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The St. Louis Public School district went from having far too many students to hemorrhaging unnecessary schools in a shockingly short amount of time. Marshall School had a whole extra building annexed onto it decades after it was built to house overflow, but a few decades after that, it closed entirely.

By far the newest of the schools I saw on the tour (next most recent was from the 40s). Sometime before the 60s, the knowledge of how to build a school that doesn’t look like ass just got lost, I guess? Because Williams School looked like ass. Boring, industrial, and without soul. Also, without a…

This particular school is not currently on the market. It was named for wealthy philanthropist Samuel Cupples, who was apparently a millionaire by the time he was thirty. I was barely anything when I was thirty. Nobody’s ever named a failed public school after me.

The most interesting thing about this school to me was the wide variety of different intercom speaker styles. It seemed like every room had a completely different type of speaker.

During the open house, someone set off the fire alarm in this school. Repeatedly. As someone who always has a pair of earplugs on his person, I got to feel like I had a superpower. Yay!

Named for Union general Nathaniel Lyon. You could own this school for a mere $417,839.

Thoughts while exploring Sherman School: I love when there are remnants of the students who went there to give you a feel for the kids that learned here. Sherman School had actual handprints. You could probably use forensic technology to track down the people who went there, if they have a criminal record. The rusted…

A thoroughly trashed vacant St. Louis public school.

The St. Louis Public Schools tour continues! Mark Twain School was built in 1912 by William B. Ittner, and was named after a man who wasn’t named Mark Twain. It was a very moist school–lots of water leaking in, which turned the boiler room into an indoor pool–and had a really neat top-floor library/auditorium. It…