Detail of Plate 34, Compton and Dry’s Pictorial St. Louis, 1876, Library of Congress.
While it’s now painted “Big Bird Yellow,” the old school house seen in Pictorial St. Louis and labeled as No. 7 is still standing on the northwest corner of Potomac and Ohio. The large sinkhole on the northeast corner, which looks like it may have been a quarry as well, is now filled in. Moving north, looking at the west side of the street, we see a group of houses that were probably built in the early Twentieth Century.
But there are older red brick houses and four-families, as well.
We also see an old wood frame houses tucked in among the older “suburban” houses.
The old Kroger, once an auxiliary building of the Cherokee Brewery, the same as I saw it almost a decade ago back in 2012.
The old five and dime store now has a resale shop which has been in business for several years at the corner with Cherokee Street. Ohio Avenue used to be one-way here, but to improve traffic flow, it was eliminated several years ago.
Turning around and heading south, looking at the east side of the street, there is a row of one-story bungalows, each one slightly different, but yet built at the same time.
The subtle brick patterns are what make these buildings so beautiful.
