Old North St. Louis History Trail

The descriptions of historic sites listed below are designed as a self-guided walking tour of Old North St. Louis. Many of the images depict the site as it appeared in past years.

Descriptions and photographs of sites along the History trail were compiled by the Old North St. Louis History Committee.

1. Branch Street Industrial Area

Source: Camille N. Dry, Pictoral St. Louis, 1876.

By the mid-nineteenth century, North St. Louis had emerged as an important manufacturing district. Proximity to the Mississippi River provided businesses with easy access to raw materials and excellent opportunities for shipping their goods. By the time of the Civil War, North St. Louis was a major producer of furniture, machinery, and livestock. John Kirk's Stables provided most of the horses for the U.S. army. Floating rafts of white pine were hauled from the river, cut at local saw mills, and then made into furniture at nearby factories. The early part of the twentieth century was a boom time for riverfront industries, with woodworking and furniture production continuing to play a prominent role in the local economy. This stretch of Branch Street was lined with lumber yards, coal companies, small manufacturing plants, and an ice house. The Wabash, Terminal, and CB&Q Railroads could be seen and heard hauling industrial goods across Branch Street on a daily basis. At one time this area also included many private residences. With the construction of the Interstate 70 in the 1950s, however, most residents and retailers left the district, leaving vacant buildings in their wake. Many warehouses and factories, on the other hand, remained in operation. In recent years the area has become home for a number of new industries, such as recycling plants.

Branch Street was named after Rocky Branch Creek, a small stream that flowed through this area on its course to the Mississippi River. Between 1863 and 1873, this portion of the creek was converted into a covered sewer to service the growing residential population.

2. Branch Street Streetcar Tracks

Postcard of intersection, circa 1970s. Source: Urban Design.

Emerging from the asphalt along Branch Street, one can still observe remnants of the vast streetcar system that once served as the lifeblood to this community. Streetcar service came to North St. Louis with the opening of the Bremen Line along Broadway in 1859. Seven years later, the Union Line extended service deeper into the neighborhood along Tenth and Eleventh Streets. Until the electrification of the system in the 1880s, streetcars were pulled by horses, and for a brief period of time, cables.

North St. Louis benefited tremendously from the rapid expansion of the mass-transit system. By 1900, more routes passed through this neighborhood than through any other. The streetcar gave residents easy access to outlying parks, downtown department stores, and jobs in a wide variety of urban districts. The line that ran along these particular tracks brought commuters across the river from Illinois to jobs in downtown St. Louis.

Old North St. Louis suffered a substantial loss with the decline of streetcar service after World War II. In 1945, the St. Louis Public Service Company announced the closure of eight streetcar lines, including two that passed through this neighborhood. Some of the streetcar lines were replaced by bus service, but others were abandoned altogether. With one of the city's lowest rates of automobile ownership, residents of Old North St. Louis found themselves with less access to the rest of the city than they had enjoyed in the era of the streetcar.

3. Palm Street (Formerly Davis Street and Soft Street)

Source: Camille N. Dry, Pictoral St. Louis, 1876.

From the annals of days gone by, the history of Palm Street reflects the presence of early landowners who were French. Some years later, the land would become occupied by German and Polish immigrants. Most of the Victorian homes on the street were built as townhouses between 1885 and 1899. At that time, the mansard roof style was prevalent.

There were many occupations that supported the families who lived on this street. Business owners, teachers, clerks, and journeymen were all represented and most of them walked to their jobs nearby. Jeanne Wingmann, the namesake of Wingmann Park and a teacher who taught in this neighborhood for sixty six years, lived at the 1934 and 2023-2025 addresses for many years.

In 1868, the land on which the home at 1938-40 stands was owned by Louis A. and Melanie LaBeaume. Bertha LaBeaume, their daughter, and her husband, Amedie De Caix De St. Aymour of Paris, France were also owners. The land remained in the LaBeaume and Edmond and Marie de La Pierre families until 1884. Louis Auguste LaBeaume owned a tremendous amount of real estate in the City of St. Louis and was instrumental in bringing the Missouri Pacific Railroad to St. Louis and also served as president of the St. Louis Gas-Light Company. His father, Louis Tateron LaBeaume, was one of the founders of St. Louis. The renowned St. Louis architect Louis LaBeaume was also a member of this family.

The property was sold to Frederick Tiemann in 1884. He built the present home for $7,500 in 1885 and he or family members resided there until the 1940s. The Tiemann Hardware Store of St. Louis was associated with this family. It was established in the 1890s and it was in existence until the late 1970s.

Recent owners of this Victorian home have lived here since 1978. Many of the original amenities of the home have been retained. A beautiful flower and vegetable garden have been added to the premises. Also, to enhance the aesthetics of the street, as well as curb appeal, the Palm Street Tree and Flower Garden was designed in 1999, by Carole Gates, with the help of family and neighborhood children. The unique ornamental garden, with original brick sidewalks, reflects appropriately upon a row of homes in the 1900 block that has remained to remind the architectural community and others of an era in St. Louis history which brought old world culture to a rising new city. The garden has received awards from Gateway Greening, through the Missouri Botanical Garden. It has also created a European ambience on the block, reminiscent of the communities left behind by the early craftsmen who built the homes on Palm Street and those who settled in Old North St. Louis.

4. Hebert Street

Source: Camille N. Dry, Pictoral St. Louis, 1876.

The collection of stories that lie intermeshed with a section of Hebert Street, stretching roughly from Hadley to Twentieth Streets, offer themselves as a microcosm of Old North St. Louis history. Originally the residential district for a mostly German immigrant population, Hebert Street still features many homes originally built by this first wave of inhabitants. Built further away from the sidewalks, these houses distinguish themselves from the New England style of homes more commonly found along Warren Street, several blocks south of here. Increasingly occupying more professional classes as the twentieth century dawned, these mostly German-American teachers, doctors and actors took pride in maintaining the yards and gardens that still highlight the area to this day. Pride in the neighborhood was equally matched by smaller contingents of Irish and Poles who supplied much of the labor for the burgeoning shoe and steel industries located here in the 1920s. Gravitating towards a more working class population by the end of the Second World War, the maintenance of Hebert Street slowly declined as many inhabitants moved to the suburbs and were supplanted by new residents who lacked both the time and the money to improve the look of the street. The Hebert Street community was further weakened by the eastwardly move of the Ames School from the corner of Fourteenth to Hadley Street. Nevertheless, a resurgence of Hebert's past glory is underway. Fueled by the inexhaustive efforts of the local population and the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, the active refurbishing and beautifying of many homes along the street has been progressing for almost twenty years. Fortunately, a great many of the homes along Hebert Street still retain their original slate roofs, unusual window arrangements, and beautifully carved cornices. It is particularly noteworthy that the entire 1400 block of Hebert Street has not lost one building to demolition; it still has its original streetscape.   Inside, original woodwork, including pocket doors and ornately marbled fireplaces, are contained within the pressed brick construction. Many of the original brick sidewalks remain intact.

The Hebert Street Community Garden, here at the intersection of Hebert and Blair Streets, was established in 2000 by the Michael and Sandra Moser family along with other local residents. It was supported by Gateway Greening, a non-profit organization dedicated to community development through community gardening and the transformation of neglected and abandoned lots in St. Louis into productive gardens and beautiful landscaped areas. The award-winning garden has proven to be an effective complement to the ongoing efforts to restore the neighborhood to its former glory.

5. Ames School and Kindergarten

Ames School, circa 1955 Source: Courtesy St. Louis Public Schools Record Center

The establishment of kindergartens in the United States is inexorably linked to the history of St. Louis. Beginning with the pioneering efforts of the local aristocrat Susan E. Blow, the pedagogical theories of the German Friedrich Froebel were adapted first in St. Louis and then quickly spread throughout the country. The original site of the first American kindergarten was located in the basement floor of the Des Peres School in Carondelet. The idea behind the innovation was to encourage creative self-expression among the very young and to intervene in the lives of children as early as possible to prevent them from going astray.

The two-story building that faces us at 1323 Hebert Street was constructed in 1873, the same year that Blow's experiment was getting under way in Carondelet. Having recently acquired a sizable endowment from his estate, the St. Louis School Board decided to name their new school after Henry Ames, an early St. Louis entrepreneur. Still, it was not until the addition of a kindergarten in early 1877 that Ames School became the complete facility that would serve the community into the next two centuries. Originally encompassing a district that stretched from the river to Twentieth Street, Ames school quickly became associated with the enrichment opportunities afforded by its kindergarten. By beginning the educational process with a curriculum rooted in games and activities, Ames' kindergarten uplifted the spirits and prospects of the neighborhood's youth by giving them a much appreciated head start.

After serving the North St. Louis community for over seven decades, Ames School was relocated to Hadley Street. Now a viable partner in the city's successful magnet school program, Ames offers the children of many St. Louis communities the opportunity to develop their talents within an engaging program of visual and performing arts. The original building is now used for private housing and art studios.

Click Here to continue to Trail Sites #6-10.