1904 Jacob Pickel Dead Founder of Warrensburg Sandstone Quarries in 1870

Biographical Sketch of Jacob Pickel, Johnson County, 

Missouri, Warrensburg Township - Pickel Quarries
 

 Biographical Sketch of Jacob Pickel, Johnson County, Missouri,
Warrensburg Township
From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell,
Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918.
**********************************************************************
Jacob Pickel, the man who opened the first sandstone quarry in Johnson
county, Missouri, who is now deceased, was one of Johnson county's best
known citizens and one of Missouri's most prominent stone contractors.
He was born in 1831 in Cottonheim, Prussia and at the age of 20 years
emigrated from his native land and came to America, where he located in
St. Louis, Missouri in 1851. Jacob Pickel had learned the trade of 
stone cutting in the old country and he followed his trade in America
in addition to the work of contracting. In 1870, Jacob Pickel, associ-
ated with his two brothers, Peter and Anton, opened the first sandstone
quarry in Johnson county about two miles north of Warrensburg. This
quarry was placed in operation at an expenditure of much hard labor,
time and expense. A switch was put in, so that the stone could be 
loaded at the quarry. The three brothers installed a steam channeling
machine at the quarry, the machine alone costing six thousand dollars.
The lifting was also done by machinery, run by steam. The first large
contract was for more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars worth of
stone to be used in the construction of the Chamber of Commerce build-
ing in St. Louis, Missouri, a building which covers an entire block at
Third and Chestnut streets in that city. In the office of Ben Pickel
in Warrensburg can be seen the drawing made of this building while in 
the process of construction. All the stone was cut at the quarry and
shipped to St. Louis in perfect condition to be placed. Jacob Pickel
furnished the stone for the construction of the Kansas City Court 
House, the Southern Hotel, the Barr building, amd many other buildings
in Kansas City, Missouri, besides the stone used in many of the build-
ings in the city of Warrensburg. As many as fifteen hundred cars of 
stone would be shipped annually, a train load being daily shipped. The
quarry, at the present time, comprises 280 acres of land, but the orig-
inal purchase was about 40 acres. Jacob Pickel died in Warrensburg in
1903. He was an industrious, intelligent, capable citizen, one who did
much for the business interests of Johnson county and he was universal-
ly held in the highest esteem and respect. Jacob Pickel was united in 
marriage with Catherine Smith and to them were born five children:
Frank, of Warrensburg, Missouri; George, residing at Prairie du Chien,
Wisconsin, a priest in the Jesuit College at that place; Lizzie, who is
a nun, being with the sisters at Hebron, Nebraska; Ben, the manager of 
his father's stone quarry near Warrensburg; and Clara, who lives at 
home with her widowed mother and brother, Ben, in their quarry home.
The youngest son of Jacob Pickel, Ben Pickel, has taken an active 
interest in his father's trade and he is engaged in the business of
stone contracting. Ben Pickel attended the public schools of St. Louis
Missouri. About 1896, he began working for himself, engaged in the
business of contracting. His first large contract was for stone to be
used in the construction of the two buildings erected for the Warrens-
burg State Normal School. The Administration building, which is near-
ing completion, at the time of this writing in 1917, required fifty
thousand cubic feet of stone. The Pickel quarry can be operated to a
depth of fifty feet and then the water begins to come into it. Forty 
men are employed at one time by Ben Pickel in the quarry, but when the
sawing was done by hand, his father used to employ as many as three
hundred men at one time. Ben Pickel furnished the stone for the erec-
tion of a government post office in Arkansas last year, 1916. There is
no better stone to be found in this country than that furnished by the
Pickel quarry. 

Ben Pickel is one of Johnson county's most highly respected 

and progressive, young citizens.
====================================
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Bernard "Ben" Pickel, Warrensburg, MO Pickel Quarries 

Sunset Hill Cemetery, Missouri
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pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit 

or for presentation by other persons or organizations. 

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The following obit is taken from The Standard Herald, 

Warrensburg, Johnson Co, Missouri, dated Fri, April 15, 

1904, Vol XXXIX, No. 45.
Jacob Pickel Dead
Founder of Warrensburg Stone Quarries and Former 

St. Louis Contractor Succumbs to Kidney Trouble. 

 Jacob Pickel, founder of the stone quarries at 

Warrensburg, and owner of large areas of stone 

land near this city, and a pioneer contractor and 

builder in St. Louis died at his home near his 

quarries, Monday morning, of kidney trouble. 

Mr. Pickel had been in failing health for many 

years. In fact, he moved to this city in 1889, on 

account of his failing physical powers, and the 

disease which had wrecked the once rugged frame, 

completed its work Tuesday morning, and this man 

whose mind had planned and carried to completion 

many of the great business edifices of St. Louis, 

passed peacefully away. The remains, accompanied

 by the deceased's family, were borne to St. Louis 

Tuesday night, and the funeral services were held 

at St. Joseph's church, corner of Eleventh and 

Biddle streets, of which the deceased was a member

 and interment was made in Calvary cemetery.
Jacob Pickel was born in Coblence-on the-Rhine, Germany, 

71 years ago. He came to New Orleans on a sailing ship 

when a youth and it was his pride that the first money 

he made on the American continent was by pumping 

the water from the hold of the vessel which brought 

him over while it lay in New Orleans harbor. While 

in New Orleans he heard of the growing city of St. Louis, 

and made his way on a steam boat up the river to that 

city. Being a stone cutter, he found ready employment, 

and in a few years he sent for his brothers, William 

and George to come to this country, and they formed 

a partnership and founded the Pickel cut stone and 

granite yards at 2007 Gratoit street, St. Louis, which 

was owned by the deceased at the time of his death. 

It was at this yard, more than thirty years ago, that a 

Warrensburg man exhibited to Jacob Pickel a small 

cube of blue sandstone which had been quarried 

from the hill in front of what was then known as the 

Major Davis place, some two miles north of Warrensburg, 

and it was Jacob Pickel who immediately recognized 

it as a major quality of building stone and who bought 

the land and established what was then the greatest 

quarries that existed in the west. From these quarries 

and the Gratoit street stone yard grew many of the 

great buildings of St. Louis, among which were the 

Merchants Exchange building, the Lindell hotel, the 

William Barr dry goods emporium building, the 

Kennett building and many other lesser buildings of 

Missouri's metropolis of twenty five years ago. As 

stated above, Mr. Pickel's health failed some fifteen 

years ago, and leasing his stone yard at St. Louis, he 

moved to Warrensburg and built a beautiful home in 

view of the quarries he had made. There he resided 

until his death, surrounded by his family, who survive 

him as follows; His wife, sons Frank and Benjamin, 

and daughters, Misses Elizabeth and Clara. 




Sandstone, a highly durable gray stone and a somewhat 

unusual geological formation, was found in Warrensburg. 

Jacob, Peter, and Anton Pickle opened up the quarry mines 

in Warrensburg in 1871 and put our city on the map when 

it came to rock mining. The Warrensburg Sandstone, which 

initially was cut by hand, helped supply the raw materials 

for various buildings in St. Louis, Kansas City, and was 

even the main rock used in the creation of the State Capitol 

Building in Little Rock, Arkansas. The quarries were located 

north of the city (in the area that eventually became the 

Garden of Eden Pool) and was shipped to town by a rail 
spur linked to the Missouri Pacific Line.
John Jacob Pickel and Catharina Bell:
Marriage: 1824, Kottenheim,Germany.573
Children of John Jacob Pickel and Catharina Bell are:

1. +Peter Pickel, b. 1830^{574, 575, 576}, d. 1902^{577, 578, 579}.
2. Jacob Pickel, b. 1832^{580, 581, 582}, d. date unknown.
3. Christopher Pickel, b. 1825^{583, 584, 585}, d. date unknown.
4. +Anton Pickel, b. 1828^{586, 587, 588}, d. date unknown.
5. Gertrude Pickel, b. 1834^{589, 590, 591}, d. date unknown.
6. Maria Katherina Pickel, b. 1837^{592, 593, 594}, d. date unknown.
7. Frederick William Pickel, b. 1842^{595, 596, 597}, d. date unknown.
8. John George Pickel, b. 1845^{598, 599, 600}, d. date unknown.

2005 Guidebook Link

ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI GEOLOGISTS GUIDEBOOK TO FIELD TRIPS 52nd ANNUAL MEETING OCTOBER 7-8, 2005 

SEDALIA, MISSOURI FIELD Geology of the Valley Anticline beneath the Warrensburg Sandstone, Warrensburg, Missouri

VALLEY ANTICLINE ASSOCIATED WITH THE WARRENSBURG SANDSTONE IN MISSOURI John W. Emerson and John L. Nold Department of Earth Science Central Missouri State University Warrensburg, Missouri 64093 ABSTRACT The Warrensburg Sandstone, a Pennsylvanian alluvial valley-fill in Johnson County, Missouri, lies with angular unconformity on Desmoinesian Pennsylvanian marine strata comprised mainly of shales and thin limestones. These Desmoinesian shales and limestones generally dip away from the valley center, creating a valley anticline beneath the unconformity. Structural relationships reveal that the valley anticline formed contemporaneously with the incision of the deep valley in which the Warrensburg Sandstone was deposited. The structure formed primarily by toward-the-valley slumping of the valley walls. In addition, flow of Desmoinesian shales toward the valley as pressure was relieved by valley incision may have also contributed to the development of the valley anticline. INTRODUCTION In the Warrensburg, MO area, U.S. Highway 50 exposes a two mile wide cross-section of the north-south trending Pennsylvanian Warrensburg Sandstone as well as dipping layers of the older Marmaton limestones and shales on both the east and west margins of the sandstone body. These Marmaton Group strata along both edges of the Warrensburg Sandstone dip about 25-30 degrees away from the sandstone body on both sides, giving the impression that the sandstone was deposited along the axis of an eroded anticline (Emerson, 1975; Beall, 1975; Emerson and Nold, 1981; Nold and Emerson, 1989). This relationship extends for at least 6 mi (10 km) to the north and 12 mi (20 km) to the south of Warrensburg (Figure 1). More importantly, where Cenozoic erosion along the Blackwater River and its tributaries has cut through the bottom of the Warrensburg Sandstone, the same anticlinal dips are observed in the Desmoinesian rocks beneath the channel (Figures 2 and 3). Furthermore, where the Warrensburg Sandstone bifurcates south of Warrensburg, there is a valley anticline present along both branches (Figure 1). The coincidence between the branches of the Warrensburg Sandstone and the anticlinal structure within the pre-Warrensburg rocks implies some relationship between the two. In contrast, the regional subsurface structure in Johnson County is dominated by northwest and northeast trending faults and folds (McCracken, 1971). Structure contour maps of Ordovician and Mississippian rocks in the subsurface of Johnson County, based on dozens of well logs, show the northwest-southeast strike. The valley anticline in the Desmoinesian rocks beneath the Warrensburg Sandstone bears no relationship to regional structures. 6e Figure 1 Map showing the location of the Warrensburg Sandstone in Missouri and showing the valley anticlinal structures in Desmoinesian Series cyclothemic strata adjacent to the Sandstone. The north-south trend of the valley anticline is at variance with the dominant northwest-southeast tectonic structural trend in the underlying Paleozoic carbonates. 7 Figure 2 Geologic Map showing dipping Pennsylvanian Desmoinesian rocks adjacent to and beneath the Warrensburg Sandstone (stipple). In the southwest part of the City of Warrensburg, Cenozoic erosion has cut through the Sandstone exposing dipping strata beneath. The cross-Section shows the relationship of the Desmoinesian strata dipping away from the channel axis on both sides of the Sandstone. The depth to which the dipping layers extend is not known, but is not believed to be great. 8 

STRATIGRAPHIC SETTING The Warrensburg Sandstone is a north-south trending Pennsylvanian alluvial valley-fill which crops out for more than 50 miles (80 km) in Lafayette, Johnson, and Henry Counties, Missouri (Figure 1 and Emerson, 1979). The present maximum thickness of the Warrensburg Sandstone is about 100 feet based on missile site cores. The original thickness is unknown as the Warrensburg is the youngest formation exposed in the outcrop area. The Warrensburg Sandstone has been assigned to the Pleasanton Group, Missourian Series, by the Missouri Geological Survey (Howe and Koenig, 1961; Thompson, 1995). The Warrensburg Sandstone lies with angular unconformity upon cyclothemic rock units belonging to the Desmoinesian Series (Figures 3 and 4). The lower portion of the Desmoinesian, the Cherokee Group, consists mainly of shales, claystones, coals, and thin sandstones, the total thickness of the Group ranging from 200 to 300 feet thick within the region. The overlying Marmaton Group has a maximum thickness of 100 feet and is composed mainly of shales and thin limestones. The above thickness of the Desmoinesian rocks is taken from water well logs and missile site cores. Both Groups are poorly exposed due to soil development and vegetative cover. Outcrops in Lafayette County and northern Johnson County are further obscured by a mantle of glacial deposits. THE POST OAK CREEK CROSS-SECTION AT OLD HIGHWAY 13 NORTH Figure 3 is a structural cross-section along Post Oak Creek showing the angular unconformity between the horizontal Warrensburg Sandstone and an excellent section of underlying dipping Desmoinesian Series sedimentary rocks. On Figure 1 the section is exposed about two miles north of Warrensburg where Post Oak Creek has downcut through the Warrensburg Sandstone. The section is 400 feet in length and, except for rocks covered by 44 feet of bridge abutment, has nearly continuous exposure. The section is shown with west on the right and east on the left because it is exposed on the south side of Post Oak Creek and is observed while facing toward the south. The dip angle of the tilted rocks averages about 30 degrees on the west end of the section and gradually changes to approximately 60 degrees on the east end of the section. The tilted Demoinesian rocks are a series of shales, claystones, sandstones, coals, and limestones. No attempt has been made to divide these rocks into individual Formations because when the Pennsylvanian cyclothemic sedimentary rocks are structurally deformed and not in their normal stratigraphic order, identification is nearly impossible. We are certain that the tilted rocks are mostly Marmaton Group, with perhaps some underlying Cherokee Group rocks present as well. Two normal faults are present within the tilted Demoinesian Series rocks, the west fault being at 45 feet and the east fault at 300 feet on the 400 foot section (Figure 3). The west fault strikes north and dips about 60 degrees west and drag of beds on both sides definitely show it to be west side down, east side up. The east fault strikes a little west of north and has a vertical dip; no dragged beds are observed and the fault is inferred to have the same type of displacement as the one on the west, that is west side down, east side up. Adjacent to the east fault is a small fault that displaces coal and shale (Figure 3). The two normal faults are inferred to divide this section into three slump blocks which are present in this portion of the east side of the valley anticline. Inferences about the amount of displacement of the two normal faults are of considerable interest. First, the west fault. If the sequence coal, shale, sandstone that is exposed between zero and 30 feet is the same sequence, repeated by the west fault, as that exposed from 153-183 feet (Figure 3), then the stratigraphic separation and the slip of the fault would be approximately 80 feet. Estimating the amount of movement of the east fault is more tenuous. If we are correct in our inference that the fault is west side down, then a minimum of about 140 feet of stratigraphic 9Figure 3 Cross-section along Post Oak Creek at the old Highway 13 bridge showing the angular unconformity between the horizontal Warrensburg Sandstone and the tilted undifferentiated Demoinesian Series rocks below. The location of this section is about two miles north of Warrensburg, MO, where Post Oak Creek has eroded through the base of the Warrensburg Sandstone and exposed the underlying rocks (see Figure 1). The cross-section is shown as four 100 foot long portions which combine to be 400 feet in length of nearly continuous exposure, with west on the right and east on the left because the rocks are exposed on the south side of Post Oak Creek. Standard geologic symbols are used, that is stipple for sandstone, dashes for shale and claystone, and "brick" symbol for limestones. Mixtures of stipple and dashes are used for sandy shale and shaley sandstone. Coal beds are marked with "C". The dip angle of the tilted rocks averages 30 degrees on the west end of the section and gradually changes to approximately 60 degrees on the east end of the section. Two faults are shown. The west fault has dragged beds on both sides and is definitely west side down, east side up. No dragged beds are observed on the east fault and it is inferred to have the same type of displacement, west side down, east side up. Adjacent to the east fault there is a minor fault which displaces coal and shale. These faults are believed by the authors to divide the exposed tilted rocks into three slump blocks on the east side of the valley anticline. 1011 Figure 5 Cross-section from Hollingsworth et al. (1944) showing the deformation caused by flow of Upper Lias clays toward the axes of valleys in the Northampton Ironstone Field, England. Bulging of the valley floor is apparently due to flow caused by pressure relief resulting from valley incision. The bulging caused the valley walls to be tilted away from the axis, resulting in an anticlinal structure. Length of the longer cross-sections is approximately 5000 feet. Figure 4 Photograph of the angular unconformity between the Warrensburg Sandstone, above, and the dipping Demoinesian Series rocks below. Located in Post Oak Creek north of Warrensburg at the old Highway 13 bridge. The dark bed in this photograph is a 3 ft thick coal bed located at 195 feet on the Figure 3 cross-section. The coal bed is underlain and overlain by shales and claystones. separation would be required in order for the three limestones in the east fault block to not be exposed in the central fault block. The three limestone units in the east block are in themselves a stratigraphic problem. We suspect them to be Marmaton Group limestones but three limestones should not be present so close together within the Group. Perhaps there is faulting which is not exposed that is present between some of the limestones.

INCISION OF THE WARRENSBURG VALLEY AND FORMATION OF THE VALLEY ANTICLINE The Warrensburg Sandstone has a maximum present day thickness of 100 feet as shown by missile site cores and by water well logs. The maximum thickness before surface erosion is unknown. The outcrop is 2-3 miles wide in the Warrensburg area (Figures 1 and 2). For comparison, a nearby reach of the Missouri River, with a channel of similar width, has incised its bedrock channel about 300 feet below the bluffs and presently contains more than 100 feet of Quaternary alluvium. The deep incision of the Warrensburg valley was probably due to the rapid Carboniferous drops in sea level documented by Vail et al. (1977) and similar to valley incision caused by Early Cretaceous rapid lowering of sea level (Weimer, 1982). Heckel (1986) presented a Late Pennsylvanian glacial-eustatic sea level curve for the midcontinent. A major sea level drop at the Desmoinesian-Missourian boundary correlates well with the time of incision of the Warrensburg valley. The only known fossil age assignment was obtained from a thin coal in the basal conglomerate of the Warrensburg Sandstone collected by Emerson (1988). An age assignment of latest Desmoinesian by Palinex International for the basal Warrensburg fits well with the observed stratigraphy. The very coarse boulder conglomerate derived from erosion of the Marmaton Group limestone beds and contained in the basal Warrensburg Sandstone in Johnson and Henry Counties is evidence of steep valley sides and of mass movement to introduce this material as channel lag deposits (Emerson, 1975, 1977). The incision of the valley in which the Warrensburg Sandstone was deposited apparently allowed the development of the valley anticlinal structure. Two possible mechanisms for 13development of this structure are suggested. The first method is slumping of large blocks of steep valley sides. Bristol and Howard (1974) studied the sub-Pennsylvanian unconformity in the Illinois Basin. A Late Mississippian (Upper Chesterian Series) sea level drop (Vail et al., 1977) recognized in the Illinois Basin and southern Appalachians, caused entrenchment of a system of valleys in the Chesterian marine limestones and shales followed by alluvial valley-fill of Pennsylvanian Caseyville Formation clastics. Electric logs and cross-sections from drill holes show great slump blocks of Chesterian strata arranged en echelon along the sides of the valley bottoms (Figure 6). Each block has rotated along the curved plane of a listric normal fault, so that the dip of the displaced strata is away from the valley axis. The slump blocks range from 10 to 125 feet in thickness and the maximum vertical displacement is 200 feet. Individual blocks are several hundred to 3000 feet long and up to several hundred feet wide. The northward advance of the Pennsylvanian sea across the area caused the streams that had been actively downcutting to begin aggrading and filling their valleys with the Caseyville alluvial sediments. We believe that the rapid sea level drop (Heckel, 1986) at the end of Pennsylvanian Desmoinesian time caused the incision of the Warrensburg valley system and slumping of blocks of Marmaton (Upper Desmoinesian) limestones and shales along the valley sides. Subsequent sea level rise and alluviation during Missourian time deposited the Warrensburg Sandstone in this valley. Post-Paleozoic erosion of the land surface in this area has exposed the lower part of the Warrensburg valley fill sandstone underlain and flanked by the tilted slump blocks. The slump blocks tilted backwards as they moved downward into the valley giving the appearance of an anticline caused by structural deformation. Figure 7 is an interpretive cross-section showing the Warrensburg river valley and the Warrensburg Sandstone during Pennsylvanian time. Also shown are the rotated slump blocks which have caused the tilting of the bedding away from the channel axis resulting in the valley anticlinal structure. This mechanism also explains the apparently excessive stratigraphic thickness for the tilted Desmoinesian strata beneath and adjacent to the Warrensburg Sandstone by repetition in individual slump blocks. The Marmaton Group is the only part of the Desmoinesian Series containing distinctive limestones more than 4 feet thick. These limestones are, in ascending order, the Blackjack Creek, the Higginsville, the Myrick Station, and the Coal City. Well logs and missile site cores from the area show that these four limestones occur in no more than 70 feet of stratigraphic section (Thompson, 1995, p.104). The north-south striking belts of tilted Marmaton strata (and perhaps some underlying Cherokee Group strata) beneath and adjacent to the sandstone body appear to make up at least several hundred feet of stratigraphic thickness. Repetition of the 70-100 foot thick Marmaton strata is the most logical explanation for this anomalous thickness. The Post Oak Creek cross-section at old Highway 13 north (Figure 3) shows two of the faults on the east side of the valley anticline which repeat the Marmaton strata within individual slump blocks. In general, relatively poor exposures within the area have allowed the inference of other faults between the slump blocks in only a few localities. The alternative mechanism for the development of the valley anticline is that of tilting of the strata on the valley sides from bulging due to flow of the Cherokee Group shale and claystone toward the axis of the developing valley. This flow would be due to a pressure gradient caused by valley incision. This mechanism would be similar to that suggested by Hollingsworth et al. (1944) for Jurassic strata in England (Figure 5). Though exposures are poor in the area, exposures of shale beneath the Sandstone do not show the types of internal deformation that would be expected to be present if the structure was caused principally by shale-flow. Perhaps if this mechanism was operative, it was minor in importance compared to slumping. 14Figure 6 Cross-section from Bristol and Howard (1974) showing the development of valley-side slump blocks within an Illinois valley incised into Mississippian Chester strata. The incision was caused by a Late Mississippian sea level drop (Vail et al., 1977). Later alluviation filled the valley with Caseyville Formation clastic sediment during Early Pennsylvanian time. Figure 7 Interpretive cross-section showing the Warrensburg river valley as it was filling with the Warrensburg Sandstone during Pennsylvanian time. Shown also are Demoinesian limestones and shales within the rotated slump blocks responsible for tilting the bedding away from the center of the valley on both sides creating the valley anticline. This mechanism explains the excessive apparent stratigraphic thickness for the tilted Desmoinesian strata beneath and adjacent to the Warrensburg Sandstone by repetition in individual slump blocks. Arrows in the Cherokee Group indicate the possibility of shale flow from pressure release due to valley incision. 15SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Detailed field mapping of the structures under and adjacent to the Warrensburg Sandstone shows that the Desmoinesian strata have been deformed into a valley anticlinal structure. Analysis of our field maps and structural cross-sections indicates that the tilted Desmoinesian strata adjacent to and beneath the Sandstone have an excessive thickness that is probably due to repetition. The valley anticlinal structure and the amount of repetition can best be explained by the breaking up of the valley walls into numerous slump blocks which moved toward the axis of the valley, the resulting tilt of the bedding being caused by rotation of the blocks. In addition, a pressure gradient within the underlying Cherokee Group shale and claystone may have caused flow toward the developing valley which resulted in thickening of the shales and tilting of the valley sides away from the center. Lastly, examination of the literature leads us to believe that valley anticlines are a widespread phenomenon but, with a few notable exceptions, they are not well known to a majority of the geologic profession other than those involved in dam construction. 

Warrensburg Blue Sandstone - Winkelman Home St. Louis

The entrance to the Winkelman House features unusual angled columns.

The stone of the front elevation appears to be Warrensburg blue-gray sandstone obtained from either the Pickel or Bruce quarries which both opened near Warrensburg, Missouri in 1867. The excellent condition of the stone suggests that it came from deep in the quarry where the finest grained stone was located. The stone was cut by the Pickel Cut Stone Company of St. Louis, and exhibits a level of relief and quality rare among remaining examples of Warrensburg sandstone-faced buildings. Warrensburg stone was used widely throughout the region, including on the Arkansas State Capitol. Houses around St. Louis Place Park generally used native limestone, including stone quarries by the Sheehan brothers on the south side of the 2200 block of St. Louis Avenue until the late 1880s. However many homes in the neighborhood made use of the soft blue-gray sandstone, including an Italianate residence at 1927 St. Louis Avenue (1879) that the city demolished in 2011.