Nord St. Louis Turnverein, ca. 2005

The Nord St. Louis Turnverein, located at the corner of Salisbury and 20th Streets, was built in stages starting in 1871 as one of several athletic recreation centers for German immigrants in the city.  Turnvereins were the brainchild of a Prussian, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, who conceived of them as places to practice and teach the new exercise known as gymnastics in the early 19th century.  In addition to fire damage, the Nord Turnverein bore the scars of decades of vacancy after the group moved out in the 1980s, and in 2011, the remnants of the building were demolished and replaced with a vacant lot. With its removal, the intersection of 20th and Salisbury now has no structure at its corners for the first time since prior to the invention of the ice cream soda, the cash register, and earmuffs.

The photograph above is from the city of St. Louis' Geo St. Louis web site. For more images of it:
http://www.builtstlouis.net/northside/hyde_park03.html

The Sud St. Louis Turnverein survives at the corner of 10th and Carroll Streets.  For images of it:
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/turnverein.htm

The Big Mound, 1869

From Switzler's Illustrated History of Missouri 1541-1877 (1879) comes this sketch of the largest Native American mound built in St. Louis near the time of its demolition in 1869. The Big Mound, as it was known, was near the intersection of Broadway and Mound Street in Old North St. Louis. It stood at least 30 feet high, was 150 feet in length, and had three terraced approaches facing the river for religious ceremonies. At one point in the 1820s, a small resort building was constructed at the top of the mound. Artifacts were found during its demolition.

Its only rival in size was the mound demolished to make way for Col. John O'Fallon's mansion in the 1850s. In 1875, ten years after O'Fallon's death, his mansion burned; it was demolished completely in 1893. The site is now O'Fallon Park.

Mullanphy Park, 1907

From A City Plan for St. Louis (1907). The two photographs depict dozens, if not hundreds, of children playing at the Mullanphy Park Playground and Garden, then being leased by the city from the Mullanphy family. Later purchased by the city for a public park, it no longer seems quite as vibrant, but soon might in light of recent developments in the area. The park is extant at 10th and Mullanphy in Old North St. Louis.