1930 Salisbury

This is 1930 Salisbury.  It was the St. Louis Turnverein, a German-American club in the Hyde Park area.  When I discovered it, there was a chain link fence around the entire property, which was for safety reasons more than anything.  From what I could tell, there was nothing of value left in the place except these bricks and some burned out old basketball hoops.

This is the only place I've ever been injured, my foot popping through the gymnasium floor (at the other end of the building) and I had to grab ahold of something to keep from following it too far.  I usually wear boots and gloves when I go into these places but this particular day I was wearing tennis shoes.  Someone had pushed down the fence and I hadn't expected to see such easy entrance that day I went to check on the building.  I got a scrape on my right ankle that stung for a couple of days.  Yeah, not an exciting story.

In any case, what I did not know then was that there was a bowling alley underneath my feet until I researched the building's history.  It was also known as North St. Louis Turners Hall, built in the 1880's.  The building has since been demolished, about three years ago now if I remember right.  It is just a large open grass field now.