Last Updated on January 30, 2021 by Dave Farquhar
The Welsh Baby Carriage Company, and its eponymous five-story factory, is a prominent landmark along I-55 in St. Louis. The Welsh Baby Carriage Factory on the south side of downtown no longer bears the company’s name. But the building survives as the Soulard Market Apartments.
The Welsh Baby Carriage factory history
Originally designed by architect Henry E. Roach, it’s unclear when the Welsh Baby Carriage factory came into being. Sources conflict on when it was actually built. Some say as late as 1899, while others say 1875. Others say the building was a Civil War prison, which would date it to the 1860s. An addition was built in 1906. The addition gave it a distinctive “F” shape.
During its history it served as an asylum, a shoe factory, baby carriage factory and warehouse, and haunted house. The building’s white smokestack prominently bore the name Welsh Baby Carriages for about six decades.
The Hamilton Brown Shoe Company operated the factory until 1941, when it sold the site to the Welsh Baby Carriage Company. Brown Shoe is now known as Caleres. At its peak, the factory employed 500 workers making baby buggies and toys for young children. In its 1950s advertising, Welsh billed itself as the world’s largest maker of folding baby carriages. Vintage baby carriages made by Welsh turn up in basements and attics all over the country, not just in St. Louis. But Welsh faded over subsequent decades. It stopped manufacturing baby carriages at the site in the mid 1980s.
By 1995, when Welsh closed the factory, the site had dwindled to six employees. The remaining workers simply made metal displays for products made elsewhere. At the time, Welsh still employed 200 other workers in three other factories in smaller towns in the United States. David Welsh, the company president and son of the company’s founders, noted that he couldn’t compete with Chinese labor.
The Welsh Baby Carriage Company wasn’t alone. The nearby Crunden-Martin Manufacturing Company dwindled to a few dozen employees in the 1980s. It went out of business in November 1990.
The Welsh Baby Carriage Company
The company itself wasn’t as old as the factory. A. D. “Bud” Welsh and his wife, Matilda, founded the Welsh Baby Carriage Company in 1929, and grew it into one of the largest companies of its type in the country by mid-century. Matilda died in 1962. Bud followed in 1969. Their son, David, took over the company from them and operated it until the 1990s, when it stopped manufacturing baby carriages. Welsh sold the building to developers in 1999 after manufacturing baby carriages and cribs became impractical in the United States.
1983 tragedy
On August 5,1983, an exterior wall from the building’s west wing collapsed onto nearby Interstate 55 during a severe thunderstorm. The falling debris struck a nearby car that had pulled over to wait out the storm. The accident killed Jean Morrissey, a 22-year-old woman from Alton, Illinois who was a passenger in the car. The driver and a second passenger also sustained injuries. The accident made the national news, gaining coverage in the New York Times.
The building was still functioning as a warehouse and factory at the time. The last shift of the day had ended before the accident, so there were only a few workers inside.
The Welsh Baby Carriage Company rebuilt the collapsed wall and continued to operate the building another 12 years.
Such events are unusual but not unheard of. In 2006, the Switzer Building on Laclede’s Landing sustained damage in a severe thunderstorm and collapsed. Like the Welsh Baby Carriage factory, it was a brick structure that dated to the 1870s.
Repurposing and rebirth
For the later half of the 1990s, The Darkness Haunted Theme Park took up residence in old Welsh Baby Carriage factory. Johnnie Brock’s, a local horror-themed gift shop, used also used two of the floors as a warehouse. The site’s storied past as a Civil War prison and an institution added to its mystique.
However, the site contained hazardous materials and was deteriorating. Not wanting to repeat the 1983 tragedy, St. Louis sought a developer. When the building was a shoe factory, its nickname was “the sunshine factory.” This was due to the number of large windows and geographic positioning to capture sunlight. Welsh had bricked over most of the windows, but this characteristic plus its close proximity to Soulard Market made it an ideal candidate for redevelopment as apartments. The Darkness moved to a 35,000-square foot building next door.
After two prior efforts fell through, Klitzing Welsch Associates Inc redeveloped the old factory into 132 apartments in 2005. The design featured exposed brick and other tributes to the building’s industrial past. Klitzing Welsch received an award for its efforts in 2007.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
The Welsh Baby Factory also operated an outlet store on site at ground level. Friends suggested going there, so that’s where we bought our baby crib early in 1990 and used for all of our children. Of course Soulard Farmer’s Market was a good reason to venture near there as well. Shattinger’s Music Store was nearby and, also sadly, now gone too.
Thanks for covering some of these old sites of St. Louis. I do remember when that girl was was killed in 1983 from the building falling onto I-55. I was about the same age and can recall my parents talking about that. Glad that landmark building is living on!
The deceased woman’s name in the 1983 tragedy was Jane (not Jean) Morrissey.
This was my 1st real job….I worked their from around 1983 to 1988…..