Cotton Belt Freight Depot
National Register of Historic Places

Cotton Belt Freight Depot

St. Louis (Independent City), St. Louis County, Missouri
Listed
April 20, 2004
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
04000344

About this property

The Cotton Belt Freight Depot is a former freight depot of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway in the Near North Riverfront neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and named "Best Old Building" by the Riverfront Times, a weekly newspaper in St. Louis. Since 2002, the Cotton Belt Freight Depot has been the usual location of Artica, an annual grassroots outdoor and multidisciplinary arts festival. In 2014, artists completed a large mural on the building's eastern side, visible from the nearby bridge over the Mississippi River. Today, the building has no formal tenants or function. There are occupants camped in the far North and South ends of the building, where they have built makeshift homes out of found materials like pallets and tires. The upper floors of the building are inaccessible other than by rope or ladder through the open elevator shafts. Windows and doors have been destroyed and the building is open to the elements from its sides. Its primary use today is as a site for graffiti and graffiti art. Its interior walls are an ever-changing canvas.

Location

1400 N. 1st St.
St. Louis (Independent City), St. Louis County, Missouri
38.64097, -90.18271

Categories

TRANSPORTATION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Rivers & Rail
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Nearby Historic Sites

St. Louis Stamping Company Buildings
Industrial
0.1 mi
North Riverfront Industrial Historic District
Industrial
0.2 mi
North Broadway Wholesale and Warehouse District
Listed
0.2 mi
Sligo Iron Store Co. Buildings
Industrial
0.3 mi
Federal Cold Storage Company Building
Industrial
0.4 mi

Nearby Battles

Action at St. Louis (Spanish Fort San Carlos)
1780Revolutionary War
1.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Cotton Belt Freight Depot listed on the National Register?

Cotton Belt Freight Depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 2004.

What type of historic resource is Cotton Belt Freight Depot?

Cotton Belt Freight Depot is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Cotton Belt Freight Depot?

The period of significance for Cotton Belt Freight Depot is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Cotton Belt Freight Depot?

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