I’m still going to save all the metaphors and prophetic speech I have saved up for a later post. For right now, I really feel nothing but peace that it is finally over.
12679 Grandin came down around 2:00 this afternoon, Tues. February 10th. Together with my good friends, I did in fact photograph and film the whole thing, just as I did my own house. It was eerily almost exactly like how my own house was destroyed… A clear day, I raced to get there on time, the feelings of elation as I watched every crushing thrash of the barrel tear through the structure reducing the home to toothpicks and pebbles, it was all the same. At the end, the final feelings of sadness that it actually happened after all the wait was a strange reminder of a sunny fall day in October of 2006. It was also exactly the same time of day.
There are no more homes, but there are the streets with no names, the fading house numbers painted on the curbs, and the street lights illuminating for nobody past the closed gates. The Chinese Air Shipping hub may be a real possibility for what was once my home, but nobody knows for sure.
All we know is that our homes are now mere memories, and nobody will vandalize them now.
J. Desy Schoenewies
56 Houses Left 
I am very relieved for you!
We moved to Carrollton when we were first married in the late 50’s. Our three children were born there, and my husband planted a birch tree for each child’s birth. Our street, Dorrance Lane, isn’t even on the map now. It’s at the end of the runway. So many good memories, and what a sad ending. At least they have left the trees.
this makes me so sad. we knew it was coming, but i hate for it to actually have happened.
Desy: I previously commented about your dedication to this project but had to again say thank you. I have a good friend who lived in Carrollton for years so feel like I know the area well, too. I have enjoyed – if you can call it that – following this progress through your wonderful website. Thanks again. If you do write a book about Carrollton I will definitely purchase two copies – one for myself and one for my friend. This is a sad day, indeed, but one of relief and peace for many as you have so noted.
Sad, to be sure, but, also a release. Carrollton, like so many other man created things is now consigned to memory, and over time, even that will fade, there will be printed word and photos, but, in time, even those shall pass. Many collections of similarly built homes still survive, and many such neighborhoods will thrive. The sadness we all who lived in Carrollton must deal with, is that the environment of our memories is now gone. Sure, the land and streets remain, except for the area that was stripped or buried under the runway. but even the remaining streets will be gone, either removed for the shipping hub, or, even if left alone, will weather away and be covered by weeds, then saplings, and sooner than you may think, due to Missouris weather extremes and vibrant plant growth, revert to a more natural state, I fervently hope the park idea was foremost,and with the economy, the shipping hub may be delayed or outright cancelled. but, a park seems doomed, much like Carrollton itself.
I lived in Maryland Heights from 1963-1973. Almost all of my friends from Pattonville and Hazelwood high schools lived in Carrollton. We shopped in Carrollton. I’ve followed this greed-driven destruction for years, since a relative sent a newspaper clipping about the airport’s plans. Thank you for you documentation.
My parents bought in Carrolton in 1960. Original owners. they raised six children in that home. My mom, Marian Grindler, was the publisher/editor of the Carrollton Cracker Barrel and then later, the Bridgeton Bookworm. We lived at 4152 Chartley, right where Chartley intersected with Primghar. (Originally, Primghar was a dead end with only two houses and Carrollton West was a large field and woods and a great playground as we were growing up). Carrollton West was built as an independent subdivision but later “annexed” to Carrollton and the residents were given the right to purchase pool passes. During the late 60’s Orlando Cepeda, a baseball Cardinal sta, lived there. My mom was a founding member of the Carrollton Players, a local theater group that would perform several plays each year. My parents added a wrought iron courtyard to the front of our house after a vacation to New Orleans. My mom was very involved in local politics and active in the Bridgeton Air Defense. She finally caved to the airport block busting techniques and accepted a hardship buyout in 2002 when my dad was sick and they were unable to maintain the house. My older brothers were lifeguards at the pool with Bob Enk and my sisters and I all worked as camp counselors. Mom hired many of the local teens to help hand deliver the Cracker Barrel and the Bookworm. The original Carrollton Club was a very upscale restaurant, one requiring reservations for dinner. I found your documentation of the final destruction of Carrollton compelling reading. Our family loved Carrollton and my mom was an active and vibrant member. The ‘being held hostage’ by the airport was heartbreaking for my parents. They fully inteded to live in Carrollton forever and hated to leave. Now we have our memories and photographs. Thank you for your efforts in preserving the final outcome.
very sad stuff…. i know these are older posts, but i just found this site… my husband grew up in Carollton and it sucks that we are not able to show our girls both of the houses he lived in. We drive through there every now and then ( taught our girls to drive on the empty streets) and it just bothers me that the area is so vast and empty and yet so beautiful still., There should still be families there.
We lived in St. Ann from the time I was born until we moved into our new home in Carollton in December 1961 (14880 Parlier Drive). We lived there until the end of my 8th grade year at St. Lawrence in 1972 when we moved to Kansas City. I remember everything that Gayle mentioned above. My parents would go to the Carollton Club frequently. My friends and I would ride our bikes to Orlando Cepda’s house and sit in front of it hoping to get a glimpse of him or his family. I played baseball for BAA on those two ball diamonds next to the pool. During the summer I would ride my bike to the pool and get in for 25 cents. I remember when they built the Bridgeton Muncipal Athletic Complex in 1972. I have so many wonderful memories of growing up in Carollton and I’m so sad about all of it being gone now.