by Thomas C. Grady
2nd edition soft cover printed 2022, 195 pages
$35 + $5.00 shipping per copy ($30 for Mercantile Members!)
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Back Cover description: The Lost St. Louis Riverfront 1930 - 1943 is the first study to document fully the history of the area that is now the Gateway Arch National Park on the St. Louis riverfront through historic photographs from the Park Archives. Additional information on the businesses and individuals who occupied these buildings brings to life the momentous impact this project had on the city and its riverfront.
Preface: This work focuses on the lost buildings once standing on the St. Louis riverfront, from the Wharf, or waterfront, up to the East side of Third Street in the period 1930-1943. It is important to see the original layout of this area and to understand it is the heart of the original settlement which became one of the Country's most important cities. That the original streets once familiar to Pierre Laclede, and the early Creole founders as well as unbroken generations of St. Louisans, now rest buried under the Arch grounds is a matter for discussion by the city planners and architectural historians. This work is intended to present for the first time a record of what was here before the demolitions of the area known now as the Gateway Arch National Park. The reader may form his or her own conclusions as to the relative merit of the majestic Arch and the possbilities of a different path to a restored historic district.
