Cast Iron Storefronts
August 30, 2012Ubiquitous in almost every neighborhood in the City of St. Louis (and most inner-ring suburbs as well), cast iron storefronts offer a glimpse into St. Louis’ once booming architectural iron industry. Ranging from purely functional to elaborately ornamented, and from lovingly cared for to all but forgotten, these architectural elements reflect the diversity and character of St. Louis and its neighborhoods.
In the peak of their production, from the 1890s to the 1910s, St. Louis exported cast iron storefronts all around the region and out to the boom towns of the west. Most well known and prolific were the Mesker Brothers (a company that doesn’t have a single storefront in town that I know of) and George L. Mesker & Co (brother to the Mesker Brothers) based out of Evansville, Indiana. Because there is a wealth of information about these companies already available on the web (start here), and because there are so few of them that have been identified in the City of St. Louis, this acknowledgement is as far as I’m going to take the topic of the Mesker Brothers.
Luckily, although the Mesker Brothers’ signature was not left very apparently (at least to me) on their work in the City of St. Louis, their local competition made sure that their names would be remembered. Below is a photographic inventory of all of the local Iron Works, Foundries and Manufacturing companies that produced cast iron storefronts in St. Louis, for St. Louis (as far as I know – I’m sure there are more out there and I’d love to hear about them). So here it is, Cast Iron Storefronts, B through V.
Banner Iron Works
Chester Iron & Foundry Co. (On right)
Christopher and Simpson (J. Christopher & Co)
Gerst Bros Mfg. Co.
Globe Iron and Foundry Company
Kilpatrick & Gray
Koken Iron Works (Scherpe & Koken, Scherpe, Koken & Graydon)
Meyerpeter & LeLaurin
Pullis Bro’s (T.R. Pullis & Sons, T.R. Pullis & Bro, Pullis Brothers)
South St. Louis Foundry (S. STL. F)
Standard Foundry
St. Louis Architectural Iron Co.
The Union Iron and Foundry Co.
Victor Iron Works
For more photographs of cast iron storefronts around St. Louis and elsewhere, visit my Flickr photo set Cast Iron Storefronts.
Love this! Great documentation of an important St. Louis manufacture. Regarding Mesker Bros fronts in St Louis, I know of only one at 9900 Gravois Road. It doesn’t retain any column nameplates but does have a great galvanized pressed metal upper story.
by Darius Bryjka September 5, 2012 at 8:59 amI’ll have to go take a look at that storefront. It looks to me like that address is outside the St. Louis City limits, but it is still certainly worth the trip. Thanks for the tip!
I’ve been spending a little bit of time looking through the Mesker Brothers catalogs to familiarize myself with their cast iron columns so that I can keep an eye out for them, but still have yet to spot anything.
by stlexplorer September 5, 2012 at 3:59 pmYou can spot them in other cities too. Memphis has some very visible St. Louis logos on main street buildings.
by Daron September 10, 2012 at 2:16 pmIf you send me an email address I have some great photos of a gate surrounding a headstone in the little southern utah town of Silver Reef. The marking on it says Pullis and Sons St. Louis MO
by Anjee Bradshaw March 29, 2015 at 12:16 pm