bad neighborhoods in St. Joseph, mo (Ashland, Parkway: cul-de-sac, for sale, renting)
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Ashland Avenue is still very nice and highly coveted as a neighborhood, despite the seemingly hundreds of suburban neighborhoods that have sprung up in the northeast part of town in the last 20 years or so. I am not a "suburban" type of person, so I love living in the historic area, and would love to see more people become interested in historic preservation. We have saved an 1898 house and an 1885 house from falling into ruin, and although we will never get as much money out of them as we have put in them, we are proud to have been a part of the resurrection of the neighborhood, and have had a beautiful old house to live in all these years.
1920s/1930s early suburban neighborhoods seem to be coveted everywhere. They're a pretty good balance of urban and suburban. But I've never understood why smaller towns treat their cores as ghetto and have abandoned them like in larger cities because usually there isn't violent crime, but I guess it's all relative. There are some really neat houses and neighborhoods west of I think it's 22nd St and I guess east of downtown St. Joe. Who lives in those big stately houses? Are they divided into apartments?
There is some wonderful historic architecture, to be sure, and parts of town are aesthetically very beautiful. The parkway is a wonderful place to drive in the summer, with the top down on your convertible. But when I moved away a few years ago, the job market was in the toilet, and had been before the recession started. There are a few major employers and families there, and they essentially run the town. It's easy to get a job if you know someone, very hard at times if you do not.
I don't understand why people consider Central High to be a "rich" school. Its boundaries encompass some of the wealthiest areas in town, but also some of the poorest, and, at least when I was there, that made for quite a caste system.
It is hard for me to be objective about St. Joseph. I spent too many unhappy years there for that.
I am now by force and in-laws to visit that place. I travel all over the mid west for my job. And This place is the nastiest most white trash town I have ever been in. And my My wife's family have been well driven to that life style. I would say the tattoo over tooth count is high. Be a great place for a nuclear testing sight, or maybe it was and that's the problem.St Joe Mo. is just a place I could never visit again and the people in it. I swear they all drink St Joe stupid water.
I am now by force and in-laws to visit that place. I travel all over the mid west for my job. And This place is the nastiest most white trash town I have ever been in. And my My wife's family have been well driven to that life style. I would say the tattoo over tooth count is high. Be a great place for a nuclear testing sight, or maybe it was and that's the problem.St Joe Mo. is just a place I could never visit again and the people in it. I swear they all drink St Joe stupid water.
Sure, St Joe isn't the nicest city in the world. But people like you are what ruin this forum. Some people live there and love it, others live there and hate it. You don't like it; leave your demeaning comments to yourself. All you need to do is say why you don't like it, (your username speaks for itself) and then leave it alone.
I was born and raised there. Even as a child, I hated living there, and always felt as if I did not belong in that city. As a teenager, I couldn't wait to graduate and move away, but circumstances in my life prevented that. I used to beg my husband to move, but he just didn't want to. He was too afraid to look outside of the city, and try to explore other parts of the country. When we divorced, the first thing I did was pack my bags and go. I never felt like this city was my home. I'll never understand why. I always felt as if I was suffocating and depressed there. The city itself feels depressed. I left in 2000. At that time, there was hardly anything there. You had to go to KC for shopping, or to see movies you could not see.
I rented in a lot of the historic houses, divided up into apartments. Some were even haunted. Many were quite dilapidated. I have many stories about some of those places. The river front park is haunted. Really don't care if I sound crazy but it's true. Don't go to Sun bridge after dark, if you don't want to hear someone walking behind you through the trails all the way back to your car. Many places in that town are definitely haunted.
I went to Catholic schools there, and grew up in a decent area of town. The one thing I hated so much about the city was the amount of racism. I'm white, but I saw so much racism it was unreal. I don't know how it is now. I remember the corner of Messanie across from the old Sears building was called "crack corner" and all of the neighborhood behind it was mostly black families, a long time ago. I know that many of the families that lived there before that were wealthy, Jewish families who ran many of the businesses, or at least this is what my grandfather told me.
I came back for a visit in 2011 and was surprised to see some of the upgrades with chain stores, but that old energy that I hated was still there. That depressed feeling. The dirty river, and that feeling like you are going to go nowhere. Stuck.
It's a town rich in history, that tries desperately to capitalize on Jesse James and the Pony Express Riders, but other than that I just don't see what the city itself has to really offer. If someone sat me down and said, okay you can only live in SJ or KC, pick one. I would pick KC.
I really don't miss SJ. The best thing i did for myself was leave it behind. I know a lot of good people love living there, but it's never been for me.
St Joseph, Missouri is like a literary device for a horror novel. This town will consume you. It's a dying town filled with angry, shell shocked natives who cannot or will not accept the truth about this horrible little hamlet. No jobs, no culture and a sea of fast food joints. Anyone can work here if they wish to wear a paper hat. Seriously folks, this town is like death. I cannot wait to escape to the land of the living.
I think you just nailed it. Angry, depressed, stuck.... it's almost like a bad Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit song.
Ashland Avenue is still very nice and highly coveted as a neighborhood, despite the seemingly hundreds of suburban neighborhoods that have sprung up in the northeast part of town in the last 20 years or so. I am not a "suburban" type of person, so I love living in the historic area, and would love to see more people become interested in historic preservation. We have saved an 1898 house and an 1885 house from falling into ruin, and although we will never get as much money out of them as we have put in them, we are proud to have been a part of the resurrection of the neighborhood, and have had a beautiful old house to live in all these years.
I rented in a duplex on Ashland in the 90's. I'm someone who has lived all over, south end, north end, middle of downtown, deer park, etc. Living on Ashland wasn't that big of a deal. Sure, it was nice, but, the people were mostly the type to keep to themselves if they didn't recognize your last name or who your parents and grandparents are. I lived down the street from Daniel Kellogg at one time. I guess people see these areas as coveted because everyone associated Ashland with rich people, and I was far from that. I was working blue collar class.
I do appreciate that you prefer to rehabilitate the older areas and homes of St. Joseph... really, I believe that's about all that's left of the town, if one is searching for a jewel. The history, the historical homes, that's about all that is left, at least in my opinion. I too lived on Museum Hill, catty corner to the SJ museum in 1989-91. It was a duplex at the time, I lived down stairs, and a pastor and his wife were upstairs. That house was haunted. Very haunted. So haunted, we have to move out. But I definitely loved that area. Even though at the time, Drug Strike Force had to kick in someone's door 3 houses down and drag some people out on the front lawn in front of me. Love the old houses, for sure. I rented from Craig and Kelly Ritchie who owned what is now called the Shakespeare bed and breakfast. I rented top floor of the carriage house, and helped them with a bit of cleaning in their foyer, while they were renovating their floor. They were good people.
That carriage house was not haunted, but that house was. My husband got scared in there one night while working.
If you are considering moving back to, or relocating to St Joseph, I will say this; St Joseph is a town of old money from the old west days and newcomers are not welcome, whatsoever. The city government is as crooked as a mountain road, and every single person over a certain income level is always found innocent, regardless of the crime. The poor, and only the poor are ever found guilty of anything. If you are a lawyer, a real estate agent, or in the medical profession, you are treated like a god, and if you are not in those fields, I say find a more friendly place to move. This is a town of very upity people and it shows on the up-turned noses, no matter where you go. The culture is way behind the entire nation, and new fads take years to reach here. It's nick-name is "St. Slowseph" because of the negative job growth and negative population growth. Basically, St Joe is a beautiful city to look at and visit, with it's fantastic architecture and history, but a horrible place for justice of any kind, unless you are the upity, "better-than-thou" type of person........
I have to second this one. My grandparents always told me, "you have to know the right people, and have the right last name". My grandmother was a bit of a socialite and knew so many people because she worked at the court house, and had a couple judges who she knew and was friends with. But my family was not the upper crust wealthy, we were more middle class folks, and my grandfather a blue collar worker. In my mom's time, it was the same. You have to know the people with old money. She dated a Wyeth back in high school. My mom grew up to work in factories the rest of her life. But as she put it to me, at least one could find a good job and become prosperous back in the 70's 80's and early 90's. Those good jobs are mostly gone and outsourced to other countries, and that is one reason why SJ is dying. It was the laborers that were the backbone of that midwestern city. Now, all that's left is fast food jobs, part time work in the mall, if you are not of a profession, old money, or new money. This is why morale has been down for a long long time and the hope and dreams that the baby boomers could grab and run with, are a fading thing for the youth now. Times have changed and SJ only reflects that. Now, you really have to work hard or just decide to live on welfare.
SJ has always been about old money and who's who. It's like Rose's family on the Titanic, and you're Jack, in your suit just hanging around. The older folks make the decisions there.
Lord I remember when the city council thought it was going to be a grand idea to bring hootie and the blowfish to town back when they were already washing up and no one cared about them. They thought the young people would be busting the doors down. They sold 300 tickets and cancelled the concert.
That's where the mindset is.... there's no connection between the young and old and the old want to keep control of it. If that continues, the town will definitely die out until they let their grip loosen a bit.
MJB & NWGuy74,
Do you think a health food restaurant or small grocery would work in St. Jo? I'm a health nut, but figured the town's dynamic didn't call for that. My ideal business would be a small corner grocery that sold local, organic and healthy. But, we're not independantly wealthy and whatever we choose will have to be a financial success.
No. LOL. Sorry. Two sets of people attempted to open a healthy eating restaurant with organic food, and both sets of people failed, and closed shop. First it was Common Ground downtown, which was ran by the Twelve Tribes, or better known as "The Community". They were a religious group who mostly kept to themselves. They managed to hang on and stay open for a few years, but gave up and moved everything, including their families.
Second set of people, bought it, painted the inside, and turned it into another cafe style bohemian type place that served only "living raw foods", sandwiches, and other organic style dishes with desserts including fruit plates or smoothies. They lasted less than a year, closed shop and the couple moved out of the country.
SJ is not the place to attempt this now. It is very hard to convince the majority in a meat, potatoes and gravy town, to eat vegan. I think the closest we had to anything organic or healthy was found at A to Z health food store. Don't know if they still exist but they carried minimal grocery and catered to a small set of the community.
You would do better to try Kansas City or a suburb of it.
If you're prone to depression or you don't have a vice that shuts off the part of your brain that makes you aware of your surroundings, avoid Saint Joseph at all costs.
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. Some people live there and love it, others live there and hate it. You don't like it; leave your demeaning comments to yourself. All you need to do is say why you don't like it, (your username speaks for itself) and then leave it alone.
