There is a big building south of Independence at 12 South Park Ave. that I’ve always wondered about. There’s a sign on a gate that says “B&S Small Eng.,” but I doubt that’s what it was originally used for.
It has the feel of being a lumber yard. Since it was near where the railroad tracks, it could have been that or some kind of warehouse.
Look at the flowers
When I was trying to see the building from as many angles as possible, I ran into this yard of flowers in an alley directly behind it.
House fronts on South Henderson
The house is on South Henderson. I saw a woman walking down the street and hoped she belonged to the house so I could talk with her but the stopped at another driveway. It looks like it’s been well cared for.
Mother lets me down
Mother, who usually has a keen eye for things, said she had never noticed the big building. I don’t have my normal reference materials with me on the road, so it’s up to you to tell me what I found.
Here are the clues:
- It is south of Independence between South Henderson and South Park.
- It has a sign that says 13 South Park – B&S Small Eng.”
- It is next to D’Lorch Locks and Alarms and some of their trucks are parked inside the fence.
Ken,
Im pretty sure it was Robinson Lumber. The RR tracks split off Independence there and ran behind Landgraf Lumber, where I worked thru college, Superior Electric, Ozark Gas. There may have been a liquor store at the split in the late 60’s -70’s. I remember walking them from Trinity with my cousin John Reed because it took us straight to Cape Lanes for some nickel pinball.
The building is Robinson Lumber
It is the old EC Robinson Lumber Company storage bldg. My parents owned it and the building to the right and the brick building to the left. They brought in two train cars and set up The Lindy Line Restaurant and Railroad Museum in the 70’s. Dad had several thousands of Corvair parts and some Corvair bodies. He also rented to others for storage. The building to the right housed around 15 driveable Corvairs. The brick building housed his RR Museum of toy trains and other RR memorabilia.
He sold the property to D’Lorch around 1993 right before Dad died.
Well, David, Tom and Linda beat me to it since I was at a model railroad operating session this morning. I have two pictures from Ken McElreath that were taken of the Illinois Central passenger cars to which Linda referred. I will send them to you, Ken so they can be posted.
The two cars were IC #3351, a modified heavyweight Parlor car (with table seating), and IC #4262, a Diner car.
The flowers. Someone should speak for the fine stand of Black Eyed Susans, state flower here in Maryland. Plant them and they will spread and very long lasting.
D’lorch locksmith still owns it and they repair lawn mowers in front part of it. Tho Denis has recently retired his girlfriend/com.law.wife’s son James is running business. D’lorch building sits almost on independence because it used to be the bus station.
Remember when train tracks ran down center of Indepedence?
Linda,
That building brings back memories for me. Les used to patronize me when I ran the Goodyear tire store on William back in the 80’s. He was very proud of his Corvair and train collection of which I visited many times. Your father and I became good friends and I miss him dearly. What a great man he was. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.