Back in September, we looked at Washington Boulevard in Midtown, and its transformation in the early Twentieth Century from a tony residential neighborhood into a commercial district. One block to the south is Locust Street, which like Washington, stretches from downtown where it ends at Theresa Avenue (though Washington continues, of course). Locust, seen above in Compton and Dry’s 1876 depiction of St. Louis, stretches from the exact upper left of the image to the lower right, and was already heavily developed when it was observed in 1875.
But those houses seen above were already falling to new development with the coming of the automobile. In fact, Locust became the center of the retail of this new transportation method, and was called Automobile Row.
Today, many of the buildings are either owned by Saint Louis University in this first part of our journey west, which perhaps counterintuitive, and large superblocks have been created by the school blocking off the north-south streets.
But as can be seen below, Locust was a bustling street, which is logical considering that it was in the center of the city. Perhaps one of the things that bothers me the most about the current state of affairs in St. Louis is how dead the main thoroughfares through the central corridor often are.
While the buildings are occupied, many are low rent concerns that add little to the street life of the surrounding neighborhood.
At this point, we cross over North Compton Avenue and continue on to the east; the building below is now covered with siding and no longer has the large plate glass windows.
But the good news is that much of Locust Street has been revitalized and interesting businesses have moved in east of Compton Avenue in an area called Midtown Alley.
Looking at this building today, above and in the past below, we can see how much it would benefit if the windows were opened back up. At this point we’ve now reached Cardinal Avenue.
