St. Louis Mosaic

Information on Clay Mining and Brick Production in St. Louis

2010-07-11T02:14:00.000-07:00

Scott K. Williams, collector of vast quantities of historical information about St. Louis on his "History's Time Portal to Old St. Louis", devotes a page to clay (and coal) mining and brick production (with some photos of bricks) that occurred in St. Louis between the Civil War and the 1st World War, here:

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/underground_stl.htm

The list was compiled from a map by Mimi Garstand, and published in 1987 by the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Land Survey, Rolla, MO.

After you get to this page, and if you want to learn more, much more, about St. Louis, remove "underground" from the address and click again to reach Mr. Williams' top page, opening the door to an amazing collection of photos, post cards and records, and including the music and words to "Under the Anheuser Bush".

bricks, clay mine, Missouri, Scott K. Williams, St. Louis,

Tableau

2009-10-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

Color! tiles

2009-10-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

The last two are on private homes in The Hill neighborhood.

Colorful tile designs

2009-10-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

All of these features are on schools in St. Louis except the last, which is on a church.

Combinations of brick, stone, tile and terracotta

2009-10-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

Brick and stone adornments

2009-10-20T04:56:00.000-07:00

On The Hill in St. Louis is a collection of small and tidy homes. Most are of one of two basic shapes: the "shotgun", long and narrow, and one story, to fit a narrow lot; or square-ish, possibly with a room or two above. Most are unique. Occasionally a builder constructed more than one, side by side, as these obviously were.

Though they look identical, these septuplets have interesting variations in brick color combinations, brick and stone adornments over doors and windows, and more recent awnings.

Every peak window has a different decorative arch, and several of the houses have small and subtile decorative brick designs over the doors and right-hand windows.

The Hill is an extremely intact ethnic neighborhood of 50-60 blocks built by Italian immigrants, many of whom walked to work in the clay mines adjacent to the neighborhood.

Gargoyle

2009-09-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

A true gargoyle is a creature with a rain spout.

Children

2009-09-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

All these figures are found on schools in St. Louis.

Built-in features

2009-09-16T13:56:00.001-07:00

Brick: arches and windows

2009-09-12T05:43:00.000-07:00

The top illustration is in Cape Girardeau; the rest are in St. Louis.

Brick: three dimensions

2009-09-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

Adding relief to a flat surface adds interest for the eye to explore.
If you would like to know the location of any of these features, please email me.
Most of these photos are taken at old St. Louis schools.

Brick: two dimensional patterns

2009-09-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Here are several examples of patterns that were created in brick in two dimensions, of differently colored brick, glazed brick, and varying colors of morter. Most of these examples are from century-old schools in St. Louis.

Tiles production info

2009-08-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

Paydirt: A good soul sent a comment that includes a link to an article about a William Ittner school in Springfield, IL that has tiles.

Here is the link: http://www.shs.springfield.k12.il.us/features/History/pottery/index.html

The article leads to the Moravian Tile Works in Doylestown, PA, historic from the Craftsman era and still operating.

Tiles: education

2009-08-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

This series of four designs, two each on either street end of the front of the (-shaped Henry Shaw School on Columbia Avenue, illustrates four areas of education: history, science, the arts and math (I think).

Built in 1907, this may be a William B. Ittner school although my reading indicates the architect is uncertain. It looks a lot like other schools he designed.

Tiles: The Zodiac

2009-08-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

These tiles depicting the elements of the zodiac are on the east and west facing walls, respectively, of the couryard of the Bryan Mullanphy school on Shaw Boulevard. The zodiac tiles appear identical; the borders are similar in design but the individual tile patterns vary. The architect was William B. Ittner of St. Louis, who had 50 schools to his credit plus several homes and notable public buildings.

Click on the photos to enlarge them on a new page.

Magnolia Place

2009-08-16T04:09:00.000-07:00

One block long, Magnolia Place, east of Shaw's Garden, runs one way. There are two stone pillars at the entrance and two more at the exit. They're trimmed with brick and Craftsman tiles.

Stone faces

2009-08-14T19:11:00.001-07:00

Why would an architect put these faces across the front of a school?

These are on Cleveland School in south city. They remind me of fairy tale characters. They seem somewhat menacing, or are they themselves fearful, or doubtful? I wonder what kids think about them.

Tiles: trades and tasks

2009-08-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

Over the front doors of Cleveland School in south city is a series of nine trades or tasks being performed by seven men and two women. They are in high relief and very colorful.

Over in the How We Use Our Language Dept., it is interesting to me that the seven men are titled with their jobs, ie, Chemist, or Blacksmith. The two women are labeled with their tasks, ie, Churning and Spinning.

Why aren't the men Glassblowing and Blacksmithing? Or, the more interesting question, why isn't the one woman a Churner and the other a Spinner?