Edited by Danya Gerasimova

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I first started exploring the city when I was about 11, riding my bike from the State Streets where I lived all the way up to Grand Blvd, Gravois Ave, and into Downtown. I explored places like old City Hospital, St. Mary's Infirmary, and the Powell Square Building down by Crunden-Martin and the Graffiti Wall.

As I got a license, our area of exploration only increased. I was 17 the first time I came across Lafarge Cement, as it was before Cementland. It was only first being bought by Bob at that time, I believe. There were stockpiles of vehicles, planes, buses, and all sorts of equipment in the front area by the gate. There was a mobile home or / RV thing on stilts at the time just off to the side, up the road towards the back.

Our first few times there, we spent hours roaming around. One day, we noticed there was a new-ish fence made out of old railroad tracks. We knew there was activity but had never seen so much stuff done in the short time between our visits.

One day, we went into the huge hangar style building to the right from the main gate and saw two city buses turned into party buses / chill areas. And a few vehicles like planes and whatnot had been placed on the roofs. That’s when we also discovered the castle and the little turret behind it that had a fridge and power hooked up via extension cords.

We figured it was a matter of time before we ran into people, but we tried to remain hidden anyway. One day, we were up on the silos smoking pot and heard machinery start up. It was Bob! We had no idea at the time. He drove his dozer right to the silos, got out, and yelled up to us to come down. We were so scared and high! We thought we were about to be arrested. 

But he was super understanding. He explained who he was, about City Museum, and his goal for the place. He explained that his fascination for abandoned buildings and architecture began with trespassing as well. He said he wouldn’t kick us out or call the cops, but we weren’t to do anything too stupid. “If it seemed like a bad idea it probably was; don’t risk it.” He showed us areas with really weak stairs and weak concrete and warned us against going to these areas cause we’d fall really far, die, and retrieving our bodies would be a challenge. He also told us where to park by the park across the street.

Over the next couple years, we went often and had a blast. We would wave at workers and Bob on his dozer, and when he wasn’t there, we’d explain to workers that we had talked to him about being there. 

When we heard what happened to Bob, I immediately doubted the accident story. I’ve seen him do some crazy shit in that thing; I would think he knew his limitations. I’ve seen him fix that thing in the pouring rain before. He knew exactly what to do in that beast. 

We went shortly after the “accident” and saw the machine under a tarp. We said some words and poured out a beer, which was all we had to honor him. A worker at City Museum actually took us to Bob’s house up Riverview Dr, and even his house was incredible. I admired that guy a lot. He was the coolest fuckin guy. He was nuts.

I actually knew his daughter, Daisy, from dating one of her friends! I explained that I met her dad a bunch at Cementland, and she was like, “How did you find that place?!”

Lots of bad things have happened there though: from dumped cars to bodies; from people scrapping and hurting themselves to people being assaulted, robbed, and even sexually assaulted. I had heard of people getting beat up before Bob’s death. One of my friends got beat up and robbed there shortly after his death. We were always careful, scoped out who was there, and avoided everyone possible. 

There were some tweaks shooting at people a few different times. They camped out in that new moat area in the middle, and when they would see people climbing buildings, they would shoot at them. They had tried producing meth there using that little area but got run off by a larger group. And two women were found there in 2020, I believe. 

There were two vans burnt out in the warehouse behind the sign that said “Lafarge.” Either someone cut themselves doing that or got shot, because there was a massive trail of blood leading out of that area where the vans were. These were those vans:

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That area is really rough. It’s a lot of vacant areas and places people don’t check. Lots of trucking yards and abandoned stuff, so they dump a lot of stolen cars and bodies there.  

Cementland was up the road from the old Workhouse jail on Hall St. That place was hell, absolute thunderdome. In my younger 20s, I had to do some time there. In my short time there, there were four suicides and two other deaths, many people getting beat to a pulp, stabbings, drug overdoses, and all kinds of madness. And the correctional officers were the biggest criminals.

I’ve heard that the land the Workhouse was on was owned by the Pick-n-Pull [salvage yard] across the street, and the City leased it from them. The place wasn’t owned by the City or State, so it didn’t have to follow regulations. Technically, it had been condemned since the early ‘90s.

Sometimes people would get released from the Workhouse, which wasn’t ever supposed to happen. You were to be transported to the other jail Downtown and released from there. But some got released under the radar and would go occupy the buildings around Hall St, including Cementland.

Say a family or friend of yours came and gave some workers a bunch of money. Then one day, you’re walking to lunch or to the nurse, and instead they lead you out a side door and let you out of the gate. But it was dumb, because if your people weren’t waiting to pick you up, you’re in the middle of a giant industrial area with a yellow jail outfit on. So they’d run to hide in little unhoused encampments, get new clothes, and try to hitchhike or get a ride from a trucker back to the city. It happened all the time. The guards don’t make good money either, so bribes happened super easy.