Brief history of Benton Park West

"By the mid-1860s, the St. Louis neighborhood of Benton Park West was already a community that could provide for the basic needs of its residents. There were carpenters, builders, stone masons, dairymen, gardeners, market owners, grocers, saddle and harness makers, a blacksmith, a midwife, and two saloons to serve the area of about 50 city blocks.

Benton Park West was considered a working-class neighborhood and a German community. While most of the residents were working class, many owned their own businesses. There were also come very prominent residents. Many of the beautiful homes the working class immigrants built remain in their architectural grandeur today."

(Re-published with the permission of Edna Campos Gravenhorst, author of Images of America: Benton Park West).

Benton Park West TODAY!

Parks

Churches

Churches in existence today:

Mount Calvary Baptist Missionary Church located at 3129 California.
St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church located at 3018 Oregon.
Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer located at 2817 Utah.
Curby Memorial Presbyterian Church located at 2621 Utah.

Schools

Garfield school was closed in 2003 in an effort to reorganize the student population, as well as, as cost savings to the Saint Louis Pubic Schools.

One school remains in Benton Park West.  St. Frances Cabrini Academy is located at 3022 Oregon.

Public schools that service Benton Park West are Froebel Elementary (3709 Nebraska), Siegel Elementary (2039 Russell) and Roosevelt High School (3230 Hartford).  Parents also have the option of working with the Saint Louis Public Schools to pick the school(s) they wish their children to attend.  The choices of schools vary, but include City as well as county schools.

Housing

Housing needs of today are very different then over 100 years ago.  While there is still a need for multi-unit buildings, these building are being incorporated in the new “mixed-use” concept.  Two family buildings are still popular as the owner can live in one unit while supplementing their income with monthly rent from the second unit.  Many two families have both units as rental.

The most current desire for housing is single family and townhouse units.  <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Residents appreciate the space in a townhouse while enjoying the benefit of limited yard space and other amenities in a shared space.

Many two families have been converted to be occupied by a single family.  Through the years many have been “gently converted” without the required City building permits.  <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->More recently the old buildings, which haven’t been maintained for 50+ years, have the focus of developers.

Original single family homes still abound throughout Benton Park West.  These homes range from single story bungalows to two and three story buildings.

The buildings today still reflect the heritage of German engineering, innovation and craftsmanship.

Commercial Areas

Commercial areas border Benton Park West.  From Gravois to Jefferson to Cherokee, there are services and business that are within walking distance to nearly any home in the neighborhood.

Historic Cherokee Street still retains the beauty and expanse of buildings that were built to be retail businesses.  With ample off street parking, shoppers can choose to drive or walk to purchases shoes, clothing, gain tax services, drug store, variety store, record (opening soon) store, as well as, many other types of shops and stores.

Traditional shopping on Cherokee is in a three block area just west of Jefferson.  Continuing down Cherokee is a section known as the place for Hispanic foods, shopping, and culture.  Between Compton and Gravois has become the “Arts” area for Cherokee.  With a laid-back coffee shop (Typo) and entertainment options with The Tin Ceiling Theatre and Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, there is a variety of options for everyone.

There is even a Garden Shop, place to have your muffler and exhaust system repaired, printing services, flea market shops, etc.   Historic Cherokee has something for everyone…and it’s all walkable.

The Jefferson Corridor is booming with new businesses.  Restaurants, art studios, Tailor shop, and even the possibility of a coffee shop.   Still planned is the mixed-use building at Arsenal and Jefferson,. Gravois from Jefferson to Grand, has numerable services and businesses which are also all within walking distance.  An auto parts store, bars and restaurants, Quick Trip, pizza, etc. are all additional amenities that are available.

Transportation

No longer will you hear the clopping of horses hoofs pulling street cars or the rails running down the middle of Arsenal, Jefferson or Cherokee for electric street cars.  What you’ll find is the Metro Bus servicing Cherokee, Jefferson and Gravois.

Institutions

Benton Park West have several “anchor” non-profit organizations which service residents of the neighborhood and surrounding areas.

SSDN – Southside Day Nursery was begun in the mid-1880’s to help working women with childcare and job opportunities.  Today SSDN, located at     Iowa still servicing the community as a childcare center with an emphasis on economic development in the Cherokee Business Incubator program located on Cherokee Street.

Five Star Senior Center – Begun by five churches to service the senior community, Five Star Senior Center, previously Five Church Senior Center, services older adults in all of South Saint Louis.  Feeding 100 walk-ins, along with the delivery of over 500 meals to the elderly and indigent on a daily basis proves that Five Star Senior Center is a shining light for those who probably would not be eating nutrious meals.   Five Star also is a site for the elderly to meet for social activities and health related events.  Another feature that Five Star Senior Center is involved with is a VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) center.

Near South Side Employment Coalition – An arm of Kingdom House, NSSEC, services south Saint Louis as an employment and training center.

    EnergyCare - EnergyCare provides energy services and information for the low-income elderly, ill, disabled and young children in St. Louis County and St. Louis City.

The Franciscan Connection – Group of Franciscan Monks who provide neighborhood beautification and minor home-repair and housing assistance to low-income residents.

Early Beginnings

     The Franciscan Early beginnings as presented in the history of Saint Louis Neighborhoods written by Norbury Waymen in the early 1970’s.  The office of Community Development Agency commissioned these histories to tell about Saint Louis.

     After these histories were written, Saint Louis City re-evaluated neighborhood boundaries and split out many of the larger “neighborhoods” into smaller neighborhood groupings.  This allowed for closer integration of residents and neighborhood leaders.  Having smaller neighborhoods allowed neighborhood leadership to focus on a smaller area creating as situation where better services and support would be available to each resident. 

As stated from the Saint Louis City website “St. Louis' richest heritage is the distinctive variety of its neighborhoods, in the past and now still strong.”

The following information was taken from the City website covering two different neighborhoods in the 1970’s, Compton Hill and Marquette-Cheorkee neighborhoods.  Parts of these two 1970’s neighborhoods make up the current day Benton Park West.

Marquette-Cherokee was bounded by Arsenal Street on the north, Bates Street on the south and Grand Boulevard on the west. Its eastern edge is the bank of the Mississippi River.

Compton Hill was bounded by Grand Boulevard, Park Avenue, Jefferson Avenue and Arsenal Street.

Churches

The Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer was formed in 1892 to provide an English speaking congregation for south St. Louis. The new mission held its services in Holy Cross Hall until 1893 when it removed to Anchor Hall at Jefferson and Park Avenues. In 1894 the congregation was organized as a church and occupied a chapel at California and Juniata in 1897. This was sold to St. Andrew's Evangelical Church in 1901, when Our Redeemer Church erected a chapel on its present site at Utah Street and Oregon Avenue. This vicinity was sparsely settled then but an influx of population created a need for larger quarters. Erection of the present church began in 1908 under architect August Foell. The $45,000 structure was dedicated in January, 1909. Three years later an adjoining parsonage and church hall was completed. A parochial school was started in 1897 but was later discontinued because of a lack of teachers. The children were then sent to nearby Holv Cross school.

Curby Memorial Presbyterian Church at 2621 Utah Street was organized as the Westminster Church in 1873 in rooms at 3500 South Broadway. In 1876, the church occupied a frame structure at Pestalozzi and James (now 18th) Streets. The present church was built in 1898 at a cost of $17,000, largely due to a $10,000 bequest by Colonel John Curby in memory of his daughter. At that time the church received its present name.

A new parish, dedicated to the Bohemian national saint, King Wendeslaus, was formed by Rev. Joseph Hessoun of St. John of Nepomuk Church in 1895. A church and school were blessed in that year. The present Gothic church of St. Wenceslaus at 3014 Oregon Avenue was completed in 1925 at a cost of $125,000.

Schools

There are two public high schools within the area, Cleveland and Roosevelt, as well as seven elementary schools.

Closest to Benton Park West is Roosevelt High School which was opened in 1924 at 3230 Hartford Street, occupying the former site of Picker Cemetery. It was designed by R. M. Milligan in English Gothic style.

The first Garfield School was opened in 1883 at 2612 Wyoming Street at Jefferson Avenue. It was replaced in 1937 by the present school which was designed by Board of Education architects.

The Grant School at 3009 Pennsylvania Avenue was built in 1893 and enlarged in 1902 to replace the earlier Gravois School at Gravois Avenue and Wyoming Street which dated from 1867.

Housing

The older section of this area, north of Meramec Street, contains a high percentage of two and four family flats with pockets of single-family dwellings. Generally, these structures are of brick construction and show an obvious Germanic influence in their architecture. The earliest ones date from the 1870's, while the majority was erected in the period between 1890 and 1910.

To the south of Gravois it is an area of smaller one and two family dwellings, which are generally owner occupied and well maintained. Large houses may be found on a few streets running eastward from Grand. East of this district as far as Jefferson Avenue is an area of single family houses with a scattering of a few flats that were built between 1890 and 1910.

Commercial and Industrial Development

Strip commercial developed early on principal streets carrying streetcar lines such as Cherokee, Chippewa, Meramec, Gravois, Grand and Jefferson.

Cherokee Street shopping area maintains its importance, augmented by recent parking lot areas at the rear of stores on the street's north side.

There is very little industrial activity in this area, some small manufacturing enterprises, storage and wholesale firms along South Broadway and other main streets or else home type businesses at the rear of dwellings.

Herolds' Cherokee Brewery and summer garden were located at Cherokee Street and Ohio Avenue.  Corner location local businesses were scattered through the neighborhood.

Elsewhere industrial uses are intermixed with others along Gravois and Jefferson.

Transportation

A horse car line running out Gravois and Arsenal to Grand provided the first public transit to this area in the mid-1870's. A horse car line operating on Carondelet Avenue (South Broadway) was another early means of public transit to penetrate into this south side area. Originally the line terminated at Keokuk Street, but later it was extended southward to Carondelet. By 1875, horse car lines were also running on Jefferson Avenue, Gravois Avenue and out Sidney and Arsenal Streets to Grand Boulevard. The network of such lines was extended during the 1880s on other streets in the area and about 1885 the line on South Broadway became a cable car line. The real impetus to development of this area was provided by the electric trolley lines, which rapidly spread out through the area on the main streets during the 1890s.

Electric trolley lines on Grand, Jefferson, Lafayette, Park and Shenandoah, as well as Arsenal provided a transit network for the area by 1900. Buses now serve the same lines.

Originally run by separate companies, these lines were unified into the citywide network of the St. Louis Transit Company by 1900. This was a forerunner of the United Railways and later the St. Louis Public Service Company. Buses later supplanted the car lines. The Peoples Motorbus Company on South Grand operated the first bus line in 1924.