I was excited to visit St Louis to (1) check out the arch and (2) visit the site of Belcher’s well. Here’s an excerpt from a book I will finish sometime in the next 20 to 30 years:
William Belcher, in his search for better quality water for his sugar refinery in St. Louis, commissioned a deep well in search of artesian water (American Journal of Science 1853). His crew began drilling a borehole in the spring of 1849 at Second and O’Fallon streets using hand power. After 18 months of drilling, the borehole had only reached a depth of 219 feet, after which Mr. Belcher commissioned the use of a steam powered drilling apparatus. With this new technology, his drilling team reached a depth of 2,199 feet by March 1854 (Litton 1860) at which point the well produced highly mineralized water at 75 gallons per minute (Shufeldt 1867 p. 20). The Belcher well struck gas and brackish water but ultimately didn’t tap a fresh flowing water source. Even though Belcher plumbed most of the salty “sulphuretted” flow to the city sewer, the well’s water found its fans for its medicinal and remedial virtues (Litton 1860, Bullard 2004). The water was later used for the Belcher Water Bath Company, whose bathhouse operated until the 1970s (Bullard 2004).
I was doubly excited to see that original bathhouse, built on top of the well, was still there (top photo), albeit in one of the roughest parts of a town I have ever been in. The building has been restored with green tech but is surrounded with abandoned buildings (those that haven’t burned down yet) full of homeless people. Sadly, no one was at the building for me to ask about the well inside (I suspect it is long gone), but it was nice the original bath house was still there. The original bathhouse was quickly replaced by a much larger hotel and bath closer to downtown proper, a building that is now a parking garage.
The Belcher well, along with the Du Pont well in Louisville, Kentucky, was important for ushering in a rush to drill artesian wells across the country, including Texas. Many of the earliest reports on groundwater in Texas mention the Belcher Well as an inspiration to drill, baby, drill for those deep flowing waters.
so secret, occult, and concealed 
the building is now the william a kerr foundation, a very good venue host to all matter of local events. its very cool. nearby is also a small park i believe built by bob cassily called rootwad, where generator shows and bike meet ups happen. also behind the kerr is a large field where artica happens every october, a big burners event. on the flood wall nearby you might notice a big patch of white where movies are screened in the summer. the buildings around are crumbling but beautiful and historic, though i would say that they arent quite “full” of homeless people. they just happen to live around there as well.
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