The Saint Louis
Old North St. Louis Community

Search All Old North St. Louis Sites

For almost two hundred years, Old North St. Louis has been a neighborhood of vibrancy and diversity. Founded in 1816 by William Chambers, Thomas Wright and William Christy as the independent village of North St. Louis, the earliest inhabitants were of French, British and African descent. By 1841, the area had formally merged with the city of St. Louis and residents began arriving from Poland, Germany, Russia and Ireland, to name a few. Though the neighborhood saw a population decline in the early twentieth century, the 1940s and the economic boom brought about by the Second World War led to a migration into the area from rural parts of Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas. By the late 1970s, the history and charm of the Old North St. Louis neighborhood facilitated the creation of a passionate rehabilitation movement that continues into the present. Officially christened "Old North St. Louis" in the late 1980s, the area bounded by Branch Street on the north, Cass Avenue on the south, North Florissant on the west, and I-70 on the east has increasingly become a place of social and political leadership. Though the character of the community has changed and evolved over the course of its history, the one constant has remained a sense of local pride within the boundaries of the neighborhood.