Unique positions in life

I just got back, the early part of this month, from a family reunion in St. Louis, MO. Since my mother was the oldest sibling, I happen to be older than one of my uncles. I was sorta sandwiched in between the last two children and that's actually a unique position. Reunions always bring back memories of the far distant past and this one was no exception. The last visit I had to St. Louis seemed to have encompassed a visit to all of the old "home places" I was familiar with. One on Allen Ave. and one on Oregon Ave. Here's one of the favorite picture taking places on Allen with most of the family, at the time, present (I'm right in the front).


Allen was pretty far back in my memory, but still there. I attended Hogdin Elementary (I don't even know how to spell it anymore) during part of the 2nd grade, while we were waiting to move to Texas in 1952.

Shortly after we moved, they moved too. The "new" house was on Oregon Ave. and looked like this in 1952.



There was a plum tree in the back yard that was big enough to climb in (we don't have any that big around here!). I understand it was an old farm house that had been modernized from its 1850s state, but that may be just "legend".

Part of the year's excitement was after I got out of school for the summer. We got out a week earlier than St. Louis did, so I was there for the last day of school, when a trip was taken to Forest Park Highlands!

The Highlands, as we called it, was originally built in 1896 and burned in 1963, so it had a long history that included being a part of the World's Fair in 1904. Some of those buildings are still in use for their intended purposes.

A tour can be made of the Highlands at this site:
http://www.forestparkhighlands.com (I can't get it to come up as a hyperlink)
There's a video of the fire at that button on the home page, but there's also pictures of the Comet roller coaster and the Flying Turns. It was a great place to visit and provided many great memories!

Sometimes, memories put someone in a unique place, but it may only be unique to that one person. I stayed the week not too far from Herculaneum, MO, in Jefferson County. Most people are unaware of the Doe Run lead smelting operation there and the prominence of making shot and the material for bullets at that location. Here's a mural at the state capitol depicting part of its history. (click on the image for the full view)


I keep looking for a good picture of the shot tower, but never seemed to find one, until now!


The Shot Tower was built in 1856 (By 1813 three shot towers had been constructed on the bluffs) to produce lead shot ammunition. Molten lead was poured from the top of the tower and as it fell, it passed through a series of sieves until it was the proper size for ammunition, and then it landed in a tub of cold water. The balls were then caught in a water basin and taken to an adjoining building to be turned through cylinders to round and smooth the pellets for use as projectiles in firearms. It's one of the few remaining shot towers in the country and the only one west of the Mississippi (barely!).

In 1808 Moses Austin and S. Hammond laid out the town of Herculaneum at the mouth of Joachim Creek near the site of the abandoned New Hartford. "Moses Austin (October 4, 1761 – June 10, 1821) was a leading figure in the development of the American lead industry and the father of Stephen F. Austin, a pioneer settler of Texas."

Stephen F. Austin University is in Nacogdoches, Texas, about 25 miles south of here, so it does sorta come full circle and shows the unique way things link together and all brought about by an excursion into the memories of the past.