Matt Averett
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matthewaverett.bsky.social
Matt Averett
@matthewaverett.bsky.social
850 followers 940 following 140 posts
Architectural historian at Creighton University.
St. Louis Cardinals fan.
Author, Canfield Drive https://upress.missouri.edu/9780826223395/canfield-drive/
Aura farmer.
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matthewaverett.bsky.social
Matt Averett @matthewaverett.bsky.social · 6d
My new book, Canfield Drive, is available now. The book is the first comprehensive history of Black spaces in St. Louis and it reconstructs the urban context of the 2014 killing of Michael Brown and the #Ferguson Uprising. #STL
upress.missouri.edu/978082622339...
@umissouripress.bsky.social
matthewaverett.bsky.social
Suburban Omaha strip mall: Starbucks, vape shop, bar, and shoe store.
Picture of crappy strip mall
December 20, 2025 at 9:05 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
I wrote about the Bernard Lynch “slave pen” in my book about #STL, Canfield Drive:
upress.missouri.edu/978082622339...

@umissouripress.bsky.social
New plaque will mark notorious St. Louis slave prison site near Busch Stadium
The bronze historical plaque will be installed at the site of a slave prison once owned by Bernard M. Lynch, a nationally known trader of enslaved men, women and children.
www.stlpr.org
December 20, 2025 at 1:01 AM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
My new book, Canfield Drive, is available now. The book is the first comprehensive history of Black spaces in St. Louis and it reconstructs the urban context of the 2014 killing of Michael Brown and the #Ferguson Uprising. #STL
upress.missouri.edu/978082622339...
@umissouripress.bsky.social
December 19, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Matt Averett
umissouripress.bsky.social
CANFIELD DRIVE: A History of Race and the American City on a Street in St. Louis by @matthewaverett.bsky.social is now available! Find the book here: upress.missouri.edu/978082622339... #StLouis #STL #BlackHistory #HistoryMatters
Book cover image of the new book Canfield Drive: A History of Race and the American City on a Street in St. Louis by Matthew Knox Averett just published by the University of Missouri Press
December 19, 2025 at 4:05 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
lol.
bgrueskin.bsky.social Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 8d
CBS News staffers might want to check into how things are going at their boss’s anti-woke “university” in Austin.

Via @ngluckman.bsky.social

www.chronicle.com/article/at-t...
According to LinkedIn, roughly 20 university employees have left this year. That's a lot for a new institution that had 34 staff members listed on its website this week (the number is separate from faculty). The departures include the president, the provost, the lead fund raiser, the executive director of admissions, as well as people who worked in events, operations, and other positions. Over the summer, the provost and the lead fund raiser also left the university, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Summers, the former Harvard president, stepped down from the advisory board in July, saying that he was "not comfortable with the course that UATX has set nor the messages it promulgates and so am withdrawing." (His colleagues on the board, Zimmer and Pinker, stepped down shortly after the university's launch, with Zimmer saying that UATX's critical statements about higher education "diverged very significantly from my own views.")
December 17, 2025 at 5:26 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
New projects in downtown #STL.
Momentum builds for alternative highway plan in downtown St. Louis
Big changes are now underway in downtown St. Louis—with the groundwork being laid for even bigger ones in the decades to come. In 2026, the Gateway Arch Park Foundation and the National Park Service t...
www.stlmag.com
December 16, 2025 at 2:50 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
I have a chapter on #Petrarch and #Rome in this great new volume on "overwriting" the #MiddleAges.

"'Per menia fracte urbis:' Overwriting and Building-Over Medieval Rome"
Sovrascrivere e riscrivere il Medioevo
Sovrascrivere e riscrivere il Medioevo scritto da Simona Moretti è stato pubblicato a novembre 2025 e appartiene alla categoria architettura e design, arte, storia,
www.tabedizioni.it
December 15, 2025 at 12:45 AM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
“The fire reflects a growing regional homeless population that has also prompted fires in St. Louis County, Lincoln County and East St. Louis, Ill. in the past few days.” #STL
Series of fires around STL region point to broader issues with housing and shelter
Series of fires around St. Louis region point to broader issues with housing and shelter
www.firstalert4.com
December 14, 2025 at 6:04 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
#STL
December 14, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Reposted by Matt Averett
stlouisamerican.bsky.social
'St. Louis tornado survivors call for FEMA reform'

🖋 Ashley Winters | The St. Louis American
📸 Photo by Lawrence Bryant

#stlamerican #stlnews #stlouis #DisasterRecovery #FEMAReform #CommunityAdvocacy #NorthSTL
St. Louis tornado survivors call for FEMA reform
Melanie Randels has often stood in the remains of North St. Louis homes blasted by the May 16 tornado. Nearly seven months has passed since the historic storm and Randels, an organizer with The People’s Response at Action St. Louis, says FEMA and city officials have not fulfilled promises. “The storm lasted minutes, the recovery […]
www.stlamerican.com
December 13, 2025 at 8:00 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
#STL
stephkukuljan.bsky.social Steph Kukuljan @stephkukuljan.bsky.social · 14d
"Markers promote values in the present and future. They convey respect for group experiences and the stories that deserve to be told, and in that sense they elevate certain values in the public sphere.”

www.stltoday.com/news/local/m...
New plaque will mark notorious St. Louis slave prison site near Busch Stadium
A five-year effort to mark Missouri’s most notorious slave prison will come to fruition next month.
www.stltoday.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Matt Averett
umissouripress.bsky.social
Jonathan Daniel, author of SUDS SERIES: Baseball, Beer Wars, and the Summer of '82, recently appeared on the A Lott on Sports podcast to discuss his book. Listen to the interview here:

www.youtube.com/watch?si=Dzo...
December 11, 2025 at 6:55 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
"They say basic services have eroded. The streets are filled with potholes and illegally dumped trash; crime is a constant concern. And yet the police only seem to show up to pull over and ticket the very trucks that serve their businesses..." #STL
Near North Riverfront businesses are fed up—and want a voice at City Hall
Ron Hughey was born and raised in North St. Louis, and he still has vivid memories of what the city’s Near North Riverfront was like before NAFTA helped to hollow out American industry. In high school...
www.stlmag.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Matt Averett
urbaninsideout.bsky.social
Now it’s HUD and Eisenhower buildings. Though the style isn’t to everyone’s taste, it’s forceful architecture as historically noteworthy as any of the classicals. As important—there’s an effective, established process for handling alterations, etc. #accountability www.archpaper.com/2025/12/hud-...
www.archpaper.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:22 AM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
The Trump administration has proposed demolishing the Cohen building, threatening important New Deal works. "In the event of demolition, removing the Guston would be a cinch; removing the Fogels more difficult; and removing the Shahn extremely difficult and costly, and perhaps impossible." #WPA
Can the “Sistine Chapel of the New Deal” Be Saved From Trump?
Precious murals by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, and others are even more endangered than we knew.
newrepublic.com
December 10, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Matt Averett
marcelias.bsky.social
🚨BREAKING: More than 300,000 Missourians have signed a petition demanding that the gerrymander be put to a statewide referendum, advocacy organization People Not Politicians announced as it delivered those signatures to the state government Tuesday. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
300,000 Missouri Voters Sign Petition To Put GOP Gerrymander to Statewide Vote
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 9, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Matt Averett
civilwarmemory.bsky.social
Here is a great list of some of the best books about Black history published in 2025. 🗃️ www.aaihs.org/the-best-bla...
The Best Black History Books of 2025 - AAIHS
We are pleased to release this year’s AAIHS list of the best books published in 2025! Check out this extraordinary list of great books from 2025 that offer varied historical perspectives on the Black ...
www.aaihs.org
December 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
A report found that in April 2025, there were "9,000 vacant buildings in the city, and 15,000 vacant lots, making up 18 percent of city land parcels and taking up 6.6 square miles in the just over 60 square-mile footprint of St. Louis city. Those cost the city $21 million in upkeep fees..." #STL
December 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
4theVille "will offer tours about the history of Black wealth in the city, as well as a walking tour that highlights Black St. Louis’ connection to the Gateway Arch mall downtown. Docents will also serve as tour guides for the Missouri History Museum’s latest exhibit about Mill Creek Valley." #STL
stlpublicradio.bsky.social St. Louis Public Radio @stlpublicradio.bsky.social · 20d
4theVille is expanding its storytelling docent program, growing from five to seven tours and adding two new docents.

The grant-funded effort helps the community learn and share St. Louis’ Black history.
4theVille offers a docent training program to better share St. Louis’ rich Black history
The community organization is introducing a docent training program to share the stories of Black St. Louisans and their legacies.
www.stlpr.org
December 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Matt Averett
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
The White House surrenders at 138 million views. Sabrina wins.
December 5, 2025 at 7:55 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
"...there have now been 1,095 unique scorelines in NFL history. But one never-before-seen #Scorigami stands apart from all the others, on account of its maddening elusiveness: 36–23."
The Mystery of the Missing NFL Score
Why has a game never ended 36–23?
www.theatlantic.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:48 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
"St. Louisans repairing their homes after the May 16 tornado are having varying levels of success when it comes to dealing with their insurance companies." #STL
Months after the tornado, insurance fights drag on for St. Louis property owners
The St. Louis chapter of the NAACP is calling for a state investigation into insurance companies for possible bias.
www.stlpr.org
December 3, 2025 at 2:16 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
#STL #STLCards
umissouripress.bsky.social University of Missouri Press @umissouripress.bsky.social · 24d
Sports Collectors Digest ranked INTERSTATE '85: The Royals, The Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series by Marshall Garvey #15 on their list of best books of the year.

Find the book here:

upress.missouri.edu/978082622327...
December 1, 2025 at 4:31 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
The deadline to submit a proposal to the Missouri Conference on History has been extended to December 8.
Call for Papers | The State Historical Society of Missouri
The Missouri Conference on History seeks paper, panel, and student poster proposals in all fields of history. The conference is particularly interested in
shsmo.org
November 24, 2025 at 11:03 PM
matthewaverett.bsky.social
Yikes.
Jamie Dimon’s $4 Billion Fortress HQ Takes On the New York Skyline
JPMorgan’s new 270 Park Avenue tower is a domineering departure from other projects by architect Norman Foster.
www.bloomberg.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:05 PM