Maplewood History: Still More Historic Photos from the Kalb/Fischer Collection

By
Doug Houser
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8
84
this early photo was taken in almost the same location as the one prior. the difference is this time the view is to the outh with the Watson's (I'm assuming) home visible just across Woodland Ave. This is probably an early photo judging by the car which is (as my Granddaddy bill used to say) a T Model Ford. I have to wonder if the large house visible at upper left still exists.

These photos of the Kalb family and business are certainly some of the most interesting items to surface lately. As I have mentioned before all of these images are made available to us courtesy of Martin Fischer.

Let's get the ball rolling with a photoof R.T.Kalb and a couple of unidentified ladies in the side yard of their home at 2711 Big Bend.
Let’s get the ball rolling with a photo of R.T.Kalb and a couple of unidentified ladies in the side yard of their home at 2711 Big Bend.
this early photo was taken in almost the same location as the one prior. the difference is this time the view is to the outh with the Watson's (I'm assuming) home visible just across Woodland Ave. This is probably an early photo judging by the car which is (as my Granddaddy bill used to say) a T Model Ford. I have to wonder if the large house visible at upper left still exists.
This early photo was taken in almost the same location as the one prior. The difference is this time the view is to the south with the Watson’s (I’m assuming) home visible just across Woodland Ave. This is probably a very early photo judging by the car which is (as my Granddaddy Bill used to say) a T Model Ford. I have to wonder if the large house visible at upper left still exists. I speculate that these are the Kalb children.
Same location. Is this the young woman in the previous photo a few years later?
Same location. Is this the young woman in the previous photo a few years later?
I believe these are the same two children shown here at the rear of their home with the Kalb commercial building on the left.
I believe these are the same two children shown here at the rear of their home with the Kalb commercial building on the left.
The same young man this time in front of the home.
The same young man this time in front of the home.
this has to be the same fellow in the previous photo only now as an adult.
This has to be the same fellow in the previous photo only now as an adult.
The property listed as belonging to M.Jacoby must have been sold shortly after this information was gathered to Kalb. the big house seen in the distance in the photo of the two children was most likely on Hazel ave. Or maybe as far away as Maple. the thing to do would be wander over in that direction and see if any of the roof lines match.
The property listed as belonging to M.Jacoby must have been sold shortly after this information was gathered to Kalb. The big house seen in the distance in the photo of the two children was most likely on Hazel Ave. Or maybe as far away as Maple. The thing to do would be wander over in that direction and see if any of the roof lines match.

8 COMMENTS

  1. I love all you Maplewood sleuths! Interesting stuff! Thank you for all your hard work, keen eyes and humor.

  2. Doug – In the shot of the two girls with the large house in the upper left – looks like the house at Lohmeyer and Oakview Terrace – which I seem to remember you said once is the 2nd oldest home in Maplewood.

    • Hey Doug, your comment which I appreciate caused me to get out the 1909 map and try and figure out where that big house was. First I think the smaller of the two children is the boy seen later in other photos. On the 1909 map of St. Louis county the property is not yet owned by the Kalb family, understandable even though they have claimed to have been there “Since 1909” ever since. In order to publish the map in 1909 considerable lead time was required to accumulate the data. M.Jacoby may have sold the property to Kalb in 1908 or perhaps a bit earlier. Next I assumed the street behind the two children was Woodland. Looking at the map I suspect it may have been an alley. The children are facing north so the big house in the photo would have been on the other side of Big Bend (then known as Pennsylvania) and to the southeast. This would have put it most likely on Hazel or Maple Avenues. Keeping in mind that the info on the map is 1909 or earlier and the photo may have been 19teen something going by the T Model Ford, it is possible that the big house had not been constructed at the time the map was. Is that at all clear? If this interface will let me, I’ll add that section of the map to this post.

    • From my perspective the large house in the distant background is the Sutton House on Manchester (now the funeral home) and the brick house behind the kids would be the last house on the north side of the 7400 block of Hazel (the front parking lot of Tim Horton’s). So we are looking across Big Bend from the front yard of 2711 Big Bend.

      In these photos of the girl/boy and girl/dog you can see an iron fence that appears to be the same from the photos from the front yard of the Kalb house that Doug H. posted on Sept. 20th.

      I think we can exclude the brick house in the immediate background being the Watson’s house because the front of the brick house is on the right hand side of the photo? From the side yard of 2711 Big Bend the Watson House would have the front of the left side of the photo?

      Thanks for posting these.

      dp

      • Dave, I think you are exactly right. I was totally out to sea on that one. Doug Miner got the direction right. The children are facing west and are most likely standing directly in front of the Kalb house. You are correct with your identification of the big house as being the Sarah Harrison (maiden name Sutton) home. I went back and looked at my previous post with the photo of the Watson’s house and it could not be the house in these photos. Your explanation fits with the map as well. The photo is much more interesting and important to me than before. What threw me off was the absolute meagerness of Big Bend (called Pennsylvania on this 1909 map). Thanks so much for your sharp analysis.

    • Doug, I should mention that the home I think you’re referring to is at 2637 Roseland Terrace. The Lyman and Kay (Sutton) Thomas home. I don’t think it was the second home in Maplewood. I think that information was put out when the home was recently listed for sale. I think 2824 Laclede Station Road is older.

  4. Great pics, awesome to see that big brick house again!

    My guess. In picture #2, the girl on the right is the same girl with the dog in picture #3, and then again with her younger brother in picture #4. The girl on the left in picture #1 doesn’t appear again.

    I also like how the gentleman walking by in picture #3 kind of looks creepy, photobombing so to speak.

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