Flames Engulf Historic St. Louis Factory Complex

Over 200 firefighters responded to the scene as the five-alarm fire engulfed the St. Louis Crunden-Martin factory.

Nov. 30, 2025

5 min read

Dana Rieck
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(TNS)

ST. LOUIS — A massive fire broke out early Friday at the southern edge of downtown, destroying a historic factory complex that had been slated for redevelopment.

Crews were called at about 3 a.m. to South 2nd and Cedar streets just south of Interstate 64, said St. Louis fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson. The buildings were part of the 105-year-old Crunden-Martin warehouses, he said, which take up about two square blocks.

"We've had several fires in this facility," the chief said. "It's an old, old set of warehouses."

The fire quickly spread to at least four buildings, and 200 firefighters were called to the scene. By 10:30 a.m. Friday, giant clouds of smoke continued to billow from the graffiti-covered buildings. The clouds were so big they showed up on weather radar, and turned the sun orange downtown.

The empty warehouses belong to a development project called Gateway South and have been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2005.

Firefighters Charlie Hangge, left, and Neil Benda carry a hose back to a firetruck as firefighters work to put out a fire at a vacant warehouse on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, on Gratiot Street and South Second Street in St. Louis.

Bob Millstone, a Gateway South partner, called the fire a tragedy.

"We're deeply saddened for these structures that have stood for about 100 years that we were hoping to rejuvenate and bring back to life and help restore that area of the city," he told the Post-Dispatch. "This won't stop us from the work we have ahead. And we're deeply grateful for the fire department, very grateful that they were able to get people safely out of the buildings."

The project aims to piece together dozens of properties near the riverfront south of the interstate, an area also known as Chouteau’s Landing. The proposal calls for high-rise residential towers, an entertainment district and an advanced manufacturing center producing construction materials for projects across the country.

"For us, Crunden-Martin was not only a cornerstone of our Gateway South vision, but also a symbol of the city’s ability to reinvent and reuse its historic fabric," Millstone said.

Crunden-Martin manufactured goods including woodenware and metal goods. It filed for bankruptcy in June 1990, according to Post-Dispatch reports.

The buildings were auctioned off two years later.

In December 2011, a five-alarm fire broke out at one of the Crunden-Martin buildings.

Jenkerson, the fire chief, said Friday's fire was under control by 7:30 a.m.

But crews continued to douse the crumbling brick buildings with water from high up on aerial ladders through the morning.

Piles of bricks were strewn about the roadways, with a pile growing underneath the crumbling Crunden-Martin manufacturing company sign that stretches between two buildings. Nearby chain-link fences and power lines had also fallen and the streets were filled with water.

Several Ameren trucks were at the scene, and crews were up in bucket trucks working on power lines near the fire.

Jenkerson said no one was injured and firefighters had been able to evacuate several unhoused people from the building. A lime green camping tent with a blue tarp on top of it could be seen just behind one of the warehouse buildings.

Because the fire required so much manpower, the chief said off-duty crews were called in to help, and to run the city's fire stations.

Other departments also came in to assist city crews, Jenkerson said.

The chief did not know Friday morning what started the fire but said the location — relatively isolated from other occupied buildings — made it easier for crews to attack.

"It was an absolutely massive fire that was in the area of the city where we were able to set up our water supply and our aerial ladders," Jenkerson said.

The only occupied building nearby appeared to be the historic St. Mary of Victories Catholic Church. Its website says it was founded in 1843 for German immigrants and became the city's Hungarian Catholic Church and cultural center in 1956.

"We had to protect that," Jenkerson said. "So we just had to set up a water supply and bring a lot of water into the area to make sure we had control, which takes time and takes a lot of manpower."

The fire caused part of a building to collapse under the neighboring train tracks, the chief said, which caused all train traffic to be shut down briefly.

Marc Magliari, a spokesman for the national passenger train corporation Amtrak, said the fire caused three train cancellations this morning, two from St. Louis and one from Chicago. Amtrak chartered buses for those passengers.

He said that by about 8 a.m., Amtrak was running as scheduled.

Union Pacific, the freight railroad that owns the tracks, is having to reroute some trains to avoid the area, said spokesperson Kristen South. But other than that, business is continuing as usual, she said.

The railroad company won't know the extent of the track's damage until they can inspect it after the fire is out — which will take days, Jenkerson said.