Pumping Station G
Built: 1901
Status: Demolished

The Forest Park Southeast gasometer stood at Newstead and Chouteau, a jarring interruption of an otherwise quiet residential neighborhood. It was erected in 1901 and rebuilt in 1942. A sibling tank once stood just to the west; it was demolished in the 1960s and left as a vacant lot.

The adjacent Pumping Station G building dates from 1911. Both the gas holder and the pump house were built for the Laclede Gas Light Company. National Historic Register nominations were submitted in 2006.

The FPSE gasometer was demolished in 2007. Plans called for the pump house to be converted to residential use. An article in the Post-Dispatch's South City Journal details the nomination and plans for the site.

The loss of the gasometer is a substantial one. The gasometer is one of the many structures in St. Louis which first impressed on me that the city was somewhere special and unique. Its lines form an endlessly changing array of patterns, fodder for countless photographs and compositions. There is a strange air of archaicness to the structure, something declaring that it is a mighty beast from an era not our own. I would love to see it reused somehow - propositions on a discussion board included a skateboard park and a hanging garden; I could also see it as an astonishing space for raves (imaging lighting up some or all of the framework), open-air dining, and/or skating. The city's gasometers were a remarkable resource, and a fate so mundane as demolition seems sadly uncreative.

Draining of the tank and prep work for demolition was underway as of March 2007; demolition of the entire structure was nearly complete as of July 2007.

Images are from 2006 except as noted.

A view circa 1995 of the tank while in operation, in the nearly full position.

Gallery: Pre-Demolition, March 2007

Gallery: Demolition, May 2007

The inner tank has been removed and scrapped.

Gallery: Post-Demolition, July 2007

Nothing left but some foundation stubs.