Moonlight Ramble this Saturday to benefit the development of a world-class hostel in ONSL

As you may have heard, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group has been in discussion with Hostelling International – Gateway Council (HI-GC) about possible plans to redevelop the Mullanphy Emigrant Home into a world-class hostel.

We feel this is a perfect re-purposing of the building - from a welcome center to immigrants of all nationalities and creeds in the 1860s & 1870s to a home-away-from-home to international travelers visiting St. Louis.

Plans are in the very tender beginning stages, but HI-GC has already scheduled their first fund-raising effort which happens this Saturday, August 16th at midnight. The Moonlight Ramble, an annual bike ride through the streets of St. Louis, attracts around 10,000 riders and will take riders through the historic neighborhoods of the city.

To help HI-GC with their fund-raising, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group has committed to rounding up Route Marshalls to help with the Moonlight Ramble.

Route Marshalls are responsible for traffic control at intersections (like crossing guards), making sure riders turn at the right places along the route, and helping riders who need assistance. The shift time is from 10pm Saturday until 2am Sunday, and Route Marshalls can ride once their intersection has been given the all-clear. Route Marshalls also receive a free t-shirt!

If you are interested in helping out, please sign up at http://www.moonlightramble.com/mr/volunteer.html and under the question “Are you a member of a group of volunteers who wish to work together at the Moonlight Ramble®? If yes, please describe:” please write “ONSLRG”. Once registered as a volunteer, you will receive the Volunteer Handbook and instructions for check-in.

All proceeds from the Moonlight Ramble go towards the development of a world-class hostel in Old North St. Louis.

Thank you!

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Holiday Sampler of Recent Developments in ONSL

Construction Progress at Crown Square

A couple of sights and scenes from the House Tour…

New River Bridge Plans

The recently released revisions to plans for the new Mississippi River Bridge that will cross the river and pass through the southeast corner of ONSL can be seen at the following website: http://www.newriverbridge.org/

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• 14th Street Mall, Historic rehabs, House Tour, Life in ONSL, Mullanphy Emigrant Home, ONSL amenities

Missouri Preservation Selects Mullanphy for State’s 2008 Most Endangered List

Missouri Preservation today announced their 2008 list of Most Endangered Historic Places in the State of Missouri. For the second year in a row, the Mullanphy Emigrant Home is on their list and will benefit from the attention and support generated by inclusion on this highly competitive list. More information on why Missouri Preservation selected the Mullanphy building and to learn more about the other sites on this year’s list, visit Missouri Preservation’s website at http://www.preservemo.org/.
Above: Missouri Preservation Board President Jeff Brambilla announcing the inclusion of the Mullanphy building on their 2008 List of Most Endangered Historic Places in the State of Missouri.

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Mullanphy Update

Work on the south end of the Mullanphy building has progressed to the point where the scaffolding and lift have been removed from the site.

Still on the to-do list: restoring face brick to the new wall and closing in the hole on the north end. Stay tuned for more to come - and feel free to send in your contribution to keep this work going!

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• Mullanphy Emigrant Home

More on Mullanphy Progress

What a difference a year can make!
Above: Mullanphy one year ago, shortly after the storm of March 31, 2007.
Above: Mullanphy earlier this morning.

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2 Years Later: Cause for Celebration at Mullanphy!

Two years ago today, a powerful spring storm pummeled the south end of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home building at 1609 N. 14th Street, bringing down much of the south wall. Almost a year later, on March 31, 2007, another storm with devastating wind gusts blew right through the large opening and produced further damage to the building’s east wall and blasted a massive hole through the north wall.

After two successive years of getting sucker-punched, we almost are at the point where we can breathe a sigh of relief. Over the past couple days, crews from John Smith Masonry have been back on the scene at Mullanphy, re-building the wall. This new wall is nearly complete (with face brick to follow later, including some of the historic bricks salvaged from the rubble), resting on the new foundation that was made possible by the generous financial support from more than 200 individuals and groups and a loan of $25,000 from Old North St. Louis Restoration Group’s general revenue.

Thank you to all who have made this anniversary one to celebrate! We can still use additional funds to finish the job of completely stabilizing the building so that it can experience a full redevelopment and re-use as an anchor at the south end of Old North St. Louis. Send your anniversary gifts to Mullanphy Emigrant Home LLC, care of Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, 2800 N. 14th Street, St. Louis, MO 63107. To make a contribution online, just click on the “Make a Donation” button along the top right side of this page or visit www.savemullanphy.org.

The price of progress: Soon we’ll have to look out a smaller window to enjoy the view of the Arch and the Downtown skyline.

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Mullanphy in the Post-Dispatch for St. Patrick’s Day

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• Mullanphy Emigrant Home, ONSL in the news

Mullanphy Wall Rising

Last week finally provided a break in the weather for the masons to work on the south wall of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. Concrete block has now been laid up to the second floor. While this is great progress, there is still a long way to go before the Mullanphy Building is safe.

If you would like to help out with the effort to rebuild the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, please visit SaveMullanphy.org. There you can find out how you can donate to the effort, as well as check out the amazing progress that has already been made. Any contribution you can make to the effort is greatly appreciated, no matter how small, or large. You can also see images of the progress on our Flickr page under the Mullanphy Tab.

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Scaffolding at Mullanphy

Yes, that really is scaffolding you see on the south end of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. The Masonry Contractors Association will now be going up in the air closing up the openings with concrete block. This will hopefully take away the immediate threat to the building. However, there is still a long way to go on this project. All this work is doing is laying concrete block. Face brick and plenty more work is needed. To learn more about how you can help or just learn more about the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, head over to SaveMullanphy.org. The resources donated so far have been depleted to accomplish this work, so the preservation effort is very much in need of your help. Tell your friends and neighbors.

Check out more photos from yesterday as well as the last year and a half on our Flickr Page in the Mullanphy Set.

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Visible Evidence of Progress

Crown Square
As reported earlier, the financing for the complete redevelopment of the former North 14th Street Pedestrian Mall is a done deal. Work on the residential component started in August, and over the past week, ONSLRG and our development partners at RHCDA closed on the financing for the mixed-use component, which will make it possible for the historic rehabilitation of almost every building on the 2600 and 2700 blocks of N. 14th Street for commercial space and market-rate apartments. The first sign of actual construction at the commercial side of the Crown Square redevelopment took place today with the removal of the Park’s Drug Store sign from the building at 2718-20 N. 14th Street. The landmark sign will be kept in storage and re-installed upon completion of the building.

Mullanphy

Meanwhile, 11 blocks to the south, masonry contractors have begun laying concrete block along the south opening of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home building. This work is just the latest demonstration of ONSLRG’s commitment to stabilizing and preserving the storm-damaged anchor of the Mullanphy National Register Historic District. The work underway right now is made possible by significant contributions of labor, equipment, and supplies from the Masonry Contractors Association. All of this work, however, required major expenditures for extensive foundation rebuilding, insurance, taxes and other repairs that have totaled more than $75,000 to date. Since these expenses have exceeded our financial contributions, we still could use additional donations. Please consider supporting this worthy endeavor with a donation (by clicking on the button along the right column or by visiting www.SaveMullanphy.org for more details).

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• 14th Street Mall, Historic rehabs, Mullanphy Emigrant Home