119 West Argonne Drive - Downtown Kirkwood Historic District - Kirkwood, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 34.879 W 090° 24.436
15S E 725843 N 4273504
connections made now this and 117 are operated as one store....even though separate buildings.
Waymark Code: WMZ4P7
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 09/09/2018
Views: 0
County of building: St. Louis County
Location of building: W. Argonne Dr., middle of block, north side, Kirkwood
Built: 1925
Style: Commercial
Original Occupant: Kirkwood Candy
Current Occupant: Baygents Company
"119 W. Argonne. Commercial Building. ca. 1925. Façade parapet modified circa 1943-47.
Architect, unknown. Contractor, unknown. Contributing.
Given renumbering that occurred after 1922, it appears the assessor’s estimated construction date
in 1925 is fairly accurate. By 1928, Kirkwood Candy was operating in this building, which
originally was a mirror image of the storefront at 117. In 1932, the business name had changed to
W. Loures Candy. By 1938 Ellman’s Shoe Store had expanded into Ellman’s Department Store
and occupied both 117 and 119 W. Argonne, converting it to a single retail space. The Country
Locker System moved in by 1943 using both storefronts for cold storage as well as meat
processing and it continued to use the facility at least throughout the 1950s. This alteration is
clearly shown in a photograph dated 1947 and called “Wrecked Automobile/Taxi/Victory Cab
Company” (Negative 566.4536) in the Francis Scheidegger Photographic Collection of the
Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Today, it is
used as part of the kitchen and bath business, Baygents." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"119 W. Argonne. Commercial Building. Ca. 1925. Façade parapet modified circa 1943-47.
Architect, unknown. Contractor, unknown. Contributing.
The 119 W. Argonne Commercial Building originally matched the building at 117 W. Argonne,
but it has been modified with a gabled roof, extending the brick parapet to form a gable on the
façade and bricking in the display windows as three rectangular friezes. It was probably
modified when the Country Locker Sytem moved into the building in 1943 but was at least
completed by 1947, based upon a photo of a automobile accident (see Section 8)." ~ NRHP Nomination Form