Youth Leadership St. Louis Visits Old North

Yesterday a group of about 35 high school students participating in the Youth Leadership St. Louis program came by to learn about the work of Old North St. Louis Restoration Group.  After a presentation in the ONSLRG office on the history of the neighborhood and the achievements of an active and determined community with a vision, the students headed out to see the transformation in person.

The Youth Leadership group outside the soon-to-be "old" ONSLRG office.

One of the highlights was a tour of the "Crown Village Gallery" which is nearing completion, adjacent to the "new" ONSLRG office (coming soon!).

The group braved the chilly weather to walk down 13th Street to see the 13th Street Community Garden and the future site of the Old North Grocery Co-op.

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Praise for Old North’s “edifying restoration and renewal”

Missouri Historical Society President Bob Archibald used his commentary on St. Louis Public Radio (90.7 FM) today to celebrate the revitalization of Old North St. Louis.  With a quick reference to the neighborhood as home of the much-loved Crown Candy Kitchen and a review of the community’s many years of decline, Archibald praised the passion and persistence of the area’s residents for bringing the neighborhood back to life:

“But some neighborhoods refuse to die. Thanks to the determined efforts of people hanging on in Old North St. Louis, Crown Candy Kitchen is in the midst of an edifying restoration and renewal. The enthusiasm of this re-emerging neighborhood is palpable. It’s been a slow process, not yet complete but moving with deliberation and good judgment.”

To read or listen to the whole commentary, click HERE to reach the St. Louis Public Radio website.

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Jackson Park Improvements in Progress

One of Old North’s great amenities is the easy access to green space, with almost every household in the neighborhood within a couple blocks of a community garden or a public park.  One of those spaces, Jackson Park, is in the midst of some much needed sprucing up, thanks to a great deal of community input and some funding secured by Alderwoman April Ford Griffin.

The original circular portion of Jackson Park is being prepared for new plantings, while a new playground is rising in the area that has been added to the park.

The new playground equipment is installed and nearly ready for neighborhood children.

The work under way right now reflects the ideas and suggestions put forth by ONSL residents at community meetings coordinated by Old North St. Louis Restoration Group in April of 2008.  The neighborhood comments and reactions were collected by architect and Old North resident John Burse who drew up a plan and submitted it to the Alderwoman and the City’s Parks Department.  To their credit, these city officials took the community input seriously and made changes to the original plans.

The revised plan, as submitted to the city after significant community discussion.

ONSL residents Tom Tschetter and Joe Sweet discuss Jackson Park at the community meeting in April of 2008.

According to the book, “From Village to Neighborhood: A History of Old North St. Louis” by Miranda Rabus Rectenwald and Andrew Hurley, “Jackson Place, dedicated as a recreational park, is the second oldest park in all of St. Louis.”

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The History & Transformation of ONSL, as seen in one building

2601 N. 14th Street, from 1875, as part of a thriving, mixed-use community (below)… to abandonment and deterioration in recent years (below)…

to its renewed lease on life, in the midst of full historic rehabilitation as part of the Crown Square redevelopment of the former 14th Street Mall (below).

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The Attraction of Historic Neighborhoods

One of the benefits of preserving historic neighborhoods is that generations of former residents and their descendants can return to the old neighborhood for visits to reminisce or re-connect with the places, flavors, and scenes of important family events that don’t quite come alive in black and white pictures. That is especially true in Old North St. Louis where busloads of visitors and tourists line up outside the doors of Crown Candy Kitchen on a daily basis.On Saturday, ONSL welcomed back a number of graduates of the old St. Michael’s Catholic School which once occupied the building that is now home to Greater Leonard Missionary Baptist Church on 11th Street. St. Michaels was a grade school, and for a portion of its history a high school, for St. Michael’s parish. Established in 1849 as an Irish parish, the original church was demolished to make way for Interstate 70 in the 1950s; after the church was torn down, the school building was converted to the parish’s worship space before the parish was closed and consolidated with another parish in 1975. Although gone for more than 30 years now, St. Michael’s School lives on in the memories of its former students who had a chance to walk the halls of their alma mater, thanks to the hospitality of staff from Greater Leonard church, including Ella Owens.

Above: Sister Maura Therese made the trip from Omaha, Nebraska, to meet with St. Michael’s graduates Tony Michalak, Idalla Koch, Bernice Siros, Anne Greco Schwartz, and Floyd Walker, who took advantage of the opportunity to sit in the desks of one of their old classrooms.

Back in the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group office, the St. Michael’s grads, who had been children in ONSL during the ’30s and ’40s, viewed exhibits at the Old North St. Louis Community History Museum and crossed paths with other former residents who had grown up in ONSL during the ’60s. The Horne sisters had lived at 1441 St. Louis Avenue and 3206 N. 19th Street and returned to the neighborhood from south city, Fredericktown, MO, and Albuquerque, when they discovered the Community History Museum. All of the visitors exchanged stories of the good old days of businesses and community activities along a vibrant 14th Street and shared the excitement about the redevelopment in progress that will bring life back to 14th Street.

Above: The “Horne Girls”: Mary Dodd, Ellen Malon, and Theresa Jumper.

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Old North on MayorSlay.com

Old North St. Louis is the subject of the most recent St. Louis Traffic video on MayorSlay.com. St. Louis Traffic is a series of videos produced by Carson Minow. Interviews include ONSLRG Executive Director Sean Thomas and neighborhood residents Michael Allen and Johnnie Owens. You can download the video directly here, or check out the rest of the videos here.

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Mall Construction Update

Boom lift ready for masonry work on Warren.

Mantle to be saved.

Matt Bivens, Historic Preservation Specialist at RHCDA, collecting trim samples and gathering other historic materials from a building on 14th St.

Historic Stairway to be saved.

Large tree trunk from behind buildings on 14th St.

Before pictures to highlight just how dramatic the transformation will be.

Interesting writings inside one of the buildings.

Private development across from some of the soon to be renovated buildings on 14th St.

Nearly Gutted

Neighbors checking out the progress.

Taking a break from the extreme heat.

One of many dumpsters being filled up with debris from the interiors.

More tree clearance

Matt Bivens removing historic moldings from a building on 14th St.

Matt Bivens and Kevin From E.M. Harris remove more historic moldings from 1414 Warren.

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Mullanphy Concert

Another concert to benefit the historic Mullanphy Emigrant Home effort will be held Friday, August 17, at 8:00 pm. The concert will feature The Bearded Babies, Red-Headed Strangers, and The Monads, and will be held at the Tin Ceiling, 3159 Cherokee (corner of Compton and Cherokee). You can get in the door for a mere $7.00, and all proceeds will go towards further stabilization and rebuilding of Mullanphy. Even if you can’t make the concert, you can learn more about the Mullanphy Emigrant Home and make a tax-deductible donation anytime at www.savemullanphy.org.

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Mullanphy Timeline

This “collage” was put together to send out with an update letter that will be going to everyone that has donated to the Mullanphy Emigrant Home stabilization effort thus far. Pictures range from the original building as it was in the 1870’s to the work that was done up to just a few days ago. If you would like to contribute, visit www.savemullanphy.org.

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Summer in Old North

Picture are back after a week of vacation. Enjoy.

Scaffolding along the Hebert streetscape.

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