What is this brick pillar in the sidewalk?

Paul Lundgren Feb 16, 2017 1 Comment

West End Thing

The above image landed in my inbox this morning with the following question from a fellow named Ben: “Any idea what this is? It’s on West Superior Street at 17th Avenue West. There’s nothing on it or attached to it.”

Well, it just so happens I have a pretty good idea what it is.

The photo below was shot on the 1900 block of West Superior Street in 1995 and shows a different pillar, but the same style, used to promote West End businesses back in the day.

1995FriendlyWestEnd

That’s me on the right; Barrett Chase on the left.

In the modern photo from 17th Avenue West, however, the pillar looks smaller. Maybe it’s just the angle the photo was taken. The brick base in the old photo appears to be about seven feet high before it reaches the pyramid roof.

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1 Comment

DECk37

about 8 years ago 

Looks like there were at least four of those pillars, one every two blocks or so in the West End. Looking at Google Street View, it appears they were removed sometime after 2008 when redoing the sidewalks as by 2012 all but the one featured here are gone.

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