Relax. This didn’t just happen. It happened quite a while ago and I’m just now writing about it. This is not Maplewood history. I’m running it under that banner anyway to connect with my usual audience. Ask any Maplewoodian and they will tell you that our location is ideal. There are many reasons why. Access […]
New basketball courts are being planned at Forest Park, and part of the process is community outreach with basketball players and fans in the region, according to a press release. On Thursday, January 26, from 4-7 p.m. at The Heights, Forest Park Forever will host an open house to show concepts and solicit community feedback […]
Dear Readers, Most of you are probably unaware of the value of an original watercolor by Stan Masters. For about the past 16 years Stan’s paintings have been ably marketed by the local fine art and antiques dealer Robert Morrissey. With Robert’s help and marketing skills, Stan’s widow and my friend and former neighbor, Carlene, […]
Over the twelve or thirteen years since I began this adventure, this site has gained many new readers as one might expect. While most of what I have posted can still be found, it is not easy. For one thing you have to know what to search for. There exists a plethora of interesting articles […]
John Baptiste Bruno once had a farm adjacent to and just north of James Sutton’s. Lucky for us area historian, Esley Hamilton had done his homework on this one. NOTES ON THE BRUNO HOUSE 7310 BRUNO AVENUE, RICHMOND HEIGHTS It has been suggested that the house at 7310 Bruno Avenue is the original pioneer Bruno […]
In 2008, I produced a book for the 100th anniversary of the founding of our town called The First 100 Years, Maplewood, MO. It was a fundraiser for the Maplewood Community Betterment Foundation. Still is. If you would like a copy of that book, you can pick one up at Scheidt Hardware (True Value to […]
The business offering cooking classes from beginner to gourmet, Kitchen Conservatory, is moving from Clayton to a new location in Brentwood on Manchester Road — the location of the now demolished Brentwood Lanes and the smaller contiguous lot to the west. The lot to the west is the one next to Gene-Del Printing at 9019 […]
Now for something completely different. Recently a man contacted me who has a portrait of Gertrude Harper for sale. He bought it at a thrift shop sometime ago. Now he is looking for another home for it. The price is $20 which seems reasonable. Gertrude Harper was the daughter of Dr. Cape and his wife […]
More stunning photos from the collection of Laura Varilek Maplewood has had three high school buildings. Some of the images that Ms. Varilek was kind enough to share have caused me to take a look at our historic record. You get to look too. I think it is worth mentioning that James C. Sutton Sr. […]
We’ve struck another vein of gold in the mountain of historic Maplewood photographs. My last post covered my recent meeting with two descendants of Sarah Wilgus Sutton Humphreys Harrison, Laura Varilek and Will Holmes and their visit to their great, great grandmother’s home which is now the J.B. Smith Funeral parlor. If you don’t remember […]
Sarah Harrison’s Family Came to Town Recently, I was pleased to entertain the first, as far as I know, out-of-town, Maplewood History-inspired tourists to this lovely village of ours. They even stayed in a Maplewood VRBO on Lanham which I didn’t even know that we had. Actually, it may be in the City of St. […]
Let’s try this again. The first post has evaporated somehow. I’m thankful that it was just this one. Most of my posts I have copied and pasted into PDFs but I am way behind. Hopefully having to redo this one will inspire me to keep up with the task. A Detailed Examination of One of […]
Maplewood city council member, Shana Jones announced on Facebook, Sept. 23, that she was stepping down from the council. As of today. I have step down as a Councilwoman of Ward 1 in Maplewood. Even though I don’t have the title of Councilwoman it want stop me from Serving my community as I been doing […]
In my neighborhood, the Shields subdivision in south Maplewood, a couple of 12 foot tall skeletons have been up for quite awhile now. They preceded the yard inflatables. Not sure why. They seem to be the cutting edge in Halloween decorations this year. Perhaps the owners just want them to get maximum air time? Thanksgiving […]
A Maplewood resident reports that around 9:30 Wednesday morning a street crew at Piccadilly Avenue and Oxford Boulevard chopped through a large bundle of fiber optic cable providing Internet service for AT&T customers. Many residents south of Greenwood Boulevard in Maplewood have reported the outage. Technicians were dispatched to homes to check individual modem statuses, […]
A Detailed Examination of One of Maplewood’s Great Homes A purely serendipitous encounter with Sam Rainwater recently has resulted in this post. Sam and her husband, Doug Nickrent, live at 7309 Maple Avenue. They’ve been there for 28 years. Sam very generously offered to share with us a letter that had been written to her […]
Brentwood resident Barry Williams recently began promoting the naming of a new street in Brentwood after the city’s founder Thomas Madden. The street will be the entrance to the new Brentwood Park, south of Manchester in the area currently being developed. Former mayor Karen Kintz, who is a descendant of Thomas Madden, contacted Mayor David […]
In my last post, I reprinted an email from reader Melissa in which she posed the question: Were our buildings “built plain or became plain over time? I gave her four examples which you can review here. Another very good example of how a building may change dramatically is that of the first Maplewood Bank […]
Recently I received the following email from a reader that started me thinking about the disappeared and still disappearing architectural details that have occupied much of my time for the last decade-and-a-half. Hi Doug, I walk my dogs all around Maplewood and study the different styles of architecture. Most of the older (1906) homes like […]
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