by Michael R. Allen
By September 2004, McBride & Sons Homes had opened their first two display homes on McRee Avenue and had built foreboding fencing along 39th Street to mark their subdivision’s boundary. The company had also placed sod around their fences after grass seed did not grow in the hot Missouri summer. One young worker had to water the sod lawn each day, dragging a large hose around the former site of St. Louis’ worst south side slum. Wreckers had completed nearly all of the demolition work on the eastern three blocks, including the demolition of the Regal Foods store (see third photo). The last remaining structure in this area, a handsome 1910’s-era four-flat at 3919-21 Lafayette, was half gone. We detail the wrecking of that building in photos below.
September 24, 2004
September 26, 2004