St. Louis in National Geographic, November 1965

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St. Louis was extensively covered in the November 1965 issue of National Geographic. The Arch was almost complete, the new Busch Stadium was under construction, and wiping out old ugliness for new (federally funded) progress had many optimistic for the resurgence of the city that was just around the corner.

Much thanks to Jonathan Swegle and Jeff Vines for putting this issue in my hands.

Click on each individual spread and it will pop into a new window so you can read it. Within the following pages, many projects are mentioned. Please help me keep track of the following:
Which buildings are now gone?
Which remain?
Which projects panned out as expected?
Which ones didn’t?
Is there anything to be learned from this snapshot of the past?

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Eero Saarinen, Shaping the Future
We Brick This City
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Missouri Botanical Garden

9 thoughts on “St. Louis in National Geographic, November 1965

  1. The gateway arch is really an impressiv building. Especially the elevators are awesome. I really recommend everybody to check it out.

  2. Toby,

    Here is what I have noticed while scanning the article.

    1.Page 633 St. Louis Car Company, who producted cars for both NYTC and CTA closed it’s doors in 1972. The factory is still there on Hall St.

    2. Page 641 The view of the cannon at Jefferson Barracks shows the beautiful but sadly now demolished J.B. train depot. I think it was there as late as 1985.

  3. Thank you so much for posting this article. It’s now a mission of mine to recreate as many of these photos for a “Then & Now” project.

  4. my parents (inveterate hoarders) had a copy of that – loved the image of the woman in the blue dress wading the fake creek at the Western base of Art Hill.

    yes Mark, Gaslight Square did fade fast shortly after that – urban flight and all (I say urban not white, cause in every city anyone who could afford to get out, did. sadly)

    I wish I had that copy but oddly I think they finally tossed it.

    NGEO made STL look glam.

  5. Great article, thanks 4 sharing! I actually watching the last piece of the arch being put in place, in my grade school class. What the hell happened to Gaslight square?
    -V

  6. Thanks for posting this, Toby! Very extensive (and optimistic) look at St. Louis in ’65. For some reason, I’ve only been up in the Arch one time as a child. Definitely time for another visit. Wow, this blog is revelatory!!

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