Details About St. Louis Neighborhoods
The major mid-west city of St. Louis, Missouri along the mighty Mississippi River has long been an important community in the development of America. It has served as the home to countless native citizens and new immigrants to the country over the decades. It has the nickname of ‘Mound City’ and ‘The Gateway to the West’. The famous ‘Gateway Arch’ stands along the eastern edge of the St. Louis, a strong symbol of the influence and contributions of the city.
For anyone with ancestors from St. Louis, the online site titled; ‘History of St. Louis Neighborhoods’ is a treasure chest of information and images. The site lists each of the neighborhoods for the City of St. Louis with an outline map with each neighborhood labeled. With 27 neighborhoods listed this represents a wonderful opportunity for the family history researcher to learn more about the area of the city their ancestors lived and worked.
Many of these neighborhoods were established not solely on geography, but also on ethnic and cultural basics. Within each community developed the homes, schools, churches, parks, institutions and work areas that made each unique.
When you click on one of the neighborhoods a list of topics related to that location are provided. For Hyde Park, along the eastern boundary, there is history about the early roads in the area, the style of homes constructed, the industry found in the area as well as churches, schools and transportation systems. In Hyde Park, the Holy Trinity Church was founded in 1849. The Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church was established in April 1849. The histories of these churches as well as others in Hyde Park are provided, along with an image each of the Holy Trinity Church and Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church. The schools of the neighborhood are a separate section. Here is explained, along with images of the oldest public, is that of the Henry Clay School. Other older local schools are written about in the section.
If there are subdivisions within a neighborhood those are included in its history. It will have street addresses, landmarks and sizes to help identify them.
Knowing which neighborhood your ancestors lived in would be the first thing to learn. By checking the U. S. Federal census records, many times on certain censuses the location within St. Louis would be listed. For example in 1930 there was the Ernest Teepe family living at #2916 Oregon Ave. which was near Arsenal St., Gravois Ave. and California Ave. in District 506, Ward #14, Block #1997. All that information was on the census.
Plugging in those streets for St. Louis, Missouri on a Google Map search will help pinpoint the location in the city. For this area names of parks or other landmarks will be shown to help identify the neighborhood. In this case for the Teepe family, the name Benton Park is the neighborhood. Checking the section with Benton Park shows the major street of Arsenal which is right near where the Teepes lived.
So this serves as a helpful resource to learn more about the lives of our St. Louis ancestors.
Kathy Kavanaugh 12/08/11
The webmasters for the City St. Louis just changed their site address. They still have the information on all the neighborhoods, including Walnut Park East and West. Good luck. New Site address: http://stlouis-mo.gov/neighborhoods/
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