrative center of SLU.

The interior of Saint Francis Xavier Church.  This photo does not do this church any justice - as my photography skills improve, I will return to this church to provide my readers with the best photo quality possible!

Processional crucifix with the Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the background.

Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The high altar of the College Church.

A look to the choir loft and rose window of the College Church.  My next goal is to clearly and accurately photograph stained glass windows - I will definitely bring my tripod next time!

The rose window of Saint Francis Xavier College Church.


As always, thank you for reading - check the website often - and leave comments on this site if you would like!

Too Late for Hockey? Never!

My favorite sport is baseball or football, depending on which is in season.  But I have a passion for following the Saint Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.  My brother and I attended the Blues' "Pro Orientation Camp" last year to watch the rookies and sophomore Bluenotes take to the ice at their training facility in Hazelwood, Missouri.

I will argue with anyone that the Blues have the most recognizable and most unique logo in all of sports: the Bluenote.  What better way to name your team than for a cultural icon of your home city that everyone can immediately understand and recognize?  Even in a poor, blurry photo as the one above anyone can tell which hockey team has taken to the ice.

Defenseman Anthony Peluso.

Intense concentration, getting ready for the drills.  Or he just got surprised.

You can't beat that name.  I'm going out on a limb here, but I'll guess Pennsylvania Dutch?

A short pause between drills.

Our next great Bluenote?

Fan favorite T.J. Oshie.

Will next year be the year that the Blues finally return to respectability in the NHL?
LET'S . . . GO . . . BLUES!

Happy 20th Birthday Hubble Telescope!

From the NASA article commemorating this great achievement: "NASA’s best-recognized, longest-lived and most prolific space observatory was launched April 24, 1990, aboard the space shuttle Discovery during the STS-31 mission. Hubble discoveries revolutionized nearly all areas of current astronomical research from planetary science to cosmology."

Click here to read the article and view the stellar and heavenly images from one of NASA's most successful continuing missions.

Superman & A Saint

My favorite architectural style is art deco and its cousin streamline moderne.  I love this style because it is less of a defined architectural style and more of an ornamental feature of the early modern styles, making it a versatile style that was incorporated in the stylings of buildings, homes, bridges, cars, trains, furniture, and graphic design of the 1920s through the 1940s (the website www.decopix.com has wonderful galleries full of art deco and streamline moderne subjects).  The two most recognizable examples of art deco architecture are located in New York City: the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building.

Two of my favorite art deco buildings in Saint Louis are the Continental Life Building in Midtown and the Church of Saint Gabriel Archangel in the Saint Louis Hills neighborhood of southwestern Saint Louis city.

The first on our Saint Louis art deco tour is the Continental Life Building, known to some locals as the "Superman" building due to its resemblance to the Daily Planet building on the 1950s television program "Superman" with George Reeves as the Man of Steel.  The first season of the show used the E. Clem Wilson Building in Los Angeles, California as the home of the Daily Planet, while later seasons used footage of Los Angeles City Hall as the fictional newspaper's headquarters.

A view of the Continental Life Building from the Saint Louis University campus.  The building is the tallest in Midtown's Grand Center district and one of the tallest buildings in Saint Louis, easily visible from Highway 40/Interstate 64 and Interstate 44 to the south.  Grand Center is also located on top of a hill, making the top of the Continental Life Building one of the highest points in all of Saint Louis.

The many vertical lines of the building force your eyes upward, making this structure seem taller and slimmer than it is.

From Built St. Louis, "...it stood abandoned and rotting for over twenty years -- too big to ignore, too expensive to destroy, too excessive to be restored."  Thankfully, this building is coming back to life.

One of the soldiers guarding the building and a mother protecting her child.  These figures are located very high on the building, but are easily seen from street level.  However, these soldiers could not prevent Saint Louis's largest unsolved bank robbery from occurring in the old Grand National Bank in May 1930!

Detail above the entrance to the Continental Life Building.

Another one of my favorite Saint Louis art deco structures sits about seven miles southwest of the Continental Life Building - Church of Saint Gabriel Archangel:

A view of Saint Gabriel's from Francis Park in the Saint Louis Hills neighborhood.  This neighborhood was developed in the 1930s and 1940s - urban planners placed lots specifically for churches at the four corners of this 60 acre park, Saint Gabriel's being the Roman Catholic representative of the group.

I cannot help but share some of the local history at this point!  Francis Park is named after David Rowland Francis, an American politician in the late 1800s and early 1900s, who donated this land as a Christmas gift to the city of Saint Louis.  A short list of his contributions and services:

• Elected Mayor of Saint Louis in 1885
• Elected Governor of Missouri in 1888 (only Saint Louis mayor ever elected governor of Missouri)
• 1895 - University of Missouri dedicates the Francis Quadrangle in honor of Gov. Francis's efforts to keep the state's flagship university in Columbia rather than move the school to Sedalia, Missouri after Academic Hall burned, leaving Mizzou its iconic columns (Sedalia was awarded the Missouri State Fair instead)
• United States Secretary of the Interior, 1896-1897
• Appointed U.S. Ambassador to Russia by President Woodrow Wilson from 1916-1917, during the Russian Revolution of 1917
• Served as President of Louisiana Purchase Exposition (Saint Louis's famed 1904 World's Fair) from 1889 to 1904

And back to the photos!

Saint Gabriel's was constructed in 1947 - at this point, art deco was giving way to the post-war, mid-century modern style.  I find it interesting that this style was chosen well after art deco's heyday.

A closer look at the church's spire.

A closer look at the façade of the church.

Prayer to Saint Gabriel:

O loving messenger of the Incarnation, descend upon all those for whom I wish peace and happiness. Spread your wings over the cradles of the new-born babes, O thou who didst announce the coming of the Infant Jesus.

Give to the young a lily petal from the virginal scepter in your hand. Cause Ave Maria to re-echo in all hearts that they may find grace and joy through Mary.

Finally, recall the sublime words spoken on the day of the Annunciation-- "Nothing is impossible with God," and repeat them in hours of trial--to all I love--that their confidence in Our Lord may be reanimated, when all human help fails. Amen.

Attention to Detail - Downtown Saint Louis

It is unfortunate that Saint Louisans rarely visit the inner core of downtown, but they have little reason to do so (I'll define this area as the city blocks bounded by Chestnut to the south, 14th Street to the west, the Dome and Convention Center to the north, and Interstate 70 to the east).  Newer hotels bring much needed commerce to this area, many restaurants are beginning to take hold, the Washington Avenue loft district has been slowly blooming since the early 2000s, and the City Museum has quickly become one of, if not the most, popular destinations for downtown visitors.  Last summer I ventured through the steel, glass, and concrete canyons of Downtown Saint Louis to show you the stunning architectural beauty and surprisingly cosmopolitan detail of Saint Louis's civic heart.

The Old Courthouse and Metropolitan Square skyscraper reflected in the windows of another Saint Louis skyscraper.  The Old Courthouse dome is modeled after Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican - the United States Capitol dome is modeled after both the Old Courthouse and Saint Peter's Basilica.

The Mississippi Valley Bank & Trust building.

Fleurs-de-lis can be found everywhere in Eastern Missouri, reflecting the long history of French heritage and influence in the area.

A look down a street at some well decorated buildings - very early skyscrapers.

Lions are a common theme among the decorative arts of downtown's architecture.

Sculpture at the entrance to One US Bank Plaza skyscraper.

A fountain tucked away deep inside downtown's core.

A door to a vacant building.

Railway Exchange Building - Gleaming white terra cotta–182,978 pieces of it–covers all 21 stories of the magnificent Railway Exchange Building. Containing more than 1,200,000 square feet (111,000 m2) of office and retail space, it was the world’s largest office building for many years - the former headquarters of the May Company (Famous-Barr Department Stores), now the downtown home of Macy's.

More detail on the Railway Exchange Building.

The Old Post Office - construction began in 1872 and was completed in 1884 for over $6 million.

The Shell Building in the background and Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal) in the foreground. I love how these two buildings complement each other - the traditional gothic of the catherdal and the (I'm guessing here) mix of 1920-30s art deco and neo-gothic. Beautiful.