More Extraordinary Images From The Collection Of The Missouri Historical Society
A Tale of Two Albums – Part Five
This post has been a difficult one to birth. I had a direction that I began the construction process with. Then about half way through it began to go in a different direction. So I rewrote the opening paragraphs and went with the new direction. That was going well. I had about 5 hours of time invested in it when our site suffered a glitch, the repair of which caused my half-formed post to disappear. Here we go again.
The home of Dr. W.L. Sappington and his wife is depicted many times in both of the photo albums. Album One contains a couple of images where the address number (7177) can be seen. An image in Album Two clearly shows that the address has been changed to 7477. The proximity of the home to the Sutton mansion is how we know the location was on Manchester road.
Nearly all of the images in this post are from Album One. This one from page 10 is the first time Dr. Sappington’s home/office appears. None of the images from Album One are dated. None of the people in them are identified.
From page 11, two couples pose with a small boy who appears to be strangling a dog. The railing on the front porch and the diamond-paned window are details that will help us identify the building in other photos.
Also from page 11, the men have disappeared and the boy and dog have been replaced by an older woman who, I suspect, is Margaret Sutton, wife of John L. and mother of Annie Sutton Sappington, wife of Dr. Wallace Sappington. The women are ignoring the photographer. Here the street number 7177 is clearly visible.
Also from page 11, the women are facing the camera this time. We get a good look at some of the exterior trim around the window.
From page 36, definitely on the same front porch steps.
On page 39, we find this very unusual image. I’m guessing that, at least, some of the women we have been looking at in those first images are now on top of one of our commercial buildings. The challenge to me was to try and discover if either of the buildings in this image still exist.
On page 40, this woman (probably Annie Sappington) and her dog are back in front of the Sappington home. I am displaying these images in the order that they were pasted in the album.
Also from page 40, Annie has not only brought her friends to the roof of the building but she also didn’t want her dog to miss out either. Do I have to mention how weird these images on the roof are? I probably need another category – Ultra weird. I have been able to determine that the two houses whose gable ends are visible have been demolished. They once faced south on Elm just west of Sutton. They were replaced by an apartment building. The flat roofed brick home on the left survives. it was recently renovated and is home to a family of Maplewood’s newest residents.
This is the third and last of the on-the-roof photos. The roof on the church tower in the distance is how I determined the location where the images were made. Notice the projections that are visible even at a distance.
Those projections were vents. This church, which was once located on the NW corner of Sutton and Flora, was destroyed by fire in 1914.
The back of the church postcard.
The ruined church was replaced in 1915 by this one which survives today.
Take another look at this first image of the women on the roof. I was able to determine that the building survives today. It is at 3107 Sutton, just south of the Mauhaus, the cat cafe. It is the building that once housed the Powhatan Theater. The fenestration is still the same as the above image. The rear of the home on Elm still looks much the same as well.
The three windows with the brick arches haven’t moved since ? This building is not shown on the 1909 map of Maplewood from the Plat Book of St. Louis County. Zillow lists the build year as 1910. The McGregor Bakery first built and occupied this building. The Powhatan Theater is listed at this address (3107) in the Maplewood Business Directory of 1912. And the Airdome (outside theater) is listed right next door at 3111. The images must be earlier than 1912.
The back of this home on Elm still looks much the same.
The rear of the Mauhaus is on the left. The roof of the Powhatan building where the young ladies and dog once stood is on the right. For more on the Powhatan Theater, click on this sentence.
The building shown on the 1909 map of Maplewood in the Plat Book of St. Louis County must be 3101 Sutton now housing the cat cafe, the Mauhaus. It is the only commercial building on the block.
This ad from 1908 establishes that 3101 Sutton existed prior to the 1909 map. Click on this link to read more about the Schwartzmans and 3101 Sutton. So what’s the problem?
The McGregor family must have built the building in 1910 to live in and house their bakery. Zillow lists the build date as that – 1910. It was definitely a bakery at one time. Large cast iron parts of the ovens are still in the interior walls. But the 1912 business directory lists their address as 7303 Piccadilly Ave.
What is going on? I’m mystified.
If you’d like to read more about the McGregor family and business, click on this sentence.
I guess we’ll pursue more of this madness, next post.
I hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend. I have a tremendous amount of respect for all of the lost souls that we honor today.
Doug Houser May 26, 2025
Doug, Gary here, in the photo of the Powhatan Theater with the ladies on the roof, I’m sure that you saw that the rear of the building was an addition from the definite change in the brick work and I suspect it was recently completed at the time of the photo being taken because of all of the lumber strewn about in the foreground.
That’s a good observation, Gary. Thanks for making it. The stair stringers in the lumber pile made me wonder if it was just some unrelated junk.
Amazing detective work! Are the city directories available at the Maplewood library? They would be so handy researching our 1904 on Maple
Thank you, Megan. I know that our library has one copy each of the 1912 and 1915 Maplewood directories. As for any others, I can’t say.
I’m a sucker for fanciful stories about place names, so you can imagine how the name Powhatan made my imagination race. I should have known it would turn out to be nothing more glamorous than a local businessman.
The picture of the tiny women on the distant roof reminds me of the recent movie Cats, where the director couldn’t control the performers and their settings at a consistent scale.
Esley, I suppose we’ll never know if our women on the roof could sing. But having looked at some of the other images (which I’ll run in a future post), I’d have to say they definitely could dance! Thanks for your comments.
Doug, You are a 1st class “History Detective.” I enjoy the same for our family history. Your “then and now” analysis make Maplewood history much more interesting. Even if I am too busy, I stop to read your posts.
Thanks, Doug. Good to hear from you.
Doug, great post! Question about the page 36 photo, where is the left side of the house?
Ian, the detail was lost to overexposure. Notice that the vine is still there. I use Photoshop to straighten and adjust the exposure on most of the images. But on some of the images like that one, no detail was there to enhance.
Thanks for the early shot of our church!
My pleasure.
What was the Airdome?
Kiwi, the Airdome was the term that many different theaters used to designate outdoor seating. The Powhatan advertised that it could seat 1500 in 1913.