View of 3108 N. Grand, September 2016.
View of 3108 North Grand and Streetcars, 1945 "St. Louis and its Streetcars", 1996.
World Series game between St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox.
Massie, Gerald. “Sportsman’s Park 1946 World Series”
Sportsman's Park Today: Current site of the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club. September 2016.
Our New Neighborhood
When Mission: St. Louis first found a home in The Grove, it was a very different neighborhood. As The Grove has grown and flourished in recent years, our relationship with the St. Louis community has spread further north. We are being called to North City, where many of the people we serve are living.
A DIVERSE HISTORY OF JEFF VANDER LOU
Our new neighborhood, once known as Yeatman, has a long and diverse history. Across the street from Mission: St. Louis’ new building sits the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club, once the site of Sportsman's Park, the home stadium of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1920 to 1966. Rumor has it that Babe Ruth hit a home run through the second story window of our new home!
Further south, the St. Louis Symphony played in The Odeon Theater until 1927. Parts of the neighborhood contain some of the first places in the city where African Americans could buy property. The historic Scott Joplin House sits right on our border with Midtown.
3108 N. GRAND
Mission: St. Louis is setting up shop at 3108 North Grand Blvd. This historic four story building recently housed World Impact Inc, a Christian mission organization, and Jamaa Learning Center, a charter school sponsored by Missouri State University. Built in 1918, the building was first a YMCA. In our basement sits an unused, beautifully tiled swimming pool, and our gym still has a wooden curved running track overlooking the basketball court.
JEFF VANDER LOU TODAY
The neighborhood today has suffered a huge drop in population, high rates of poverty and problems with crime. However, it is also home to beautiful churches like the Eastern Star Baptist Church, many architecturally important homes, parks, St. Louis Community College and even the only US branch of a worldwide corporation, Sensient Colors Inc. African Americans make up 97% of the population.
FINDING OUR PLACE
We will miss The Grove with all its coffee shops, restaurants and unique style. However, moving to our new building means we get to learn what makes a new neighborhood unique. It also provides us with substantially more space to use in a multitude of ways. More importantly, our move provides us with the opportunity to work more closely with many of the people we hope to serve. We are excited to become a part of this community.
Together we can have a big impact. With your commitment of $10, $25, or $50 a month we can transform lives and bring healing to families in north city!
Works Cited
“City Faces: Bringing Sprit of St. Louis”. AP. December 1979.
Hayes, Bernie. “Macler Shepard, legendary housing advocate, dies”. St. Louis American. October 2005.
“Jeff-Vander-Lou Inc: working together to build a better community”. 1979.