I recently purchased this oddly beautiful, early 1920’s Niederfeld Funeral Home advertising thermometer-- talk about cool! Back in the day, Niederfeld apparently provided East St. Louisans with mourning time sincerity and financial fairness, ambulance service, as well as a gold-trimmed gauge to determine the ever madcap, midwest temperature tantrums. After much online digging, I could only find one actual mention of this business listed anywhere on the world wide web, --and the name was even misspelled as "Siederfeld." Fancy that illustration of the foreboding funeral home though, as well as the old time hearse parked 'round back. Google Street View provided zero evidence of the structure still existing, so I decided to just jump in my new time car and make the 45 minute trek across the Mighty Mississippi into Illinois and see the location myself. Unfortunately, whatever corner the funeral home once occupied remains a mystery, as considering the 4 possible intersection area choices, only one was actually in current use (some kind of small business garage or something.) The other three corners were simply vacant lots, brutally bare, and overgrown with grass though still showing some traces of foundational elements, proving that something once stood there, there, annnnd over there. But which corner actually belonged to Niederfeld? It would of course be wonderful to find an old photo of that impressive Victorian facade, so if any of you have impeccable internet sleuthing skills, I am putting you to the test! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
