Neighborhood Stabilization and Historic Preservation: Recreating a Sense of Place

Across the country, many neighborhoods have leveraged their historic capital to create more cohesive communities and attract outside investment. Successful examples include:

• the Over-the-Rhine district in Cincinnati
• the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis

In both of these cases, coordinated historic preservation campaigns helped stabilize the physical fabric of the neighborhood and nurture a sense of identify among residents.

Old North St. Louis is an ideal candidate for such heritage-based revitalization.

A rich history

North St. Louis in 1851.

Old North St. Louis was established as an independent village to compete with the City of St. Louis for river trade to and from Alton, Illinois. Since then it has been a turnstile for successive waves of immigrants who settled, worked in the nearby factories, and then moved on to the suburbs as they made their way into the middle class. After World War II, the neighborhood continued growing as rural migrants, both white and black, moved from the American south.

Churches and a fondly-remembered candy store still draw the descendants of the original immigrants to the neighborhood on a regular basis. Factories, shops, public bath houses, and houses--many of them abandoned--tell a story of how life was lived under very different circumstances and how people got along with one another in the past.

Connecting past with present

This picture portrays the excavation of one of several sites in Old North St. Louis. This archaeological dig was conducted by UMSL students and faculty as well as neighborhood residents. The group's findings will be used to interpret the history of the community.

Old North St. Louis was placed on the National Historic Register in 1984. Since then, there have been attempts to rehabilitate some of the neighborhood's 19th-century homes. Yet, for many residents, the neighborhood's past remains a mystery, or fails to resonate with their own life experiences.

A major goal of the Old North Neighborhood Partnership has been to integrate the neighborhood's recent history with its more remote past and involve the community in the process of interpreting this history. Public history projects offer a way to engage citizens in the discussion of their shared past. These projects help build social bonds, promoting community stability and harmony.

Where the Old North Neighborhood Partnership is focusing

• Recording the Oral History of Old North St. Louis Residents
  
  
  

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  UMSL students and faculty worked with Old North St. Louis residents and former residents to record oral histories, which are maintained in the offices of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group.Click here to read the guidelines followed during the recording process.


The taped recordings of the oral histories, combined with historical documents and footage, served as the foundation of a videodocumentary that tells the story of the neighborhood. “North Side Story,” produced under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Hurley, profiles the changes in the neighborhood, from its beginnings to new developments. Contact The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group if you are interested in viewing a copy of the videodocumentary.
• Developing a Bicycle Tour of the Old North St. Louis Neighborhood


UMSL faculty and students assisted Old North St. Louis residents in the development of a bicycle tour that links with the North Riverfront Trail, located along the Mississippi Riverfront only blocks to the east of the neighborhood. Click here for a description of historical sites on the tour.

The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group plans to add signage and historical markers to the trail in the near future. If you are interested in helping to raise funds for the further enhancement of the Old North Saint Louis History Trail, please contact The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group.


• Creating a Community Museum

University faculty and students are also working with the Old North History Committee to design a series of exhibits that will be on display in the Old North neighborhood. Display space is under development in the windows of the Restoration Group office, directly across from Crown Candy Kitchen. Check back in late 2004 for an update on the neighborhood museum project.

• Digging into the Past through Archaeology

  The Old North Neighborhood Partnership’s Archaeology project has served as an exciting way to help Old North residents uncover the past, and has generated a variety of discoveries and artifacts that have guided project development and are being featured in museum displays. Archaeological digs were held on Saturdays throughout the fall 2002 semester, and as part of a field school in the summer of 2003. The digs partnered University faculty and students with neighborhood residents, school students and Boy Scout troops to explore the neighborhood's history from an archaeological perspective.


Click Here for a slideshow overview of the archaeology program.

In addition to the four projects outlined above, the Old North Neighborhood Partnership also created a history of the neighborhood in book form, entitled From Village to Neighborhood: A History of Old North St. Louis. This book, written by PPRC faculty fellow Andrew Hurley and by Miranda Rabus Rectenwald, documents the recovery of the history of the Old North St. Louis neighborhood through research, interviews, and archaeological excavations.