Weekly Photo Challenge: Structure II

The second, third and fourth tiers of A Hall of the old Missouri State Penitentiary  in Jefferson City, Missouri commonly referred to as “The Walls” because of the stone wall which surrounded the prison. Opened originally in 1836, it is known as “The Bloodiest 47 Acres in America”, and was finally closed in 2004.

“Before it was decommissioned in 2004, the Missouri State Penitentiary was the oldest continuously operating penitentiary west of the Mississippi River. Housing Unit Four, aka A Hall, was completed in 1838, making it the prison’s oldest structure. More than 50 other buildings were added to the site during MSP’s storied history, which includes famous inmates Sonny Liston, who began his boxing career while incarcerated at the prison, and James Earl Ray, who escaped the prison by way of a bread truck in 1967 (he assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. the next year).” https://www.missouripentours.com/into-the-dark.php

Only three of the 50 buildings on the penitentiary grounds remain; two cell blocks and the gas chamber. The penitentiary hosts daylight and nighttime guided tours.

To see more of this week’s challenge, click Structure.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Structure

The Eads Bridge is a steel combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River connecting the cities of St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois.  Envisioned and financed by a young Andrew Carnegie. Opened in 1874, it was one of the earliest long bridges built across the Mississippi, the world’s first all steel construction, and built high enough so steamboats could travel underneath. As such, the St. Louis Landmark is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark.

The bridge is named for its designer and builder,  James B. Eads. When completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6,442 feet (1,964 m). The ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material. This was the first such use of true steel in a major bridge. The cost of building the bridge was nearly $10 million ($210 million with inflation).

The Eads Bridge was also the first bridge to be built using cantilever support methods exclusively, and one of the first to make use of pneumatic caissons. The Eads Bridge caissons, still among the deepest ever sunk, were responsible for one of the first major outbreaks of “caisson disease” (also known as “the bends” or decompression sickness.) Fifteen workers died, two other workers were permanently disabled, and 77 were severely afflicted.

On June 14, 1874, John Robinson led a “test elephant” on a stroll across the new Eads Bridge to prove that it was safe. A big crowd cheered as the elephant from a traveling circus lumbered towards Illinois. It was believed that elephants had instincts that would keep them from setting foot on unsafe structures. Two weeks later, Eads sent 14 locomotives back and forth across the bridge at one time. The opening day celebration on July 4, 1874, featured a parade that stretched for 15 miles (24 km) through the streets of St. Louis.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eads_Bridge

To see more of this week’s challenge, click Structure.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Corner

This anolis lizard on the island of St. Croix is most likely reacting to me being too close to him. By puffing out his throat,  I assume he’s letting me know I’m too close, not that he is attracted to me.

To see more of this week’s challenge, click Corner.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Ooh, Shiny!

Breathtaking, awe inspiring and so worth while. The Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden, one of my favorite places on earth.
And…it’s coming back this year for its 5th Anniversary! If you are in the St. Louis area between November 17 through January 1, 2018, make a point to spend an every at the Garden.
To see more of this week’s challenge, click Ooh, Shiny!.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Elemental

Wildwood in the Fall

I have no doubt when God created the earth, he looked at the trees and as he created, he knew that we needed the change in the trees to dictate the change in the season. From the first budding leaves of spring to the spreading leaves of summer, through the colorful change in the fall to the naked branches of winter, each change is elemental to the season.

To see more of this week’s challenge, click Elemental.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture

Natural Texture

Indian Camp Creek Park, St. Charles County Parks, Wentzville, Missouri

To see more of this week’s challenge, click Textures.