It all starts in Soulard, a place just south of downtown St. Louis.   The nearby Farmer’s Market was started in 1779 and is still there (great place to get Gooey Butter cakes).   Anheuser-Busch brewery is just a little further south.   This is where we lived when I was first born.  The building is probably 1870’s.

This picture was taken out back, that’s my mom and older brother, and I’m the baby bump.

Here I am at the housing project (housing estate).   It had just been built and we were the first ones to occupy this apartment (flat).  It was new and quite nice at the time, later it was dynamited.  It was just north of downtown St. Louis.

Still in north St. Louis, we moved to this now empty lot next, although it was a corner store at that time.   We lived above it in one of the two flats.

Then we moved here, and lived in the upper flat.   The old water tower is visible to the left.   It’s about 4 blocks from the last place and has since been torn down.

This now empty lot is where we lived when the family moved out to the west county.   We always had to live near my grandparents, and they moved to this suburb first.   It was a tiny little house, built in 1910.  The house was on the very back of the lot, so we had a large yard to play in.  I was in second grade.

Then later we moved to this house, 4 doors away and across the alley.  Mom planted the roses in front.   I was in town for Mom’s funeral when I took this picture.   No one lived in the house, so someone broke in and stole the copper pipes.  The house no longer exists.

There is a British expression “Safe as houses”.   Looking over the places I lived in my youth, I’m wondering if this is true, as all of these places are just a memory at this point.