Ladies and gentlemen, would you care to take a little trip down history with me? We are not going far--just up to February 1764, to a small limestone bluff on the west bank of the mighty Mississippi, where Pierre Laclede Liguest’s (a French fur trader) men are erecting the first structures of a settlement, which is called Laclede’s Village for now.
Although his French style village is small, Laclede sees “one of the finest cities in America” there. The population of the village steadily grows over the years, aided by the French-Spanish-French-American ownership of the land.
Let’s move on to 1804 and be there to flag off the epochal Lewis and Clark expedition from Camp Wood, just outside our town. They are setting out to explore the land beyond the “great rock mountains” of the West, as decreed by President Thomas Jefferson. The nation’s westward expansion has officially begun.
Our town, now called St. Louis, becomes the last post before setting off to the wild west. By the 1820s, St. Louis has become a boomtown. Let’s jump to the 1850 to witness St. Louis becoming the second largest port by tonnage in the country, superseded only by New York. An English visitor in 1858 counts 170 boats at the St. Louis Levee. The city also becomes the terminus for stage coach lines heading off to find gold in California.
But wait, let’s usher in a newer method of transportation, which is going to ring the death knell to steamboats. We are of course witnessing the railroad system which is being built to the West and South of St. Louis. You might be familiar with some of the names: Pacific Railroad and Iron Mountain Railroad.
By the late 1800s, St. Louis has become the largest and busiest rail road terminal in the world! Let’s be there at the grand opening of the St. Louis Union Station, built at a cost of $ 3.6 million, being thrown open to the public in 1894.
St. Louis has become the largest city west of Pittsburgh, while Chicago is still a small town!
However, 20th century is not so kind to St. Louis--depression and wars slowly reduce the prosperity and significance of St. Louis. It’s population slips from the 4th to 52nd position in the country.
St. Louis today is like an aging diva who has got botox injections, very reminiscent of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (without the madness of course).
Everywhere you turn, you see remnants of past glory--noble courthouses, European-style buildings, and Romanesque museums. You also see the pock marks of decline--just walk two streets away from the arterial Market Street into Olive Street and it is very much obvious in old tired buildings, with graffiti and disrepair on their mien.
But then, this diva has enough spirit to make a comeback. St. Louis has been in the forefront of urban revitalization in the 21st century and even won an award recently. The result of this can be seen in swank high rises and some really cool parks in the downtown area.
I hope the diva finds the elixir of youth soon, because it will such a shame for this textured and interesting city that was so integral to this country’s history to fall into ruins.
The Union Station Marriott of St. Louis is definitely the most gorgeous hotel I’ve stayed in. The Union Station I mentioned a few paragraphs above was officially closed in 1978 (I can never forgive Americans for killing railroad and public transport to augment their automobile industry-stupid! Stupid! Stupid!). It went through major renovation in the 1980s and now has the hotel and a shopping mall.
The hotel has the magnificent Grand Hall - 10,000 sq. ft. big and three stories high, with intricate art deco interiors and some beautiful stained glass windows, with the grand staircases leading up to it from the grand entrance. My room was on the topmost floor, where the roof slanted, very like a castle.
This was perhaps the best place to stay in St. Louis, because one’s introduction to its glorious past starts right there at the lobby, aided by several well written signs talking about the nuances of the architecture and purpose of the building.
Walk out of the hotel to run into a beautiful fountain celebrating the confluence of Mississippi and Missouri across the street, designed by Carl Milles.
The thing is, I don’t get water fountains. Not even the elegant Mogul ones. I cannot see the aesthetic of squirting water in the air--let it flow as it should, will you? But this one in St. Louis was different.
The artist has envisaged the confluence like a marriage, so both the bride and groom have an entourage who are frolicking in the water. It is an elaborate fountain, exuberant, evocative, and brilliant.
The park that runs along Market Street for most of its length was full of seemingly homeless people on Sunday morning. It is an interesting park, with some cool installations and statues. The other side of the park is lined by what seems like the 60s style minimalist, utilitarian apartments. I’m sure they are expensive apartments and the lap of luxury, but from outside, they seemed like metaphorical characters in a European art house movie directed by someone like Goddard. Especially the one that was facing a beautiful red brick Irish Catholic church.
The first item on my agenda was to visit the Cathedral Basilica. Now, here’s why I like this city. You travel along Olive Street with its run down buildings, go past the St. Louis University which is an oasis amidst the desolation, and drive into a leafy neighborhood. There, across the street from a prosaic apartment building, tucked in a cozy corner, is a spectacular Cathedral Basilica, which claims to have the world’s largest collection of mosaic artwork! 83,000 sq. ft. or 2.5 acres of glittering, colorful mosaics depicting various aspects of the Catholic theology!
While the exterior is garden variety Romanesque (I am no expert), the interiors are Byzantine. Cruciform shape, marble walls indicating earth rising up to the domes and half domes filled with mosaics representing heaven all make you wonder whether you have wandered into Turkey.
We were given a free tour by a knowledgeable volunteer. Although it tends to be a little too long, I recommend taking the tour rather than looking around by yourself. It is completely worth it.
Next stop of course was the Gateway Arch. This was built in 1967 and commemorates the Gateway to Westward Expansion that St. Louis is. You might have seen its elegant arch in a million photographs, but like the Taj, nothing prepares you for its beauty.
It’s a 630 ft. arch, sleek, minimal, and streamlined. It’s exterior are made of stainless steel plates, giving it shiny, seamless appearance. Its reflective surface works superbly with changing light, making it look different each minute. There is a ride to the top. Although I got myself a ticket, I was very unsure of my acrophobia to risk it. I didn’t want to get a panic attack at 630 ft., sitting in a small car. Chicken, I know.
I happily went for the riverboat cruise along the Mississippi. Except for the thrill of sailing on the rapid and muddy waters of Mississippi, and listening to some nifty local trivia, the cruise was mediocre. The vast and steep steps that descend into the river were magnificent to look at--akin to the big ghats on the Hoogly (which is a very beautiful river, despite all the squalor that lines it, IMHO).
It was Monday all too soon and time to return. The last stop was lunch at Landry’s Seafood Place, facing a large man made lake, full of gold fish and traversed by people in small pedal boats. The seafood gumbo and shrimp kabobs were fantastic. In fact, this was the only tasty meal I had in St. Louis.
I traveled to St. Louis by the Amtrak train and felt I was going through my own Motor Cycle Diaries. On the way thither, track work forced us on an alternate route, cutting through the vast swathe of rural Illinois. Between Chicago and St. Louis, I didn’t see a single town, leave alone a city.
All I saw was sun drenched fields, flocks of birds, horses and cows, lonely houses or tiny villages, and thick forests that had secret green streams running through them. Six hours of going through the heartland of America made me wonder whether rural America is its truer identity than its too few cities. I almost understood its ethnocentricity--would you bother about other countries beyond your shores when you live in a lonely house with fields and forests extending in all directions as far as your eyes could see?
While coming back, the same track work forced us to travel to Springfield by bus. This small town, this one horse town, was where Lincoln came to find employment and found his wife. This is where he built his career. Apparently it was a growing prairie town in that time. Now it just looks, well, like nothing at all. The roads leading into town are unremarkable and downtown is quite characterless. The station is small with a leaking vending machine. Such is the march of capitalism.
This trip has been my most American experience. To view the pictures, click here.
Although his French style village is small, Laclede sees “one of the finest cities in America” there. The population of the village steadily grows over the years, aided by the French-Spanish-French-American ownership of the land.
Let’s move on to 1804 and be there to flag off the epochal Lewis and Clark expedition from Camp Wood, just outside our town. They are setting out to explore the land beyond the “great rock mountains” of the West, as decreed by President Thomas Jefferson. The nation’s westward expansion has officially begun.
Our town, now called St. Louis, becomes the last post before setting off to the wild west. By the 1820s, St. Louis has become a boomtown. Let’s jump to the 1850 to witness St. Louis becoming the second largest port by tonnage in the country, superseded only by New York. An English visitor in 1858 counts 170 boats at the St. Louis Levee. The city also becomes the terminus for stage coach lines heading off to find gold in California.
But wait, let’s usher in a newer method of transportation, which is going to ring the death knell to steamboats. We are of course witnessing the railroad system which is being built to the West and South of St. Louis. You might be familiar with some of the names: Pacific Railroad and Iron Mountain Railroad.
By the late 1800s, St. Louis has become the largest and busiest rail road terminal in the world! Let’s be there at the grand opening of the St. Louis Union Station, built at a cost of $ 3.6 million, being thrown open to the public in 1894.
St. Louis has become the largest city west of Pittsburgh, while Chicago is still a small town!
However, 20th century is not so kind to St. Louis--depression and wars slowly reduce the prosperity and significance of St. Louis. It’s population slips from the 4th to 52nd position in the country.
St. Louis today is like an aging diva who has got botox injections, very reminiscent of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (without the madness of course).
Everywhere you turn, you see remnants of past glory--noble courthouses, European-style buildings, and Romanesque museums. You also see the pock marks of decline--just walk two streets away from the arterial Market Street into Olive Street and it is very much obvious in old tired buildings, with graffiti and disrepair on their mien.
But then, this diva has enough spirit to make a comeback. St. Louis has been in the forefront of urban revitalization in the 21st century and even won an award recently. The result of this can be seen in swank high rises and some really cool parks in the downtown area.
I hope the diva finds the elixir of youth soon, because it will such a shame for this textured and interesting city that was so integral to this country’s history to fall into ruins.
The Union Station Marriott of St. Louis is definitely the most gorgeous hotel I’ve stayed in. The Union Station I mentioned a few paragraphs above was officially closed in 1978 (I can never forgive Americans for killing railroad and public transport to augment their automobile industry-stupid! Stupid! Stupid!). It went through major renovation in the 1980s and now has the hotel and a shopping mall.
The hotel has the magnificent Grand Hall - 10,000 sq. ft. big and three stories high, with intricate art deco interiors and some beautiful stained glass windows, with the grand staircases leading up to it from the grand entrance. My room was on the topmost floor, where the roof slanted, very like a castle.
This was perhaps the best place to stay in St. Louis, because one’s introduction to its glorious past starts right there at the lobby, aided by several well written signs talking about the nuances of the architecture and purpose of the building.
Walk out of the hotel to run into a beautiful fountain celebrating the confluence of Mississippi and Missouri across the street, designed by Carl Milles.
The thing is, I don’t get water fountains. Not even the elegant Mogul ones. I cannot see the aesthetic of squirting water in the air--let it flow as it should, will you? But this one in St. Louis was different.
The artist has envisaged the confluence like a marriage, so both the bride and groom have an entourage who are frolicking in the water. It is an elaborate fountain, exuberant, evocative, and brilliant.
The park that runs along Market Street for most of its length was full of seemingly homeless people on Sunday morning. It is an interesting park, with some cool installations and statues. The other side of the park is lined by what seems like the 60s style minimalist, utilitarian apartments. I’m sure they are expensive apartments and the lap of luxury, but from outside, they seemed like metaphorical characters in a European art house movie directed by someone like Goddard. Especially the one that was facing a beautiful red brick Irish Catholic church.
The first item on my agenda was to visit the Cathedral Basilica. Now, here’s why I like this city. You travel along Olive Street with its run down buildings, go past the St. Louis University which is an oasis amidst the desolation, and drive into a leafy neighborhood. There, across the street from a prosaic apartment building, tucked in a cozy corner, is a spectacular Cathedral Basilica, which claims to have the world’s largest collection of mosaic artwork! 83,000 sq. ft. or 2.5 acres of glittering, colorful mosaics depicting various aspects of the Catholic theology!
While the exterior is garden variety Romanesque (I am no expert), the interiors are Byzantine. Cruciform shape, marble walls indicating earth rising up to the domes and half domes filled with mosaics representing heaven all make you wonder whether you have wandered into Turkey.
We were given a free tour by a knowledgeable volunteer. Although it tends to be a little too long, I recommend taking the tour rather than looking around by yourself. It is completely worth it.
Next stop of course was the Gateway Arch. This was built in 1967 and commemorates the Gateway to Westward Expansion that St. Louis is. You might have seen its elegant arch in a million photographs, but like the Taj, nothing prepares you for its beauty.
It’s a 630 ft. arch, sleek, minimal, and streamlined. It’s exterior are made of stainless steel plates, giving it shiny, seamless appearance. Its reflective surface works superbly with changing light, making it look different each minute. There is a ride to the top. Although I got myself a ticket, I was very unsure of my acrophobia to risk it. I didn’t want to get a panic attack at 630 ft., sitting in a small car. Chicken, I know.
I happily went for the riverboat cruise along the Mississippi. Except for the thrill of sailing on the rapid and muddy waters of Mississippi, and listening to some nifty local trivia, the cruise was mediocre. The vast and steep steps that descend into the river were magnificent to look at--akin to the big ghats on the Hoogly (which is a very beautiful river, despite all the squalor that lines it, IMHO).
It was Monday all too soon and time to return. The last stop was lunch at Landry’s Seafood Place, facing a large man made lake, full of gold fish and traversed by people in small pedal boats. The seafood gumbo and shrimp kabobs were fantastic. In fact, this was the only tasty meal I had in St. Louis.
I traveled to St. Louis by the Amtrak train and felt I was going through my own Motor Cycle Diaries. On the way thither, track work forced us on an alternate route, cutting through the vast swathe of rural Illinois. Between Chicago and St. Louis, I didn’t see a single town, leave alone a city.
All I saw was sun drenched fields, flocks of birds, horses and cows, lonely houses or tiny villages, and thick forests that had secret green streams running through them. Six hours of going through the heartland of America made me wonder whether rural America is its truer identity than its too few cities. I almost understood its ethnocentricity--would you bother about other countries beyond your shores when you live in a lonely house with fields and forests extending in all directions as far as your eyes could see?
While coming back, the same track work forced us to travel to Springfield by bus. This small town, this one horse town, was where Lincoln came to find employment and found his wife. This is where he built his career. Apparently it was a growing prairie town in that time. Now it just looks, well, like nothing at all. The roads leading into town are unremarkable and downtown is quite characterless. The station is small with a leaking vending machine. Such is the march of capitalism.
This trip has been my most American experience. To view the pictures, click here.
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