Monday, December 03, 2007

3652 S Jefferson Ave

3652 S Jefferson Ave

The University of Missouri Digital Library now hosts a number of very cool high-resolution scanned image databases, including Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from prior to 1922.

Sanborn, of course, is still in business so their more recent detailed building-level maps, heavily relied upon by the insurance industry as well as by city planners, are still quite costly to purchase.

But the maps from 1880 to 1922 are in the public domain. So, although it's not 100%, you can at least search for a couple street names and get the tile for your own block.

For example, that fire hydrant in front of my house? Yep, it was already there in 1909.

Anyway, checking some nearby blocks, I discovered that 3652 S. Jefferson Ave. was once the location of a curiously named institution:

The Home for Aged and Infirm Israelies

Apparently, it was built in 1882.

I'm not sure when it was demolished, but the successor institution today is The Cedars at the JCA, located at 13190 S. Outer Forty Drive in Chesterfield.

And what is at that location today?

The German Cultural Society (Deutscher Kulturverein) which built its hall there in 1982, 100 years after the JCA-predecessor was sited there.