History

Home History Resource: Census Records

By Stephanie Herbers | 1 Comment

Curious about your home’s past residents? St. Louis Public Library has several great, and FREE, resources for researching your home’s past; all you need is a library card. One helpful resource is HeritageQuest. HeritageQuest gives you access to census records (up to 1940). For those of you who live in multi-family homes, census records can be more informative than searching for building owners (e.g., 80% of the individuals living on my block in 1940 rented). Read More

Businesses of Shaw’s Past

By Stephanie Herbers | 1 Comment

Shaw Historical Business Map Are you curious about what businesses used to be in buildings throughout the neighborhood? Cara Jensen, Shaw resident and owner of Sherlock Homes, has started compiling this information in a Google map. To date she has added businesses that were present in 1956, their status in 2015, and is now starting to add in information from a directory printed in 1915. The map… Read More

A Bit of Shaw History: Henry Flad

By Stephanie Herbers | 1 Comment

 Two of Shaw’s streets are named after engineers who made significant contributions to the City of St. Louis— Flad Avenue (Henry W. Flad) and Klemm Avenue (Richard Klemm). Below is a brief history of Henry Flad that first appeared in the January newsletter of the American Society of Civil Engineers- St. Louis Section. Henry Flad: A Pioneering St. Louis Civil Engineer was written by Charles Buescher and edited by Jeff Fouse.  HENRY W. FLAD… Read More

Spotlight on Shaw: Highway Once Proposed for Tower Grove Park

By Stephanie Herbers | 1 Comment

“I think that I shall never see a highway as lovely as a tree…” This is the caption of an editorial cartoon that caught my attention as I looked through clippings in a binder marked A Bit of Shaw History from 1958-1971. With funds budgeted in a bond issue approved in a city-wide election in 1955, the City of St. Louis pursued building a depressed highway linking Tower Grove Avenue and Morganford Road. The mayor… Read More