Carondelet: Swallowed Up By St. Louis

            Carondelet is a neighborhood of St. Louis City.  It is defined as the area between the Mississippi River, the River Des Peres, and Eichelberger and Alabama streets.[1]  Highway 55 also cuts right through the middle of Carondelet, cutting the neighborhood in half.  It is located south of downtown St. Louis and has been incorporated as part of the city since 1870.[2]  Also within the limits of the neighborhood of Carondelet, there are other debated neighborhoods as well.  Patch, another St. Louis neighborhood, has conflicting boundaries with Carondelet, making the two neighborhoods actually neighbors but also having some overlapping areas with each one.  Stein’s Town, the area in which many original German immigrants settled upon arrival in the area, is located in the South of Carondelet, technically within Carondelet’s borders. Holly Hills is also another example of this phenomenon that occurs in some neighborhoods. [3]  Although the borders can be somewhat conflicting in this particular case, the neighborhood of Carondelet is unique in its history.

            Carondelet’s uniqueness spurs from the fact that it was its own city growing up at around the same time as St. Louis.  Its population grew quite slowly, especially compared to St. Louis, which is why it was swallowed up by the city, not the other way around.  It was founded in 1767 by Clement DeLore Treget, a Frenchman who came with his wife and children to settle along the Mississippi River south of St. Louis.  It was originally named Louisbourg, after the French King Louis XV[4], but was later changed to honor the Spanish Governor General in 1795.[5]  By 1803, at the time of Louisiana Purchase, Carondelet consisted of 250 people living in about 50 homes.  In 1851, it had about 1200 residents.  It was slow-going for the city before it was incorporated into St. Louis.  The railroad came to town mid-century, bringing with it industry and rapid growth in population.  During the American Civil War, “Lincoln’s Gunboats” were built along the Mississippi and men supporting both the North and the South were living in St. Louis, a common occurrence in the area.[6]  Older residents tended to be Democrats and typically supporters of the South in the war, whereas, immigrants such as the Germans were Republicans, supporters of the North and anti-slavery advocates.  Henry T. Blow, father of Susan, the founder of the Des Peres School, was a Northern supporter.[7]  In 1873 Blow’s daughter founded the first American public Kindergarten established at the Des Peres School.[8]  Carondelet captured its own unique history apart from St. Louis that allowed it to prosper and change with the city.  Carondelet, previously known as Louisbourg, also went by another nickname.  It was sometimes refered to as “Vice Poche,” which means “empty pockets.”  Historians disagree on where this name came from.  Perhaps it was referring to the financial status of those living in the town, or even to those who visited to go to the Carondelet gambling arenas.[9]

            Having been founded by a Frenchman and being under both French and Spanish control, the city of Carondelet was heavily Catholic for a long time.  The Convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph was started in 1836.  Children in the area would be educated by those attending the convent until the neighborhood was incorporated into the city of St. Louis and public education was offered.  Susan Blow opened the Des Peres School in 1873, serving as the country’s first public Kindergarten.  In 1873, the state of Missouri required segregation of blacks and whites in public schools, so the first school for blacks was built in Carondelet.[10]  In 1875, the area for Carondelet Park was purchased for over $140,000, dedicated on the country’s 100^th “Birthday,” July 4, 1876, and it was originally named Independence Park just for that reason.[11]

            Carondelet Park is one of the main public places in the neighborhood.  Another neighborhood, Bevo’s Mill, also known as Morgan’s Ford, shares a border with the park.[12]  The park was built due to public demand.  While the city was building Forest Park to the north in the center of St. Louis, those to the south also wanted a park of their own.  It was opened in 1876 and today is lightly wooded, hosting sports fields and many walking trails.[13]  When the city of St. Louis became interested in building a zoo, those around Forest Park had their own objections to the idea, and the Carondelet Business Men’s Association stated that the citizens in Carondelet would be happy to host the zoo in Carondelet Park.  It was settled that the St. Louis Zoo would be built in Forest Park; however, it is interesting that Carondelet was even a candidate.[14]

            Highway 55, which cuts through the middle of Carondelet was almost complete in the 1960s, but work continued into the 1980s to ease traffic problems in the city.[15]  There may not have been much objection to the building of the highway due to its effort to help increase efficient transportation throughout the city.

Gentrification is not heavily taking place in the Carondelet neighborhood perhaps because of the industry along the Mississippi River, the overall condition of the neighborhood, or a number of any other factors.  There is at least one group, however, that is attempting to better the neighborhood through a home rehabilitation project.  The 21^st Century Carondelet Strategic Plan was put into action by the Carondelet Housing Corporation in January of 2009.  Five private local investors gained funding for this project.  They undertake the responsibility of buying run-down or vacant homes and completely rehabilitating them to sell on the market.  According to the organization’s website, three homes at the intersection of Minnesota and Holly Hills were completely gutted and re-done to “bring stability to a street-front.”  Two of those three houses were successfully sold. [16]  Not only is this a good way to beautify the neighborhood with a coat of fresh paint and a nice front porch for curb appeal, it may also prove to help induce gentrification in the Carondelet neighborhood in the future.  Only time will tell how well this process will work, but it is an excellent start to get the neighborhood up and moving once again.

            Today, the city is somewhat run-down and less than up to standards.  There is apparently a problem with prostitution in the area, according to a very recent article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.[17]  There are a total of 4,494 houses in the neighborhood, of which 847 are vacant, making nearly nineteen percent of the neighborhood with vacant housing.[18]  Just taking a drive around the neighborhood, one can see the differences between the homes surrounding Carondelet Park and those elsewhere.  The houses around the park are nice, old, well-kept, pricey homes; whereas, the rest of the neighborhood has the more typical old small brick homes.  In Carondelet, of the 4,500 or so homes, more than 3,800 were built prior to 1940.  The neighborhood experienced some housing growth in both the 1950s and 1980s, which correlates with the state trend at the time as well.[19]  Taking a drive through the neighborhood, one thing that really sticks out is the variety of homes in Carondelet.  It is unlike other neighborhoods in St. Louis where one could drive down several streets and hardly be able to tell the difference between each one.  Every house seems to be slightly different from the last.  Although the majority of houses are older, there is a variety among them.  It is not simply one little brick house after another.  The neighborhood streets are lined with one older brick home, and then the viewer could see newer buildings, even apartments in between.  There are tiny shotgun homes, big mansions, and regular sized bungalow style homes as well.[20]  The neighborhood has two gas stations and a large senior living home along the riverfront.  It also has many small bars, restaurants, and other “Mom and Pop shops.”  Some parts of town have a southern style with beautiful architecture.  Along Broadway, one can see the southern influence in homes with balconies and beautiful facades.  There are many schools in the neighborhood, some of which have historic significance.[21]

            Today nearly forty percent of residents in the neighborhood have not attained high school diplomas, but about thirty-two percent do have GEDs or have successfully finished high school, which is nearly three times the state average; on the other hand, however, the forty percent who have not finished high school is nearly three times the state average as well.[22]  The racial breakdown of residents eighteen years and older in the neighborhood primarily consists of a majority whites at about sixty-four percent of the total population and blacks at about twenty-nine percent.[23]

            For the future of Carondelet, there have been discussions about improving Interstate 55, which runs straight through the neighborhood.  In 2003, MoDOT began looking at the transportation needs of the southern half of St. Louis.  Currently, there is no funding to support any changes, but MoDOT has held meetings to get the opinions of those living in the area.  They realize that help is needed in creating a more beautiful streetscape, enhancing local transit, and modifying I-55 exits at Loughborough, Germania, and Carondelet, among other parts of the highway.  This plan has been titled the I-55 River Des Peres Communities Transportation Investment Plan and is still awaiting approval and funding in order for the processes to begin to be undergoing.[24]

            There have also been efforts around the city of St. Louis to improve the area’s industry, which has been on the downturn since the beginning of the recession several years ago.  Improvements to industry would help bring jobs back to the area, a much needed investment, particularly in the south, such as the Carondelet neighborhood.  Carondelet has historically always had industry along the riverfront[25] and this initiative will be beneficial to the residents and the city in general.  A Post-Dispatch article stated that the former Carondelet Coke site will be taken over by a food manufacturing company and they intend to begin building the plant in the summer of 2014.[26]  By building a new factory, this will not only clean up the cityscape in the neighborhood, but will also create jobs and hopefully begin the better the Carondelet area.

            The city of St. Louis does a good job at trying to get public opinion on new projects, especially those aimed at improving the city as a whole.  Mayor Slay wholeheartedly loves the city and would like to see it become great again.  St. Louis does face many problems, but over time, Slay hopes to improve it.  There is talk about repairing St. Louis City Hall, but before undergoing that long, expensive process, the city will be holding meetings to see what other improvements residents would like to see.  A meeting was held in April at the Carondelet Rec-Plex.[27]  At least those living in the neighborhood know that they have a voice in the city and can express their own thoughts in a meeting close to home. Carondelet is close to stabilization in terms of residency.  Between 1990 and 2000, they lost about five percent of their population, which is actually not bad compared to the rest of the city of St. Louis.[28]  Carondelt’s history adds a little something extra to the city of St. Louis.  Taking a look at Carondelet, one can truly see all of the different influences that have reached the city.  Just taking a drive around the neighborhood, one can see all of the different architectural influences that have come to the city.  St. Louis has a long and rich history and Carondelet’s independent story helps build on the story of the city as a whole.

            Carondelet was once an independent city swallowed up by the rapid growth of the city of St. Louis.  With the major expansion of St. Louis, it can be difficult to simply imagine what the city looked like in the past.  “Commons fields” were gathered up to create parks and new neighborhoods.  What was once farmland became the heart of the city today.  Even within the last fifty years, so much has changed in St. Louis.  It is important to keep ties with the past and to see the city on a timeline, viewing all of the changes that had to take place to make it the major American city that it is today.  The Mississippi River, great for transportation means, made these two cities a possibility.  St. Louis will continue expanding, but the little hamlet that is Carondelet will always hold its own personal unique history both apart from and a part of the city of St. Louis.

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