North St.Louis (St. Louis, Benton: houses, construction, investment)

[anduarto]

As a transplanted St.Louisan, I've really been enjoying these threads about my beautiful hometown. I'm on here all the time. Sorry if I've become a pest.

One of the more painful things that's become clear is how uninformed I am about North St. Louis City. It's a huge area and I couldn't tell you the first thing about it aside from the usual observations – it's predominently african-american, it's predominently poor, it's often violent and dangerous.

Surely there's more to it than that.

I had a some great aunts and uncles who lived in North St. Louis. My earliest memories of it (1960's) are fairly positive. I was a little kid of course so who knows how accurate that is.

I remember some lovely architecture. Great brick neighborhoods with neat flats, row houses and gorgeous churches. But as a teenager (70's) I remember feeling more and more uneasy and unwelcome.

Eventually, all my great aunts and uncles either passed away or moved to the County.

Can anyone who really knows the area educate those of us who don't?

I'd love to learn and I want to visit next time I'm in town. I know South City and the Central Corridor very well. Why not North St. Louis?

[TGS]

North St. Louis has many great areas. There are plenty of streets of nice, large brick homes with good neighbors. Due to redlining, white flight, and finally black flight, many areas have become unstable. Hopefully, the trend will reverse and some of these neighborhoods will see new residents move back in. Lafayette Square and Benton Park used to be hellholes, and are now almost fully gentrified, so it can be done.

"North City" encompasses a huge area. Some of the area is as old as Soulard, and stood empty and rotting for a number of years. One of those areas is Old North St. Louis, which is seeing significant investment, and possibly a yuppie invasion in the next few years. I am crossing my fingers that the Hyde Park area has hit rock bottom and that the investment will creep up there also. There are also newer areas on the county line, that were developed around the 1950s. Those areas, such as Baden, are just now hitting full decline, but still look good on the surface. There are also private streets that are just stunning.

Here are some great photo threads:
http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=1226
http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=4855
http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=867
http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=329

I dare you to tell me that this area of North St. Louis doesn't look exactly like Northampton in South St. Louis:
http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=330
http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=163
And this looks just like the Tower Grove South area:
http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=2776

The north side has such great potential. If and when the residents decide to take a stand and kick out the bad elements, then I think that investment and new residents will pour in. It has already started in Old North St. Louis, and the street north of Delmar (the traditional "color" line), Enright, is also seeing many new rehabs. Houses on Enright were selling five years ago for $20,000. Now there are homes on that street going for $300,000 after rehab, and new construction homes for even more.

[anduarto]

Wow. What a great reply. I tried following your photo threads but for some reason, my internet is loading really slooooooowly this morning. Will check back soon. This is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Thanks.