Places OnLine 2007 Best Web Site Awards

Places OnLine annually recognizes web sites that best meet our criteria for listing sites. Here are our selections for 2007.

Built St. Louis

Built St. Louis is the work of Rob Powers whose attachment to the city began during his years as a student at Washington University in the 1990s.  He explains on the web site that it began as a way to document the destruction of the city's historic architecture. Spurred on by the 1996 demolition of the Ambassador Theater, and shocked that the Arcade, Syndicate Trust, and others were similarly threatened, he began photographing them and posting the photos online that fall.

Over the years it's grown into a way for him to express both joy and outrage over changes in the cityscape.  He writes:  "It is not my intention to paint a negative or positive portrayal of St. Louis -- just an honest one. But if I didn't think the city was wonderful, I obviously wouldn't be sitting here doing this. If my photographs are shocking on occasion, well, it's because there are some shocking things happening out there."

Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve

The mission statement of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve explains that the Preserve ". . . permanently protects the undeveloped lands along the shore of Lake Mendota where members of the campus community have long experienced the intellectual and aesthetic benefits of interacting with the natural world.   The Preserve shelters biologically significant plant and animal communities for teaching, research, outreach, and environmentally sensitive use, and safeguards beloved cultural landscapes.  The Preserve is as essential to the university as its lecture halls, laboratories, and playing fields. It contributes to a powerful sense of place and fosters an ethic of stewardship to promote mutually beneficial relationships between humans and the rest of nature."

The preserve website combines outstanding design with text, photographs, an interactive map, and downloadable materials to provide a wealth of information about the look, the human and natural history, and the ecology of the preserve.  Viewers can compare aerial photographs of the preserve from 1927 through 2004.