The Wrong Sin

The city of the book

The Map

“I live in the Valley, at Twentieth and Chestnut, in a rented room over Boehm’s tobacco. The river is a long walk east, and the walk is mine.”

Chapter one

Plate I. St. Louis, 1926: the city of the book A drawn map of St. Louis, north up. The Mississippi runs down the east edge with Illinois and East St. Louis across it, and Eads Bridge crosses from Washington Avenue. Downtown lies along the riverfront; Odile’s room, marked in red, is at Twentieth and Chestnut, west of the river, in the Valley, with the rail yards running west along the valley south of Market Street. The Ville lies about two and a half miles to the north-west of her room, inland. The park lies far to the west, past Kingshighway. A dashed frame marks the downtown area enlarged in Plate II. PLATE II M I S S I S S I P P I R I V E R ILLINOIS EAST ST. LOUIS Eads Bridge the Ville the park The Valley RAIL YARDS · MILL CREEK VALLEY GRAND AV. GRAND AV. KINGSHIGHWAY KINGSHIGHWAY JEFFERSON AV. LINDELL BL. EASTON AV. ST. LOUIS AV. SARAH TAYLOR WASHINGTON AV. 8 Odile’s room 90°16′ W 90°16′ W 90°15′ W 90°15′ W 90°14′ W 90°14′ W 90°13′ W 90°13′ W 90°12′ W 90°12′ W 90°11′ W 90°11′ W 90°10′ W 90°10′ W 38°37′ N 38°37′ N 38°38′ N 38°38′ N 38°39′ N 38°39′ N 38°40′ N 38°40′ N PLATE I · THE CITY OF THE BOOK St. Louis, 1926 Odile’s room in red · the book’s places numbered · districts hatched 0 ½ 1 1½ MILES N
Plate I · St. Louis, 1926 · north is upSlide the map sideways to see all of it
Plate II. From the Valley to the riverfront, enlarged Downtown St. Louis street by street, north up. The numbered streets run from Main by the riverfront west to Twenty-second, then Jefferson Avenue; Washington, Locust, Olive, Pine, Chestnut and Market cross them. Odile’s room (1) is at Twentieth and Chestnut, in the Valley (2), beside Union Station. Market Street (3) runs east past Fourteenth (4), City Hall and the Old Courthouse to the riverfront (5), where a wharfboat lies at the foot of Chestnut (6), one block from the foot of Market (7). Eads Bridge crosses to East St. Louis from Washington Avenue. The Valley UNIONSTATION CITY HALL OLD COURTHOUSE EADS BRIDGE MISSISSIPPI EAST ST. LOUIS ILLINOIS THE RIVERFRONT WASHINGTON LOCUST OLIVE PINE CHESTNUT MARKET MAIN THIRD FOURTH BROADWAY SIXTH SEVENTH EIGHTH NINTH TENTH ELEVENTH TWELFTH THIRTEENTH FOURTEENTH FIFTEENTH SIXTEENTH SEVENTEENTH EIGHTEENTH NINETEENTH TWENTIETH TWENTY-FIRST TWENTY-SECOND JEFFERSON AV. 2 3 4 5 6 7 ODILE’S ROOM “at Twentieth and Chestnut, in a rented room over Boehm’s tobacco” ch. 1 4 FOURTEENTH “Somewhere past Fourteenth the street changes hands.” ch. 1 2 THE VALLEY “The Valley knows the sound of a room that is nobody’s business.” ch. 2 3 MARKET STREET “Market Street belongs to people bound somewhere for somebody else.” ch. 1 5 THE RIVERFRONT “The riverfront is granite blocks stood on end” ch. 1 6 FOOT OF CHESTNUT “at the foot of Chestnut a crew taking flour off a wharfboat” ch. 1 7 FOOT OF MARKET 90°13′ W 90°13′ W 90°12′ W 90°12′ W 90°11′ W 90°11′ W 90°10′ W 90°10′ W 38°37′30″ N 38°37′30″ N 38°38′ N 38°38′ N PLATE II · ENLARGED From the Valley to the riverfront 0 ¼ ½ MILE N
Plate II · from the Valley to the riverfront, enlargedSlide the map sideways to see all of it

The key

The places of the book

  1. 1 · Odile’s room · Twentieth & Chestnut

    “…at Twentieth and Chestnut, in a rented room over Boehm’s tobacco.”

    Chapter 1

  2. 2

    The Valley

    “The Valley knows the sound of a room that is nobody’s business.”

    Chapter 2

  3. 3

    Market Street

    “At that hour Market Street belongs to people bound somewhere for somebody else.”

    Chapter 1

  4. 4

    Fourteenth

    “Somewhere past Fourteenth the street changes hands.”

    Chapter 1

  5. 5

    The riverfront

    “The riverfront is granite blocks stood on end…”

    Chapter 1

  6. 6

    The foot of Chestnut

    “…at the foot of Chestnut a crew taking flour off a wharfboat…”

    Chapter 1

  7. 7

    The foot of Market

    Where Market Street meets the riverfront.

  8. 8

    The Ville

    North-west of the Valley, inland.

Also on the map

  • The walk eastChapter one, in its own order: “The river is a long walk east”; on Market Street “the day-work women walked east ahead of me”; “Somewhere past Fourteenth the street changes hands”; then “the riverfront”, and the wharfboat “at the foot of Chestnut”.
  • Union StationOn Market Street, between Eighteenth and Twentieth.
  • City HallOn Market Street at Twelfth.
  • The Old CourthouseBetween Market and Chestnut, Fourth and Broadway.
  • Eads BridgeFrom Washington Avenue across the Mississippi to East St. Louis, Illinois.
  • The parkFar out to the west, past Kingshighway.

A drawing, not a survey. Downtown is drawn street by street; the rest of the city by its main roads only, and the park and the Ville in outline.