From the P-D:
Firefighters battle blaze at old athletics complex
By Joel Currier
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/04/2006
St. Louis firefighters were working early today to put out a three-alarm blaze that engulfed an abandoned athletics complex near the Hyde Park neighborhood.
The fire broke out shortly before 11 p.m. at Turnverein Hall, in the 3600 block of North 20th Street, between Salisbury and Mallinckrodt streets.
Dozens of firefighters used at least seven pieces of equipment to spray water on the flames and extinguish smoke billowing from the three-story brick building.
Witnesses said they saw teenagers shooting fireworks into the boarded-up athletic complex before it caught fire. No information was immediately available from police.
Shelley Dressel, 28, of Hazelwood, grew up in the neighborhood, and said the complex once housed facilities for gymnastics, a bowling alley, basketball and racquetball courts.
Dressel, who was in the neighborhood visiting her mother, said she used to take gymnastics lessons at the facility as a child. "It was like the neighborhood YMCA. There was everything in that building. It was a cool place."
The fire did not appear to be threatening any neighboring houses, but it spread from the north end of the complex to the south, engulfing all three structures on the site.
