The Magical History Tour is hoping to take you away 

Hoping to take you away….

DELLWOOD PARK

Our first stop is Dellwood Park, located directly north of the south end of Northland Hills and situated in the City of Dellwood. A 24-acre, 100-home neighborhood with access from Chambers and West Florissant, Dellwood Park contains three streets: Westdell Drive, Eastdell Drive and Kappel Drive. Two plats of 50 lots each were filed, one in 1951 and the other in 1952.

 

RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: DELLWOOD PARK SUBDIVISION MAP. My sister, Cheryl (RGHS 1967), attended Kindergarten at Northminster Presbyterian Church, identified at the top of the map. At that time, Glasgow School had not been built and the District rented spaces from various churches to provide classrooms for children in the District.

A new building team for Dellwood Park was introduced in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on September 9, 1951: “James Wilson is the development man of the new building team, Adelbert A. Francis serves as the superintendent on the construction end, and Ferd E. Gast handles the business angles.” By October 1952, Koedding Building Co. was advertised as the builder.

 

The houses are distinctive and colorful and the women probably will ‘love ‘em’ because they are built with nine large closets.”  So trumpeted the promotional materials for Dellwood Park during National Home Week in 1951. Buyers could choose either two or three bedrooms and full basements or slab-floor construction. An unusual feature was a low-pitched, built-up tar and gravel roof. A unique feature was a multi-purpose room whereby a third bedroom could be converted to space in the living and/or dining rooms by virtue of a sliding partition, and vice versa.  Smart accessories included Youngstown Kitchens (with an electric dishwasher and a garbage disposal), and an automatic clothes washer and gas clothes dryer. Most houses sported a one-car garage or carport. Square footages ranged from 840 to 950 and lots ranged from 60 x 125 feet and up. A combination of colors was offered in asbestos shingle and wood drop siding. Dellwood Park frame ranches were priced from $10,990 in 1951 and from $11,690 in 1952. In June 1952, 14 brick ranch-type homes built by Robert L. Gast became available at a price of $13,500. 

Classmates who lived in Dellwood Park were Chris Davenport, Eileen Beausang, Eric Peterson, Harry Stoetzer and Rich Gilson. 

Roll up for The Magical History Tour.

OAKBOROUGH
 

Sanitary and storm water sewers and concrete streets initially were installed, paving the way for “[f]actory fabrication of sections of the house and rapid assembly or erection of the outside shell of a building…regardless of the weather.” The result was a construction schedule teeming with efficiency. According to Schattgen, daily operations throughout Oakwood Park were maintained on schedule and the schedule was charted on a huge blueprint of the subdivision in the on-site operations office. He was proud that he completed his Oakwood Park homes down to the last little detail of decorating and finishing and delivered them complete to buyers like the Johanningmeiers, all at a price of $11,900.

Other classmates who lived in Oakwood Park were Syd Lawrence, Denise Loser, John Fietsom, Dave Arrow, Lynn Duepner, Betty Root, Sharon Pope, Roger Imhof, Kathy Mayo and Vivian Bower.

To the north and east of Oakwood Park is a small enclave of 17 homes known as Emerson Park. As shown on the subdivision map above, these homes front on Chambers or Scottsdale. Built on spacious lots between 1946 and 1950, these brick ranch homes featured four to seven rooms, one to three bedrooms, one or two baths and 750 to 1,665 square feet of living area. Most included one or two-car garages. I found no classmates who lived in Emerson Park.

 

Next, let’s roll up to Glen Owen, the neighborhood directly to the east of Oakwood Park and Emerson Park.

A Beautiful New Community Surrounding 

the New St. Sebastian Church and School

Ultra-Modern 3-Bedroom Ranchers

Concrete Streets, Curbs, Sewers, Gas, Electric

$16,950

Hudson Development Co., the original developer, broke the mold established by the developers of Oakborough and Oakwood Park by designing a community of winding streets and cul-de-sacs with roomy lots, many of which were irregular in shape. Four plats were filed and amended over a period of 12 years, 1955-1966, with streets named Glen Owen, Arramore, Tullamoor, Dunideer, Glenbrae, Kilrea, Lanecourt, Longford, Lifford and Dromore. My initial impression was that these names are exclusively Scottish in origin, but I was surprised when an Internet search disclosed that many of these names are of Anglo-Saxon descent, spreading to the Celtic countries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales over a millennium ago. For me, this discovery was especially satisfying because I was in the middle of studying the history of early England (which examines the origins of these Celtic countries) as I wrote about Glen Owen.

I digress. Where was I? Oh, yes….Glen Owen homes were described as ultra-modern three-bedroom “ranchers” with 1 1/2 baths, full basements, garages or carports and square footages that ranged from 936 to 1600. Occasional split foyers dotted the neighborhood. When completed, many of the 224 homes in Glen Owen were full brick while others were frame or a combination of brick and frame. The subdivision map above shows Glen Owen extending south from Chambers to Exuma Drive, abutting Northwinds Estates, a Ferguson apartment complex, and bounding St. Sebastian Catholic Church and School on three sides at the north end. The community was located in unincorporated St. Louis County.

 

In 1956, Glen Owen homes were  advertised at $16,950, a price point that made for a particularly lovely neighborhood, home to Pam Wallace, Pat McKenna, Tom J. Lupo, Rich Stephens, Jennifer Sieveking, Gail Newnom, Connie Woytus, Pat Brewer, Ron Cohen, Rose Smith, Linda Zanzie and Tom Youngerman’s two good friends from St. Sebastian School, Carl Triola and Chris Domitrovich.

Glen Owen’s neighbors to the east (also south of Chambers) were three subdivisions of Atwater Terrace, Chambers Park and Castle Point vintage: Atwater Terrace No. 2, Baden Terrace and Highview Acres. Also of note is the property on which a brand new Moline School (grades 1-8) was constructed in 1926, still serving as the lone public school in the Moline School District when it merged with the Riverview Gardens School District in 1949. During the mid-1920s and early 1930s, B.P. Owen Organization led the charge as the key developer of all the major subdivisions within the Moline School District in close proximity to the intersection of Chambers and Halls Ferry. We have toured all of those early subdivisions on the north side of Chambers:

Atwater Terrace (Plat filed in 1926)

Chambers Park (Plat filed in 1926)

Castle Point (Plats filed in 1928, 1929 and 1931)

On the south side of Chambers, we’ll roll up to three other early (and similar) subdivisions:

Highview Acres (Plat filed in 1925)

Atwater Terrace No. 2 (Plat  filed in 1927)

Baden Terrace (Plat filed in 1931)

My research confirms B.P. Owen Organization’s initial development of Atwater Terrace No. 2 and Highview Acres (located immediately to the east of Atwater Terrace No. 2 and Baden Terrace and discussed below). What is perplexing to me is how Baden Terrace entered the picture in 1931. The map of Atwater Terrace No. 2 & Baden Terrace above brings to mind a simple jigsaw puzzle. Atwater Terrace No. 2 consists of three pieces of the puzzle (comprising a total of 41 lots). My best guess is that Baden Terrace initially was part of Atwater Terrace No. 2 when B.P. Owen Organization filed the original plat in 1927. Subsequently, another developer must have stepped in, purchased a large chunk of Atwater Terrace No. 2 land from B.P. Owen, filed a new plat (a total of 131 lots) and named it Baden Terrace.

My theory is in accord with B.P. Owen’s marketing practices at the time it opened each of the subdivisions at the Chambers/Halls Ferry intersection. Namely, B.P. Owen acquired a large tract of land, designed a subdivision and filed a subdivision plat of the tract, and immediately marketed the subdivision, selling the subdivided lots at a price per square foot (e.g., $10.00-$15.00 per square foot). Individual buyers then purchased a lot and built their own homes or other developers and builders bought a given number of the subdivided lots (as was the case with Baden Terrace), built houses on those lots and sold those houses to individual families or sold vacant lots to individuals. The inevitable corollary of such marketing efforts was that the overflow of families bringing children into the community sparked the construction and subsequent expansion of Moline School.

B.P. Owen Organization used this marketing template in all of its early subdivisions. There generally was no uniform development in the first two decades after the respective plats were filed. The process was reliably familiar—development was characterized by numerous starts and stops and development companies changed hands from time to time, with each company pushing for momentum in the development of a community. In the decades of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, most of the homes were described as two-bedroom bungalows and a one-house-at-a-time style of building was typical of the era. Most of the plats are configured in uninspired grids composed primarily of small narrow lots adjoining occasional double or triple lots, also typical of the era. Development of these communities proved more aggressive in the late 1940s and 1950s with the great suburban exodus and the advent of  the booming housing market.

The north-south streets in Atwater Terrace No. 2 and Baden Terrace were named Balboa, Winkler and Green Valley, all extensions of the same streets in Atwater Terrace north of Chambers. Bruce Ernst lived in Atwater Terrace No. 2 on Balboa in a three-bedroom ranch built in 1953. The one east-west street that was part of Atwater Terrace No. 2 was Chambers, where Pat Thouvenot lived in a brick bungalow built in 1937. Baden Terrace shared the same north-south streets, but east-west streets included Herman, Kappel, Nemnich and Terminal (a reference to a railroad terminal that most likely served the railroad that ran within the railroad right-of-way, now vacated, that once traversed land now comprising Highview Acres, Baden Terrace and Glen Owen). Steve Robison, Chuck Muich, Wayne Brune, Jim Harris, Dave Hartley and Dorothy Budde lived in Baden Terrace. All of their homes were built during a 21-year period from 1947 to 1968. In these neighborhoods, you could find intermittent concrete sidewalks and gravel, asphalt and concrete driveways. Curbless asphalt streets were the rule.

 

 9607 Winkler (Circa 1960). This is a picture of the home that Ira Hartley, Dave's Dad, built in 1959. The siding was made from redwood. The picture window provided a great view from the living room. The other two were bedroom windows. In 1968, Mr. Hartley built a larger house in Baden Terrace at 9615 Balboa, a street to the west of Winkler. The Hartley's sold the Winkler home and Dave lived in the Balboa home until 1969, when we graduated. HARTLEY FAMILY COLLECTION
 

9607 Winkler (October 2021). Dave planted the oak tree not long after his family moved into the house. It is now over 60 years old. A carport and what looks like vinyl siding have been added. The picture was taken by Jane Byers on the Byers-Niebur All District Tour in the fall of 2021.
 

Jane - Behind the Scenes our Junior year during the production of "You Can't Take It With You." Back stage from left are Paula Bowden (RGHS 1968), Donna McKabney (RGHS 1968), Dennis Hoffert, Lauran Kowalski, Jane Byers, Donna Dees and Ron Patterson (RGHS 1968). Everyone but me was in the show. I was the equivalent of a Roadie, chowing down. Dave, the Star, never noticed me.

Highview Acres was the very first subdivision plat filed by B.P. Owen Organization at the intersection of Chambers and Halls Ferry. The location was the southwest quadrant in unincorporated St. Louis County. The year was 1925. An article published on September 8, 1926 in the St. Louis Star and Times stated the following:

B.P. Owen Organization opens and sells another. This tract of 101 acres, located on Halls Ferry and Chambers roads, has drawn many home buyers by its general attractiveness and natural beauty. A number of homes are being built in this subdivision by people seeking rest and out-door recreation. The attractiveness of Highview Acres as a place to live has been increasingly appreciated by lot purchasers because of the size of each lot, which contains one acre or more, and the advantageous roads for good transportation: also the service rendered by merchants in this neighborhood.

Highview Acres is only five minutes’ drive on Halls Ferry road from Baden and only fifteen minutes’ drive from the industrial center at Union and Natural Bridge. The number of buyers at all times is increasing, as these attractions become better known. For information get in touch with A.G. Hecht, general sales manager, B.P. Owen Organization, branch office, Ferguson, Mo.

The claim that each lot contains one acre or more constituted a piece of puffery, if not downright exaggeration, if not outright fabrication. The real estate records show that the Highview Acres subdivision contains 168 lots today. According to the article above, the tract consists of 101 acres. During the past century, the plat was resubdivided only twice—in 1971 and 1994, creating at the most eight new lots. Mathematically speaking, it is impossible to fit 168 one-acre lots on 101 acres!

What is interesting about Highview Acres is that all of the lots, while varying in size, generally are larger than the lots created in the filed plats of Atwater Terrace and Atwater Terrace No. 2, Chambers Park, Baden Terrace and Castle Point. In fact, there were approximately 45 lots comprising over, or just under, one acre. Plus, there were numerous lots of almost half an acre or a third of an acre. The smallest lots of .17 acre numbered about 12. Perhaps the initial purchasers were buying the one-acre lots, prompting the one-acre claim in the St. Louis Star and Times.

In any event, the lots of Highview Acres were typically spacious, contributing to a “general attractiveness and natural beauty” when B. P. Owen first marketed the property with streets named Ventura, Jacobi, Nolte and Nichols (running north and south) and Hecht, Kappel and Nemnich (running east and west). The homes built in the initial stages of development primarily were two-bedroom bungalows, as was classmate Gene Hollenbeck’s home, constructed in 1930. Kathy Davenport and Brenda Merritt lived across the street from each other in three-bedroom frame ranches built in the 1950s. Glen Kell’s brick “Old Style” home of 1,120 square feet was constructed in 1950 and backed up to Bob Heitz’s home, a frame and masonry ranch, when it was built in 1966.

Once again, Highview Acres is an RGSD neighborhood name that was unfamiliar to me when I began writing A Brief History. Once again (and as I am sure you have surmised), there was no uniform residential development in Highview Acres. Once again, the neighborhood details are mixed into the residential pot to add to a fascinating story about the many neighborhoods where we lived and grew up. 

Now, we will execute an about face and a short flyover back to West Florissant, where we’ll roll up to all of the communities east of Northland Hills-South End and south of Oakborough, Oakwood Park, Emerson Park, Glen Owen, Atwater Terrace No. 2, Baden Terrace and Highview Acres, between West Florissant and Halls Ferry. Let’s roll up and out!

Roll up 

They’ve got everything you need

Roll up for the History Tour

LET’S ROLL UP AND
GET ORIENTED!

Scrutinizing the map above, we’ll explore the following RGSD communities to wind-up Episode 5-Cat of Part 2 of A Brief History: The Versailles Apartments (situated within the Northland Hills subdivision), Oakmont (a/k/a Nor-Lakes) Townhomes, Northwinds Estates Apartments and Nor-Lakes Golf Club are located in the City of Ferguson; Ben Avis Park, Parkview Manor, Northshire Gardens and Shannon Ridge are located in the City of Jennings; Northland Manor, Tiffany House subdivision, Thomas Gardner Estate subdivision and Sun Valley Homesites are located in unincorporated St. Louis County. We’ll first roll up to the communities found between Nemnich and Lucas-Hunt Road.

Roll up for The Magical History Tour.

RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: SUBDIVISIONS BETWEEN NEMNICH AND LUCAS-HUNT. The western half of this map shows portions of the District located in the City of Ferguson and dedicated to apartment living and golf-course use. The eastern half identifies areas located in unincorporated St. Louis County. All of these areas are situated in what originally was the Moline School District.

RGSD APARTMENT COMMUNITIES IN 

CITY OF FERGUSON

The decade of the 1960s saw a surge in apartment development in the southwest corner of the District, primarily in the City of Ferguson. Between 1961 and 1968, three apartment communities opened in the City of Ferguson, offering 720 units in a variety of styles from single story garden apartments to two-story townhouses to one and two-bedroom luxury apartments in a building designed in the manner of a French chateau.

Roll up

They’ve got everything you need

Roll up for the History Tour

NORTHWINDS  ESTATES APARTMENTS

The largest of these Ferguson apartment communities was called Northwinds Estates. The first Northwinds Estates subdivision was filed in 1961 and provided for 72 single-story buildings of four garden apartments each, totaling 288 units. The second Northwinds Estates subdivision was filed in 1962 and provided for 37 single-story buildings of four garden apartments each, totaling 148 units. The advertisements appearing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on January 20, 1963 and  January 26, 1963 (we were in Sixth Grade) lays out all of the features, amenities and conveniences:

 

These two-story townhomes opened in 1965. A total of 46 buildings were constructed, with four townhome apartments included in each building, accounting for 184 units. Access to Nor-Lakes was off of Northwinds Estates Drive, running east from West Florissant. Vickie Place, an extension of the same north-south street spanning Oakborough, and Norlakes Drive, a circular drive, serviced the community. Vickie Dyke, Dianna Sterling, Lilian Rodriguez, Vickie Echols and Frank Haase resided in Nor-Lakes Towne Houses.

 

Frank Haase worked at the Ferguson Ponticello's on Chambers Road in a small strip center right on the border of Ferguson and Dellwood. The center is outlined in blue on the aerial map above. The Ferguson Ponticello's was located fairly close to Frank's home at Nor-Lakes Towne Houses, also located in Ferguson on Northwinds Estates Drive going east from West Florissant, which you can also see on the aerial shot at the far right.

As it turned out, Betty Haase tackled her real “Mission Impossible” by going to work and waiting tables at the Ferguson Ponticello’s. (Prior to that, she waited tables at Howard Johnson’s and, later, she worked as a meat wrapper at Schnuck’s, which provided a better income.)  As a favor to Betty, Big Frank (the owner) hired Little Frank (our classmate) to bus tables, wash dishes and make pizzas at Ferguson Ponticello’s when Little Frank was age 12. Hence, Little Frank stepped into the Man of the Family Shoes and worked at Ponticello’s through our high school years, contributing his salary to the support of his family. There is no denying that going to work that young impeded Frank’s enjoyment of much of the fun stuff that many of us experienced as teenagers in the 1960s. In other words, there was neither time nor opportunity for Frank to hang out at our Ponticello’s on Bellefontaine Road in Spanish Lake after school events. For shizzle, Frank! We missed you! 

Work also limited his participation in school activities. Frank’s status as a Catholic transfer student compounded feelings of detachment and Frank’s footing as a public school student never quite seemed to gel, though he did form friendships with Pat Allensworth, David Burd and Bill Woehler from Northwinds Estates. Even today, Frank still talks with Pat, Dave and Bill. Though these memories of growing up seem in many ways more bitter than sweet, Frank reflects that working at Ferguson Ponticello’s provided him with a valuable and life-affirming learning experience where, at a very young age, he acquired a solid work ethic which has served him well over the years.

I remember calling Frank on a Saturday afternoon in 2008 as I was attempting to get plans off the ground for our 40-Year Reunion. I don’t remember how I found his phone number—probably in the White Pages. Frank’s Senior picture revealed a really cute guy with a friendly face. I thought, “Why don’t I know this guy?” We talked on the phone and exchanged a few emails. The upshot was that Frank attended the 40th and was on board to attend the 50th until an emergency event intervened. After graduating from RGHS, Frank built and operated a successful construction company and has been involved in meaningful philanthropic endeavors, primarily to benefit kids.

 

Cheers, Frank! So glad you are one of us!

If we roll up next door to the west of Nor-Lakes, we’ll find The Versailles, a 100-unit luxury apartment property opened to the public in August 1968 right before the Class of 1969 began its Senior year at RGHS. The Versailles was the third RGSD apartment community constructed in the City of Ferguson during the 1960s. The promotional advertisements posted above provide all of the marvelous details.

Roll up for The Magical History Tour.

 

I reprinted the subdivision map above to help us visualize the layout of the four remaining subdivisions located between Nemnich and Lucas-Hunt Road. We’ll roll up to Ben Avis Park, Northland Manor, Tiffany House and Thomas Gardner Estate. Note that in 1969, Lucas-Hunt Road, as depicted north of Koeneman Park on this map, wasn’t constructed until the 1970s. If you look closely along the South side of Koeneman Park, you can see the original road, which, in 1969, was the only Lucas and Hunt Road then in existence.

Of the four subdivisions referenced above, Ben Avis Park was established in 1892 on property that eventually became part of the City of Jennings. According to the St. Louis County real estate records, the Ben Avis Park subdivision plat contained 104 lots, seven of which eventually were incorporated into the Moline School District and, by merger, into the Riverview Gardens School District. The balance of the Ben Avis Park lots were located in the Jennings School District. All seven of the RGSD lots fronted on Huiskamp Avenue, and Jim Chaperlo lived in a three-bedroom frame bungalow built in 1957.

We’ll now roll up to a neighborhood northeast of Ben Avis Park called Northland Manor, sandwiched between the City of Ferguson and the City of Jennings in unincorporated St. Louis County. Construction of 39 homes commenced in 1959 on streets named Daman and Glenark. Northland Manor homes initially contained 1008 square feet comprising five rooms (three bedrooms), asbestos siding and garages or carports. Several were built in the 1960s, some as late as 1965, with masonry and frame siding, six rooms and 2-car garages. Pat Agoain’s home in Northland Manor was built in 1960.

Rolling up further to the east and north, we encounter a triangular-shaped area featuring Tiffany House and Thomas Gardner Estate. Much of this land was still undeveloped and uses were in flux at the time we graduated from RGHS. Future uses would be quite varied. Viewing the map above, we can see the locations of Valley Winds Elementary School, which opened in 1964. Adjacent to the school is ground on which single family homes were constructed in the 1970s in a subdivision called Valley Winds Estates. The Riverview Gardens School District retained ownership of a sizable expanse of property within Thomas Gardner Estate, where it constructed a middle school that opened many years after we graduated. There are also two parcels that comprised future sites of two churches, one located on Tiffany House and the other located on Thomas Gardner Estate. Another parcel in Thomas Gardner Estate was the future site of apartments built after the Class of 1969 graduated. At the far eastern end of the triangle are seven lots, all fronting on Nemnich Road, with uses that have changed through the years—both residential (including multi-family) and commercial. Our classmate Donna Hebenstreit lived at 2046 Nemnich on a half acre in a brick bungalow built in 1946 and remodeled in 1962, containing 900 square feet.

At this point, I’ll mention that Thomas Gardner Estate is part of an original land grant given by John Quincy Adams to William Gardner of Virginia, who settled in St. Louis County in 1817 over 200 years ago. The Gardner family was prominent in St. Louis County affairs for well over 100 years. We’ll learn more about the Gardners as we roll up to a few more RGSD neighborhoods west of Halls Ferry and then cross Hall Ferry to the east and continue our Magical History Tour!

The Magical History Tour 

Is coming to take you away….

 

Before leaving the RGSD communities nestled between West Florissant and New Halls Ferry, we’ll roll up to four RGSD subdivisions located in unincorporated St. Louis County and two RGSD subdivisions located in the City of Jennings. There is nothing uniform about the configuration of this area, as confirmed by the map above. Tiffany House is our first stop—the name is familiar because it is part of the Tiffany House subdivision found on the other side of Lucas-Hunt Road, which bisected the Tiffany House subdivision tract when it was constructed in the 1970s.

Roll up for the History Tour

TIFFANY HOUSE APARTMENTS
 

Cheryl Niebur distinctly remembers driving to Sue Piper’s home at the Tiffany House apartments on Tyrell Drive when we were in high school. She picked up Sue on a few occasions for one event or another. The present dilemma  was that she couldn’t quite remember how to navigate our route on the Byers-Niebur All District Tour. We scouted the area for about 20 minutes before we suddenly realized that we could use the GPS on our phones! Ah, duh! This epiphany promptly led us to Sue’s townhouse apartment, one of 20 Tiffany House townhomes. Sue moved into the District when we were in high school and, as you can see, her family rented an apartment tucked into one of the very far corners of the District, overlooking Koeneman Park, which was located within the boundaries of the City of Jennings and the Riverview Gardens School District. Notably, the RGHS girls’ varsity softball team played the Jennings High School team a couple of times at Koeneman Park! 

In 1965, the builder, Jerry Weissman, advertised Tiffany House as the first Community Unit Plan in unincorporated St. Louis County (the plat was filed in 1964). Once completed, Tiffany House offered 20 townhomes in five buildings and 80 one or two-bedroom apartments in eight buildings, all of which were constructed in 1965. Construction of 25 apartments aggregated in two 2-story buildings followed. Situated on Tyrell Drive and Eltarose Drive, Tiffany House’s recreational area would include a pitch-n-putt golf course, a swimming pool, a clubhouse, a wooded park and a picnic area, though it is not clear to me whether these amenities came to full fruition. In 1965, rents ranged from $110.00 to $135.00. Tiffany House fell well within the apartment building trend that took hold all over St. Louis County in the 1960s.

Roll up 

That’s an invitation

Roll up for the History Tour

PARKVIEW MANOR, NORTHSHIRE GARDENS, SHANNON RIDGE AND 

THOMAS GARDNER ESTATE

As far as I can determine, none of our classmates lived in Parkview Manor, Northshire Gardens or Shannon Ridge. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to take a look at Parkview Manor and Northshire Gardens, both located in the City of Jennings, because they manifest the housing trends spurred by builders and buyers alike in the decade of the 1960s: full masonry facades; six to seven rooms, including a family room; three bedrooms; two baths; increased square footage and larger rooms; and two-car garages. Parkview Manor is a particular case in point. Touted as a development of luxury homes by the developer and exclusive sales agent, William H. Finke Realty and Insurance Agent, and the builder, Everett R. Hornbeck, Parkview Manor was positioned southeast of Tiffany House and straddled two school districts, Riverview Gardens and Jennings. Of the 29 subdivided lots found in Parkview Manor, 20 were in the RGSD, fronting on Eltarose, Lucas and Hunt and Shannon Avenue. Of the 20 homes built from 1962 to 1967, 14 had full brick facades, with the remainder being partial brick, and 15 had seven or more rooms, including a family room. None of the homes had less than six rooms; 18 were ranch-style and two split foyer. All but one had a two-car garage and all but one had two or more bathrooms. Square footages ranged from 1,232 to almost double that at 2,436. The average square footage was 1,613, a sizable increase over the Hathaway Hills, Glasgow Village and Bissell Hills homes that were the rage in the early to mid-decade of the 1950s.

Northsire Gardens featured 23 homes constructed from 1966 to 1969, all in the Riverview Gardens School District, on streets named Sumter Drive, Mellowridge Court and Center Avenue. While Northshire Gardens homes didn’t carry the “luxury” label, they did exhibit the same trends as Parkview Manor homes on a smaller scale. The average square footage was 1,297, and packed into that square footage were at least six rooms, three bedrooms and two bathrooms, except for four homes with a full and a half bath. All were ranch-style with two-car garages, except three built with one-car garages. Finally, most were either frame or brick and frame; only one was full brick. The trends were definitely apparent.

As for Shannon Ridge, the five homes captured in the RGSD were part of a 288-home development that commenced with the filing of the first plat in 1949. Subsequent plats were filed in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955, all within the City of Jennings and the Jennings School District boundaries. Shannon Ridge Plat No. 12 was the last plat filed (in 1958) and, as fate would have it, was the outlier on Dorwood Drive in unincorporated St. Louis County. Plat No. 12 accommodated only five lots; these homes were smaller and of 1950s vintage. By this time, I am confident that you know what that means!

Finally, we encounter that pesky Thomas Gardner Estate again. If you guessed that Koeneman Park was once part of Thomas Gardner Estate, you are correct. The balance of Thomas Gardner Estate identified on the map above consists of irregular lots of scant uniformity, located in unincorporated St. Louis County and the City of Jennings. Uses were varied and erratic: multi-family; single family; commercial; vacant-agricultural; industrial/utility; park; and institution. Such is the nature of Thomas Gardner Estate. Be forewarned—we are not finished with Thomas Gardner Estate!

Roll up

They’ve got everything you need

Roll up for the History Tour

SUN VALLEY HOMESITES

Speaking of Thomas Gardner Estate, we now are rolling up to our last subdivision located west of Halls Ferry Road. Sun Valley Homesites was carved from Thomas Gardner Estate in unincorporated St. Louis County. O’Brien Realtors, the developer and exclusive sales agent, filed a total of five subdivision plats in 1955 and 1956 to create a neighborhood of 138 contemporary ranch-style homes of brick, frame, or brake and frame construction. Lloyd L. Erickson, Inc. was the builder.

A survey of the map above shows the Sun Valley community with streets names Sun Valley, Marveline, Jannette, Mcmenamy and Wilbert. The promotional ads tell all!

 

Knotty Pine

Double Bowl Vanity

Copper Plumbing 

Birch Cabinets

Plastered Walls

Fully Tiled Shower

Breakfast Bar

Triple Plug Electrical Outlet

Indirect Lighting

Basement Outside Entrance

“We Borrowed Your Dreams when we planned, developed and built Sun Valley!”

Priced from $14,950 to $19,500 in 1955, Sun Valley homes featured three bedrooms, two bathrooms or one full and one half bath, and one-car carports or garages. The families of Rick May, Roseann Post, John Lindquist and Don Cole bought homes in Sun Valley with floor plans that ranged from 1,009 to 1,464 square feet. Roseann’s future husband, Jim Schnietz, was a Sun Valley kid. Jim played football at Mizzou with John Lindquist and Joe Paulsen and Roseann, Jim, John and Joe have been the best of life-long friends. When John passed in 2022, Roseann and Jim traveled from Temple, Texas to attend John’s wake and funeral, where Joe delivered a wonderful eulogy. The ties that bind!

WOW! Do you believe we have rolled up to 35 subdivisions in the District west of Halls Ferry? I am exhausted but excited that we actually did it! For me, it’s been a fascinating education learning about the neighborhoods in which many of you lived when we attended school in the Riverview Gardens School District. I would like to remind you that all of the areas in the District found west of Halls Ferry on this leg of The Magical History Tour were part of the Moline School District until 1949 when it merged with the Riverview Gardens School District. We have covered beaucoup ground! Now it’s time to head east—back across Halls Ferry. There still is plenty in store to explore in Ram Country!! 

The Magical History Tour is hoping to take you away

Hoping to take you away….

 

THE END OF EPISODE 5CAT
 

THE MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR

WILL BE CONTINUED in EPISODE 5DOT….

We’ll be rolling up to neighborhoods

south of Chambers and east of Halls Ferry.

NEXT STOPS: Hathaway Meadows, Northfield Gardens, Twillman Court, Sunbeam, Highway 367, North Hills Gardens, Green Acres, 

Surrey Lane Corners and Biritz!

 

CHEERS TO THE CLASS OF 1969!!!