ST. LOUIS — Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said this week that the former medium-security jail known as the Workhouse will be demolished next month, three months after it was originally slated to come down.
“The Workhouse is coming down in March, period,” Jones said Wednesday at a mayoral candidate forum at The Royale, on South Kingshighway.
Jones spent years campaigning with activists to close the workhouse, which they derided as a sweltering, rat-infested disgrace rife with abuse. She emptied the facility as mayor, transferring its inmates to the downtown City Justice Center in June 2022.
In September, her office announced that demolition of much of the complex would begin Dec. 16.
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On Dec. 13, however, the mayor’s office said the city was still dealing with environmental issues on the site.
Earlier this month, Jones said on the podcast that the city was trying to make sure that demolition didn’t send asbestos flying.
She said the city also had to clean up after vandals.
“As it has sat vacant, people have broken in and have stolen every valuable thing out of it,” she said, “so we have to clean it out and then tear it down.”
Conner Kerrigan, a spokesman for the mayor, said Thursday that the environmental review is now complete, and that the plan is for demolition to begin in mid-March.
Post-Dispatch photographers capture hundreds of images each week; here's a glimpse at the week of Feb. 16, 2025. Video edited by Jenna Jones.
