RGHStory 2 Ep 5DOT
EPISODE 5DOT
(Published April 30, 2024)
(Updated and Revised June 3, 2024)
(Updated and Revised August 3, 2024)
(Updated and Revised August 11, 2024)
(Updated and Revised August 12, 2024)
(Updated and Revised August 16, 2024)
THE MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR
(Continued)
In Episode 5BOT, the die was cast. We crossed the Rubicon (Halls Ferry) and there was no turning back. By the end of Episode 5Cat, we have rolled up to 35 subdivisions in the Riverview Gardens School District west of Halls Ferry. Mission Accomplished! Now, the Magical History Tour finds us crossing the Rubicon (Halls Ferry) once again. But, we are not turning back! We are moving forward—back to the east of Halls Ferry! We have yet to roll up to those neighborhoods east of Halls Ferry and south of Chambers in the southeast sector of the District, together with several smaller neighborhoods located north of Chambers, situated in the Village of Riverview or unincorporated St. Louis County.
Roll up
That’s an invitation
Rollup for the History Tour
RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: SUBDIVISIONS SOUTH & NORTH OF CHAMBERS AND EAST OF HALLS FERRY
On our final leg of the Magical History Tour, we’ll roll up to 31 residential subdivisions in the Riverview Gardens School District, all of which are located east of Halls Ferry, with 23 located south of Chambers and eight located north of Chambers. Most of these subdivisions are situated in the City of Moline Acres, the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors or the Village of Riverview, with a smattering situated in unincorporated St. Louis County. A survey of the map above reveals two major subdivisions that we visited in Episode 4—Hathaway Hills and Bissell Hills. You can see where these subdivisions fit into the grand scheme of things. Of note are three cemeteries—New Bethlehem Cemetery, St. John’s Cemetery and Friedens Cemetery. You also can find several parks, the St. Louis County Library-Lewis & Clark Branch, and three RGSD elementary schools—Gibson, Danforth and Riverview. Portland Cement was located in an industrial area along Riverview Blvd.
Most of the subdivisions in this sector were designed with curved and winding streets rather than on a grid. The southeast boundary also serves as the far southeast boundary of the District and abuts the City of St. Louis. The boundary is a stone’s throw from Riverview Blvd and the Mississippi River. Growing up in Glasgow Village, we frequently travelled Riverview Blvd along the Mighty Mississip. It was cool to see the Mississippi then and it's cool to think about it now. Now that we have the big picture, let’s roll up first to the subdivision in the southeast sector furthest to the west—Hathaway Meadows.
SIDEBAR: “ROAD NO. 1” Before we head out, I want to share with you a newspaper article about Old Halls Ferry Road that Nancy Jackson sent me. By the time we were born, there was a Halls Ferry Road, which in our High School world stretched from Circle Steak to the wedge that fanned out to capture Central City, home of the iconic Central Hardware. The tip of that wedge served as the point of intersection of Old Halls Ferry Road and New Halls Ferry Road, where Bob Hall and John Roach (Judy Kissane’s husband) worked together at the Red Barn flippin’ burgers. On September 1, 1976, the St. Louis Globe Democrat featured an article about Halls Ferry Road, digging into the history and development of the road. Posted below is the full article. Enjoy!
Roll up for The Magical History Tour.
HATHAWAY MEADOWS
RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: HATHAWAY MEADOWS FOOTPRINT SUBDIVISION MAP.
THE HATHAWAY HOME
DOMINATED THE HEADLINES
People Are Talking All Over Town
About the Homes
In Lovely Hathaway Meadows
(February 5, 1954 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ad)
Everyone is Talking & Shouting About the New
1954 3-Bedroom Hathaway Home!
(February 21, 1954 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ad)
Homes You Dream Of!
The New 1954 3-Bedroom
Hathaway Home
(March 21, 1954 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ad)
Women Everywhere Agree
The Hathaway Home is Ideal
In Beautiful Hathaway Meadows
(July 3, 1955 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ad)
Hathaway Meadows Promotional Ad. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 7, 1954.
RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: HATHAWAY MEADOWS SUBDIVISION MAP. Hathaway Meadows was developed within the friendly confines of the Village of Moline Acres (which later become the City of Moline Acres). This map shows the locations of the Display Homes, Loretta Rose Gardner's home on Chambers Road and Pam Bridger's home on Lanier Drive, all discussed below. Surrounding buildings are also identified: the Lewis & Clark Movie Theatre, the License Bureau (where we took our driving tests), Stelmacki's, Lewis & Clark Tower, the Lewis & Clark Library, and Meadows Elementary School. Obviously, there was plenty going on around Hathaway Meadows!
Hathaway Meadows Promotional Ad. St.Louis Globe-Democrat, August 15, 1954.
Once again, we encounter Vorhof-Duenke, the developer that commenced construction of Hathaway Meadows between its development of the inaugural Hathaway Hills subdivision (home to Patty Lingenfelter) and the Hathaway Manor subdivision (home to Nancy Hayes). The formal opening of Hathaway Meadows on Sunday, January 31, 1954, featured four display homes at the corner of Highway 367 and Berwyn Drive. Vorhof-Duenke located the entirety of the Hathaway Meadows subdivision in what was then the Village of Moline Acres. Designed as a “modified contemporary,” the brand-named Hathaway Home offered plans suitable for either basement or slab-floor construction. In fact, Elmer Vorhof liked houses with basements and Milton Duenke preferred houses without basements, claiming they were more economical and didn’t collect as much “junk.” Ten different elevations of the Hathaway Home (offered in a variety of exterior colors) eliminated “look-alikes” along any of the 19 streets in Hathaway Meadows. Two primary streets, Berwyn off of Highway 367 and Duke off of Chambers, served as the collector streets for Highway 367, Cambria, Omega, Portage, Wendell, Lanier, Collett, Kerwin, Lovett, Hollis, Edgefield, Monarch, Lawnview, Ashmont, Noll, Castle and Gardner. Note that Castle, Duke and Monarch were extensions of Castle Point streets and Edgefield repeated in Hathaway Manor, all across Chambers Road.
Vorhof-Duenke filed a total of five plats in 1953 and 1954, the first for an area located off Berwyn at Highway 367, which included the ground for what would become the Lewis & Clark Public Library. Though Meadows Elementary School abutted the west boundary of Hathaway Meadows, the school was not part of the subdivision or the Village of Moline Acres but was situated in unincorporated St. Louis County. The innovative developer constructed a total of 629 homes in Hathaway Meadows. In 1954, the new homes were priced from $13,950. Outstanding features built into the homes grew from 68 to 82 to 102 over time. As stated above, the Hathaway Home was marketed as a modified contemporary, not extreme in appearance, with beautiful interior and exterior finishes and livability beyond your fondest dreams! Specific features offered were a convertible kitchen designed to reduce Mom’s working day to the barest minimum, with a built-in broiler-oven and gas burners, a Honeywell Electronic Moduflow Temperature Control, a Harvey Hill air-conditioner, three bedrooms, one full bath and a half bath, a two-car garage and nine BIG closets. The “convertible kitchen” could be opened to the dining-living room area or be completely closed. According to the various ads, these homes of unequalled individuality were truly the last word in modern home construction! Why pay rent when you could own a Hathaway Home?
SIDEBAR: WHERE THE BODIES ARE BURIED. On Monday, May 10, 1954, three months after the formal opening of the Hathaway Meadows subdivision, Vorhof-Duenke uncovered a metal casket containing the body of William Gardner during grading operations. The body was well preserved, as was the black cambric shroud and black silk gloves in which the body was buried. Several other bodies also uncovered were believed to be those of slaves owned by the Gardner family.
William Gardner was the founder of an old St. Louis County family and the plantation on which Hathaway Meadows was constructed. The Gardner plantation was part of an original land grant made by John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. Though Gardner moved from Virginia to settle in St. Louis County in 1817, the exact year the land grant was made is not entirely clear. After William died in 1857, his son, Thomas, continued to run the plantation. Looking back at Episode 5Cat, we can see several maps that reference the Thomas Gardner Estate. Thomas Gardner’s son, James Speed Gardner, became prominent in St. Louis County political affairs and served as an Associate Judge of the County Court from 1926 to 1930. He died in 1939, survived by his daughter, Loretta Rose Gardner, who lived at 2326 Chambers Road (identified on the Hathaway Meadows Subdivision Map above) at the time the bodies were uncovered. The Gardner heirs sold the plantation land and Vorhof-Duenke acquired the 160-acre tract for the Hathaway Meadows subdivision circa 1951.
According to Loretta Rose Gardner, William’s great-granddaughter, “I kept telling them they would find grandpa because I knew he was buried by an old walnut tree where they were grading.” Loretta further related that William Gardner was killed in an accident in 1857 in an old damaged building on Third Street in the City of St. Louis, which he was inspecting with a view to buying salvaged materials for use on the Gardner plantation. Loretta also possessed the original bill from Lynch Undertaking Company, showing a burial coast of $50.00. The Gardner family had planned to move Williams’s body to a family plot at Bellefontaine Cemetery where his wife was buried, but the move never happened.
One news account provided the bodies were “reburied under a hill in the area Monday night by the subdivision contractor.” This would mean that the bodies were reburied the evening of the same day they were uncovered. St. Louis Globe-Democrat (May 12, 1954); St. Louis Post-Dispatch (May 12, 1954).
Classmates who lived in Hathaway Meadows were Nancy English, Bruce Markmueller, Chris Hartman, John Geiger, Linda Olsen, Gary Murray, Barb Oberjuerge, Beth Potts, Phil Zib, Pam Bridger, Dan Fergus, Mike Robertson, Barb Boyer, Mike Busse, Steve Goldammer, Jim Boswell, Tom Otten and Bob Novell.
SIDEBAR: A CHILDHOOD ADVENTURE. I am delighted to divulge a well-kept secret (until now): The RGHS Class of 1969 can boast of its very own Eloise (of 1950s New York Plaza Hotel fame) in the person of Pam Bridger! I was fascinated when Pam told me last summer that she grew up in the Warwick Hotel at 15th and Locust in the City of St. Louis, directly across the street from the Campbell House, now a noted St. Louis museum. We have a celebrity in our midst!!
Pam’s Dad, Charles Bridger, was the resident Manager of the Warwick Hotel. Her Mom, Bea Bridger, worked across the street at the TWA reservations office, which later moved to the Mansion House and eventually to a building that had been a grocery store on the grounds of what subsequently became Northwest Plaza. While acknowledging that the Warwick was not a 5-Star hotel like The Plaza Hotel in New York City, she was quite fond of her family’s nice, smallish apartment in the hotel. Pam’s bedroom window overlooked the Campbell House garden, which she called her “secret garden."
Picture Postcard of the Warwick Hotel
Pam reflected that hers was a bit of a lonely childhood because there were few neighborhood kids to play with. Initially, for two years, she attended The Wilson School, an exclusive private school then located in the 5400 block of Delmar Boulevard. When her parents could no longer afford The Wilson School, Pam was off to public school beginning with second grade. She attended Fanning School, a Kindergarten through eighth grade school in the Tower Grove area of South St. Louis, which took her even further away from school friends.
At the Warwick Hotel, Pam made friends with the bellhops and maids and spent many hours at the main Public Library just a short walk away at 13th and Olive Streets. Even closer at 15th and Olive Streets was Centenary Church, where she met a girl with whom she remains friends today. During the summer, she had playmates who were hotel guests visiting St. Louis. Not to be forgotten was the family’s chihuahua, Tina, a faithful companion who kept Pam company. In those years, Pam’s parents were not overly worried about Pam exploring the area around the Warwick, especially as she grew older.
As far as hotel life, there were a few older people who also were full time residents at the Warwick, making Pam a bit of a novelty — on Halloween, she spent Trick or Treat time knocking on their doors for candy, and it wasn’t long before they became like aunts and uncles to her. She sat with them in the hotel lobby listening to Cardinals games, which were played over a loud speaker. Pam can still hear Harry Caray’s voice calling games.
WARWICK HOTEL: Exterior; Hotel Lobby; Guest Room. We can imagine Pam sitting with her "Aunts" and "Uncles" listening to Harry Caray call the play-by-play of Cardinals games.
As for meals in the hotel, Pam’s apartment had an efficiency kitchen in which her Mom made amazing meals. The family also went out to eat. Pam was allowed to order one scoop of butter pecan ice cream in the hotel restaurant every day when she returned home from school. She routinely advised them to charge her treat to her Dad’s account!
On occasion, Pam weighed in on business decisions at the hotel, at one point convincing her Dad to switch the guest soaps from Camay to Ivory because, of course, Ivory floated!
Pam also noted that her Mom, who worked full time, loved the maid service provided by the hotel for their apartment, giving her extra time to take fun excursions with Pam. They loved walking to the Downtown Shopping District to shop at Stix, Baer and Fuller and Famous-Barr and have lunch at Miss Hulling’s.
At age 12, Pam’s childhood adventure at the Warwick Hotel came to an end when her parents purchased a home at 9818 Lanier in Hathaway Meadows. The transition was challenging, but Pam loved living in a neighborhood where she could ride her bike with other kids. She loved their little house and she especially loved having a yard.
9818 Lanier Sketch. Pam Bridger's home contained 1,014 square feet of living area. Her home was built on a slab-there was no basement. Laundry space was provided in the main living area off the kitchen, and storage space was provided at the back of the 330 square foot garage. The sketch also shows the front porch and a patio and open frame porch in the backyard. ST. LOUIS COUNTY REAL ESTATE INFORMATION
Pam started eighth grade at Central Jr. High in September 1964. Her first friends at Central were Janet Carney and Bruce Meentemeyer (RGHS 1970). At RGHS, Kathie Merinbaum, Jill Maret, Ellen Leonard and Connie Baumgart were great to Pam and she became fast friends with all of them. The biggest adjustment scholastically was math class. At Fanning, Pam studied arithmetic. At Central Jr. High, it was all about Modern Math, which Pam affirms played havoc with her GPA!
After the Bridgers moved to Hathaway Meadows, Pam’s Mom and Dad began commuting to work. Mr. Bridger stayed a few nights at the Warwick during the week. Sadly, he passed away at the Warwick from a cerebral hemorrhage when Pam was 20. Mrs. Bridger eventually met an Ozark Airlines pilot and remarried, giving Pam a stepfather (Don) and four step siblings. Having four siblings added a fun dimension to Pam’s life. In fact, one of her sisters recently visited with her the weekend before the eclipse.
After 30 years at TWA, Pam’s Mom retired and she and Don moved to Las Vegas. And what career did Pam pursue after growing up with two parents who worked in travel and hospitality?? Her titles were Flight Attendant and Travel Agent for most of her work life. In her words: “Not much money but great perks. I have lived in Singapore, Malta and London and visited more countries than states.”
I can’t thank Pam enough for sharing her amazing story and adventure with the Class of 1969. I personally don’t recall having ever met another person who grew up in a hotel. It definitely adds flair to our Magical History Tour!
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NORTHFIELD GARDENS
RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: NORTHFIELD GARDENS SUBDIVISION MAP
A look at the Riverview Gardens School District map featured at the beginning of this Episode 5DOT shows Northfield Gardens located just south of Hathaway Meadows, with access directly off of Highway 367. Approximately a quarter of the size of Hathaway Meadows, Northfield Gardens accommodates 145 homes, situated within three plats, all filed in 1955: Plat No. 1 (29 lots); Plat No. 2 (104 lots); and Plat No. 3 (12 lots). We might describe Northfield Gardens as a hybrid neighborhood, given that 28% of the homes are located in Moline Acres (all within Plat No. 1 and Plat No. 3) and the balance of the homes are located in unincorporated St. Louis County (all within Plat No. 2). The nine streets found in Northfield Gardens are named Springhill, Hazelton, Amesbury (providing access to and from Highway 367), Netherwood, Caverhill, Cherryfield, Queensbury, Weyburn (providing access to and from St. Cyr Road) and Hardwick Court. The kids in Northfield Gardens would have attended Meadows Elementary.
Northfield Gardens Promotional Ad. St.Louis Post-Dispatch, June 24, 1956.
Northfield Gardens Promotional Ad. St.Louis Post-Dispatch, December 1, 1957.
Northfield Gardens homes were offered by sales agent David P. Leahy Realtors, according to the numerous ads in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A couple of ads referenced the Fogerty Building Company as the developer and Robert H. Behlman as a builder. As the ads state, these homes were brick ranches, ranging from five to seven total rooms, two to three bedrooms and one to two baths, with some offering additional half baths. The seven-room ranch included a family room (also described as a rumpus room or an all-purpose room in some of the ads). Each home included a one or two-car garage. The smaller floor plans were built on 7,500 square-foot lots, while the larger floor plans were built on quarter to almost half-acre lots. Because starting prices began at $16,950 in 1956 and $17,350 in 1957, I would characterize the Northfield Gardens neighborhood as discretely upscale. In high school, I became quite familiar with Northfield Gardens and always thought of this small community as a lovely RGSD enclave. More about that to come!
Northfield Gardens Promotional Ad. St.Louis Post-Dispatch, September 20, 1959.
After the plats were filed in 1955 and display homes came on-line, construction commenced in earnest in 1956, picked up in 1957 and continued into 1958 and 1959, until completed. Some of the homes may not have been completed until the early 1960s. Construction was steady-as-she-goes generally over a four to five-year period. Classmates who lived in Northfield Gardens were Jeanne Briley, Cheryl McCord and Mary Alwes, as did Bruce Klaus of the RGHS Class of 1967, one of my favorite upperclassmen. Though Gary Kummer didn’t live in Northfield Gardens, he did live on the north side of St. Cyr Road just west of Weyburn Drive, as identified on the Northfield Gardens subdivision map above. You will note that Gary’s home was located in the City of Jennings, a reminder that a few of our classmates did hail from Jennings. Gary’s home was built in 1948: a brick ranch with six rooms, two bedrooms, one bath, a breezeway, a one-car garage, a full basement and 1,286 square feet. Gary’s home was also home to his prized blue Camaro when we were at RGHS!
Homecoming Parade-October 1967: Junior Maids on Homecoming Court—Mary Alwes, Marilyn Varney and Angie Brewer
SIDEBAR: A BEST FRIEND ALWES AND FOREVER. I met Mary Alwes, one of my best friends forever, our Sophomore year at RGHS. Mary lived at 9670 Weyburn in Northfield Gardens and I lived at 341 Caithness in Glasgow Village. The number of trips I made to her home during high school and after seems ginormous now. Our friendship was as close as our telephone numbers. Mine was UN7-3233. Mary’s was UN7-3223. We were a threesome with Nancy Kloppenburg, and the stuck-like-glue three amigos did countless things together: classes, football games, Ponticello’s, Student Council, National Honor Society, Sigma Delta Epsilon, Pierre Marquette, Pep Club, building Homecoming floats, basketball games, wrestling meets, school plays and concerts, Class of 1969 and RGHS service projects, River Roads, Northland and Cardinals baseball. And we had fun! Mary and I usually took turns driving. She drove a huge Chrysler and I drove a boxy Chevy Malibu station wagon.
Mary’s story begins once upon a time in North St. Louis City. Her Dad, Bill Sr., owned Prendergast Lumber Company located at 9th and Cass. Before moving to Northfield Gardens in 1959, Mary’s family lived on Steinlage Drive off of Bircher Blvd and West Florissant. She attended Scullin Elementary School at 4160 N. Kingshighway during her Kindergarten, first and second grade years. Beginning in the fall of 1959, Mary attended Meadows Elementary, taking the school bus, which made stops in Hathaway Meadows, Northfield Gardens, Sun Valley and Castle Point.
Mary’s beloved brother, Bill Jr., was a year older and a member of the RGHS Class of 1968. He had a tight group of buddies from the Class of 1968: Todd Gander, Geoff Powers, Bob Meiners, Roy Mattis, Ed Andrews and Jeff Koob (at Hazelwood by then). For the many times I made an appearance at Mary’s home, I never spoke to Bill or any of his friends. Those guys were out of my league then and I was quite intimidated. But, in 1999, Mary and I joined the whole gang on an Alaskan cruise. By that time, Bill was suffering from multiple sclerosis and spent much of his time in a wheelchair. His wonderful friends decided to take him on a cruise, and did we have a blast? We had a BLAST!!
Now, back to Bill and Mary in high school—at RGHS, Bill acted as if he wanted little to do with his younger sister. Mary was not exactly a persona non grata but, as between brother and sister, let’s just say that each went his or her own way! Then, a funny thing happened on the way to Homecoming in the Fall of 1967—Mary was elected by our Class to the Homecoming Court as a Junior Maid. What a thrill! Bill took off running and beat Mary home from the bus to be the first to tell their Mom that Mary made the court. Totally out of character! He was so excited and Mary was so touched!
9670 Weyburn Sketch. ST. LOUIS COUNTY REAL ESTATE INFORMATION
The Alwes home on Weyburn was a brick ranch built in 1958. The floor plan featured seven rooms, three bedrooms and two baths within a footprint of 1,411 square feet, with a one-car garage and a screened porch off of the back of the family room. The full basement also was partially finished.
Northfield Gardens Promotional Ad. St.Louis Post-Dispatch, July 1, 1956.
The front elevation of Mary’s home was very similar to the seven-room residence pictured in the promotional ad immediately below.
There she is on her front porch modeling her cutest of outfits in her perfectly proper pose!
Bill Jr. stands at attention on his front porch!
Alwes Living Room at 9670 Weyburn
Merry Christmas from the Alwes Family at 9670 Weyburn!
The living room, dining room and family room vaulted ceilings were supported by oak beams.
From the photo above, you can see the kitchen sported white metal cabinets with a matching stove. Tiled backsplash and linoleum floors are reminiscent of materials and designs of 1950s home construction. That’s Mrs. Alwes and Puff the Cat!
Mary and Bill photo session in the family room. Is Mary holding that baseball like it’s a prayer book? And who can forget Mister Softee?
The door to the left in the family room led to their garage. Mary really wasn’t an athlete when she was a kid. PE was not a favored class. Nevertheless, she has walked and exercised and has been an enthusiastic and diehard Cardinals fan her entire life. Even today, she has season tickets to Cardinals Baseball games. And, if you were at Spring Training in 2019, you might have seen Mary throw out the first pitch to Tommy Edman before one of the games.
Mary's 2019 Christmas Postcard
Mary memorialized her Big Day at the Ballpark with a Christmas postcard. Don’t miss her name plastered all over the Jumbotron! She still has a crush on Tommy, even though he just was traded to the Dodgers! Oh, the cruelty of crushes!
For as many times as I visited Mary at her home, it usually was to pick her up. When I slipped inside, I spent my time in the living room, dining room and kitchen. It was usually in and out and on to wherever we were going. But there were times when I hung around and talked with Mrs. Alwes. She and I always had a pretty lively repartee. She was not Rah!Rah! or overly assertive. She did not raise her voice; however, she was genuinely engaging—and she did have opinions. She loved Mary. On our graduation night, June 5, 1969, seven of us treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner at Tony’s Restaurant downtown. Before heading downtown, Mary, Nancy Kloppenburg, Barb Black, Kathy Krahman, Donna Dees, Sandy Elmer and I gathered at Mary’s house, and Mrs. Alwes served each of us a celebratory flute of champagne—and we toasted our graduation. She didn’t make a big deal of it. She just offered a token of congratulations commiserate with the occasion. I can’t think of any other Mother I knew in high school that would have done that. Flo had a Touch of Class.
Flo and Mitzi the Other Cat
Over the years, I just got to calling Mrs. Alwes by her first name—Flo (for Florence). In college at Southeast Missouri State, Mary became another best friend forever with Rosie O’Shaughnessey. It might not surprise you that one of Mary’s favorite songs is “The Wanderer” by Dion, whose operative lyrics to that song are so apropos.
Oh well, there’s Flo on my left and then there’s Mary on my right
And Janie is the girl well that I’ll be with tonight
And when she asks me, which one I love the best
I tear open my shirt and I show “Rosie” on my chest.
What could be more fitting? Mary has always loved to have a good time. Alwes ready to party!
Mary lost her Dad in 1974. She lost her Mom in 1985. She lost her brother Bill in 2002. She loved her family and the memories they inspired. We had a great time at RGHS and have had many fun and meaningful times together since we graduated. Cheers, Dear Friend. Love you!
RGHS Class of 1969 Ten-Year Reunion at Flaming Pit Banquet Center in August 1979. Party Girls: Donna Dees, Nancy Kloppenburg, Jane Byers, Cathy Hunt and Mary Alwes
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NORTH HILLS GARDENS
RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: NORTH HILLS GARDENS SUBDIVISION MAP
From Northfield Gardens, let’s roll up to North Hills Gardens, across Highway 367 on the east side. On the north, North Hills Gardens abuts Chambers Road, which provides access to three streets: Norbridge, Norwich and Northampton. A survey of the North Hills Gardens subdivision map above reveals several moving parts. It’s complicated but capable of distillation! First, the subdivision was constructed in both the Village of Moline Acres and the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors. Of the 109 homes constructed, 52 were located in Moline Acres and 57 were located in Bellefontaine Neighbors. Second, two plats were filed, Plat No. 1 in 1954 (amended in 1955), with 80 lots, and Plat No. 2 in 1955, with 29 lots. Third, North Hills Gardens was bordered by Bissell Hills on the east, Riverview Gardens School District property on the south, and a church and residential property on the west. The RGSD property eventually became home to Central Jr. High and the RGSD administrative headquarters. Fourth, the North Hills Gardens neighborhood surrounds a secluded 2.6 acre multi-family property on three sides. What’s so odd is that I never noticed this property during all those years I lived in North County. I wonder how true that may be for many of you. There are six buildings situated on the property, owned today by a revocable trust. It appears from an aerial view shown in the real estate records that five of those buildings are houses, the first of which was built in 1900.
The North Hills Gardens community itself was populated by predominantly brick and stone ranch homes with two-car garages, sitting on spacious lots displaying well manicured lawns. The neighborhood remains very attractive today. Whenever I drove to Central Jr. High, I took Northampton and Northumberland and remember thinking that the homes looked expensive and exclusive. I found the neighborhood quite appealing. All of the street names start with “Nor” and, in addition to Northampton and Northumberland, there is Norbridge, Norchester, Norwich and Northvale. Ron Drohr lived on Northumberland and Bob Hundman lived on Norbridge.
My search produced few promotional ads for North Hills Gardens, and ads that I did find contained limited information. I can only guess that the homes sold at a good clip, requiring little advertising. Three ads that I found appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the months of April, August and September of 1956 and touted quality-built new brick ranch homes in a choice location; two or three bedrooms; heated breezeways or large TV rooms; gas heat; and one or two-car garages. I also researched the real estate records. As with Northfield Gardens, North Hills Gardens homes ranged from five to seven total rooms, two to three bedrooms and one to two baths, with some offering additional half baths. In many ways, the two communities mirrored each other. Square footages ranged from approximately 900 to 1,350. In 1956, the North Hills Gardens homes were advertised at a price of $21,750 and up.
As mentioned above, just to the west of North Hills Gardens was a four-lot subdivision christened Sweetwood. On three of the lots, Third Presbyterian Church was constructed in 1955-56. The residential homes along Highway 367 directly south of the church were built from 1952 to 1962.
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TWILLMAN HOMESITES
RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: TWILLMAN HOMESITES SUBDIVISION MAP
Neighbors to the south of North Hills Gardens and east of Highway 367 were Twillman Homesites, Twill Court No. 2 and Thomann Place. The Twillman Homesites plat, filed on December 30, 1949, was the first subdivision plat filed in the Village of Moline Acres after it incorporated as a village in 1949. The plat filing also occurred following the annexation of the Moline School District to the Riverview Gardens School District in 1949.
Twillman Homesites was established on a cul-de-sac directly south of the RGSD property where Central Jr. High and the RGSD administrative headquarters would be established in the ensuing years. The plat subdivided six acres into 12 lots, each approximately one-half acre, all fronting on Twill Court, with access via Highway 367. The plat folded in two homes that actually were built before the plat was filed, one a brick ranch built on a slab in 1947 and the other a seven-room brick Cape Cod built in 1949. Most of the homes on Twill Court were constructed in the early 1950s: four in 1950; two in 1951; and two in 1952. The latecomers showed up in 1957 and 1960. All homes were custom built, one comprising only 975 square feet and three comprising over 1,700 square feet. The other eight ranged from 1,047 square feet to 1,671 square feet. All were a ranch or Cap Cod style, constructed of brick, with basements (except for the slab home noted above) and one or two-car garages (with the exception of the smallest home on Twill Court that had no garage). Nine homes included a fireplace. Room configurations varied widely. I was surprised that seven of the Twill Court homes were built with only two bedrooms and half had only one bathroom. There were no sidewalks, a feature common to upscale neighborhoods throughout St. Louis County.
The Twillman Homesites map above also shows ten residential lots that fronted on Highway 367 and stretched from Northumberland to the southern boundary of the Twillman Homesites plat. These ten lots were not collectively subdivided in a single plat. My research did not find any of our classmates who might have lived in these homes or the Twillman Homesites homes.
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TWILL COURT NO. 2
AND
THOMANN PLACE
RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: TWILL COURT NO. 2 AND THOMANN PLACE SUBDIVISION MAP
The companion subdivision developed to the south of Twillcourt Homesites was Twill Court No. 2, a small community of eight custom homes situated on Sunbeam Lane, also a cul-de-sac. This tranquil lane presented eight lovely brick homes, one Cape Cod and seven ranch style. Buyers could select lots of one acre or a fractional acre of differing and/or irregular sizes. All of the homes, except one in each instance, featured a floor plan of at least six rooms, three bedrooms, at least a bath-and-a-half, a fireplace or two, a one or two-car garage and a full basement. Floor plans ranged from 1,202 to 1,958 square feet.
Though the Twill Court No. 2 Plat was filed on August 21, 1951, three of the homes, built in 1949 and 1950 were folded into the plat. As with Twillman Homesites, the neighborhood was developed exclusively within the Village of Moline Acres, and access to Sunbeam was directly and exclusively via Highway 367. Construction of all homes was completed by 1953. Our classmate, Vince Seyer lived on Sunbeam Lane. His home backed up to St. John’s Cemetery (as shown on the map above), located in Bellefontaine Neighbors.
SIDEBAR: My brother-in-law, Arlan Dohrmann, born in January of 1945, grew up in the story-and-a-half Cape Cod located at 1225 Sunbeam Lane on the north side of the street. His parents (Russell and Florence) bought the home in 1951 and paid $25,000, a hefty price in the Riverview Gardens School District at that time. The house was two years old, built in 1949.
1225 Sunbeam sat on a one-acre tract that backed to Maline Creek, running through the expanse of land separating Twill Court and Sunbeam Lane. Arlan shared one of the three bedrooms in the 1,958 square foot house with his brother Russell, a 1957 RGHS graduate. (You may remember that I dedicated A Brief History to the memory of two RGHS distinguished alumni, one being Russell Dohrmann.) His two sisters shared another bedroom. The Cape Cod included eight rooms, a bath-and-a-half and a two-car garage. Though his home had more square footage than any other home on Sunbeam Lane, it did not include a fireplace.
Arlan graduated from RGHS in 1962. At the time he moved to Sunbeam Lane in Moline Acres, he had been attending Baden Elementary School in North City. His parents petitioned the District to allow Arlan to skip first grade. As it turned out, Arlan wended his way through five different schools in the District before he entered Riverview Gardens High School on Shepley Road:
Second Grade: Riverview Elementary on Diamond Drive.
Third Grade: United Methodist Church on Bellefontaine Road. The District rented classroom space from the church.
Fourth Grade: Gibson Elementary in Bissell Hills. Arlan attended during the opening year of the school (1953-54).
Fifth and Sixth Grades: Danforth Elementary on St. Cyr Road. His was the first fifth-grade class to attend the school in the 1954-55 school year.
Seventh and Eighth Grades: Science Hill School (the Junior High) located on Chambers Road in Bellefontaine Neighbors at the same location as the High School (until June 1957). Arlan attended Science Hill School during the 1956-57 and 1957-58 school years. This school eventually became known as East Jr. High.
Though Arlan and my sister Cher (RGHS 1967) were RGHS graduates (Cher was in 7th grade at East Jr. High when Arlan was a Senior at RGHS in 1961-62), they didn’t meet until December 1969—on a double date. Cher had a date with Arlan’s buddy from high school (Paul Poser). Arlan liked her feisty attitude and Cher liked his “older man” vibe. After clearing matters with Paul, Arlan asked out Cher and the rest is history. Following a whirlwind love affair, Cher and Arlan married on August 29, 1970.
As for 1225 Sunbeam Lane, Russell and Florence sold the house in 1968 and bought a condominium in Creve Coeur. Arlan was serving in Vietnam at that time. He last spent time at the Sunbeam Lane home in 1966.
Sandwiched between (and running parallel with) Highway 367 and St. John’s Cemetery is another small residential subdivision located in Moline Acres called Thomann Place. Extending from Twill Court No. 2 on the north to St. Cyr Road on the south, the Thomann Place subdivision plat was filed in 1946 and included 13 lots, two of which comprised approximately one acre and 11 of which comprised just over a half acre. The two homes on the acre lots were constructed in the 1940s. In fact, one was constructed in 1942 and was folded into the plat at the time of filing. The other was built in 1948. All of the other custom homes were constructed during the decade of the 1950s. Each enjoyed direct access to Highway 367. Across that thoroughfare lay the land that became Northfield Gardens. The size of the homes varied from 1,000 square feet to 2,000 square feet, with most splitting the difference at 1,500 to 1,600 square feet. I found no classmates who lived in Thomann Place.
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ST. CYR ROAD BETWEEN HIGHWAY 367
AND BELLEFONTAINE ROAD
1970 AERIAL VIEW OF ST. CYR ROAD BETWEEN HIGHWAY 367 AND BELLEFONTAINE ROAD
We are now rolling up around the corner at the intersection of Highway 367 and St. Cyr Road to explore the area along St. Cyr from Highway 367 to Bellefontaine Road. We’ll be heading east on St. Cyr from Highway 367. As a reminder, St. Cyr was the name of a prominent French family that received a land grant in this area in the first half of the 19th Century. It was on this stretch of road that I was ticketed for speeding in the summer of 1982, going 40 mph in a 20 mph zone—right in front of the church. My luck has held—no speeding (or moving violation) tickets since then! Of course, I always drive five miles under the limit.
I thought it might be helpful to get a bird’s eye view of the area, so I prepared a map showing a 1970 aerial view of St. Cyr Road to help you visualize everything that was going on along St. Cyr around the time we graduated. The 1970 aerial photo best captures the lay of the the land. In Episodes 3 and 4 of A Brief History, we learned all about Hathaway Hills south of St. Cyr Road. Developed by Vorhof-Duenke beginning in 1949, Hathaway Hills was one of the early trailblazer subdivisions in the District with respect to scale, construction concepts and techniques, floor plan design, and modern home equipment and appliances. The sheer size of Hathaway Hills (shown only partially in the 1970 aerial view above) is demonstrable when you compare it to the size of St. Cyr Hills on the north side of St. Cyr Road. Also, along the south side of St. Cyr, you can find Our Lady of Good Council Church and School, St. Cyr Park and Suburban Lanes, a neighborhood bowling alley at the southwest corner of St. Cyr Road and Bellefontaine Road. Finally, the location of four demolished homes on Hopedale, a topic of further discussion below, is identified.
As we roll up to the north side of St. Cyr Road, it’s hard to miss Bob Russell Park, which covers over 27 acres of real estate and served as the venue for countless softball and baseball games over many years. Take a gander at the Teams page of the RamSite to see all of our classmates who played at Bob Russell Park. Sitting in front of Bob Russell Park are the St. Cyr Apartments, where Keith Kallstrom and Jack Ettinger lived. Of course, St. John’s Cemetery at the west end has already been mentioned a few times in A Brief History. Last but not least is the neighborhood of St. Cyr Hills and Danforth Elementary, nestled between the cemetery and the park.
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ST. CYR HILLS
RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOL DISTRICT: ST. CYR HILLS SUBDIVISION MAP
Development of St. Cyr Hills trailed that of Hathaway Hills by about five years. A formal opening of the new subdivision on the north side of St. Cyr Road occurred on Sunday, May 16, 1954. An article published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch provided history and context:
The tract of 40 acres, which had been subdivided, formerly was an historic bit of fruit and truck gardens and, settled in 1866 by Frederick Wilhelm Siege, a German immigrant, who came to the United States in 1854, landed at New Orleans and then came north by river….The tract had been held and used as a truck garden and fruit orchard through all the years, until the Board of Education in the district wanted five acres of it as a school site, whereupon it seemed untenable to try to continue use of the remaining property as farmland. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 16, 1954, p. 109.
Promotional articles initially indicated that approximately 145 to 150 homes would be built in St. Cyr Hills, and five acres of the original 40-acre tract were set aside for construction of a new public elementary school. The developer and sales agent was O’Brien Realtors with offices on Goodfellow. The construction contractor was Champion Construction Company.
St. Cyr Hills Promotional Ad. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 16,1954.
St. Cyr Hills Promotional Ad. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 19, 1954.
The ads provided that all homes in the development would be brick ranches with frame Colonial sash and three bedrooms, the third paneled in knotty pine. Standard features included attached brick garages, full basements, gas heat, plastered walls and clay tile walls in kitchens and baths. Standard equipment in the 15’6” x 8’10” Chambers Kitchen included birch or metal cabinets, built-in gas table-top ranges, waist-high ovens, garbage disposals and a breakfast nook. Yards were fully sodded. Optional features were air-conditioning, wood-burning fireplaces and dishwashers. Street lights and 7” concrete streets were standard throughout the community. Homes were priced from $17,500.
If you consult the subdivision map above, you will see that the developer filed two plats in creating St. Cyr Hills. Plat No. 1 was filed in 1954, providing for 63 homes, and Plat No. 2 was filed in 1955, providing for 77 homes, totaling 140 homes, all in Bellefontaine Neighbors. The plats created nine streets within the subdivision: Yorktown, Adler, Phalen, Jolene, Poelker, Angeline, Siebe, Jaros and St. Cyr. The five-acre tract in the southeast corner of the 40-acre tract was set aside for public school use and became home to Danforth Elementary School (initially named Hathaway Hills Elementary). To be clear, the Danforth Elementary property was not part of the St. Cyr Hills subdivision. Today, that property is still owned by RGSD but is utilized as an early childhood learning center, named the Michele Obama Early Childhood Learning Center. In 2005, the Riverview Gardens School District acquired the 9.74-acre Our Lady of Good Council Church and School property across the street and thereafter relocated Danforth Elementary to that site.
Classmates who lived in St. Cyr Hills were Alan Parsons, Bob Klasing and Bruce Boyd.
SIDEBAR: Did I say Bruce Boyd? Yes. Bruce Boyd had a rather unique experience growing up by virtue of living in five different homes (three in Bellefontaine Neighbors, one in Ferguson and one in North St. Louis City) and attending four elementary schools (two in the Riverview Gardens School District, one twice, one in the Ferguson-Florissant School District and one in North St. Louis City), and both East Jr. High and Central Jr. High, all before finishing high school at RGHS. I have created two “Bruce Boyd Homes and Schools Tracking Maps” to assist in following Bruce’s school years odyssey.
The Boyd family moved to St. Cyr Hills in 1955. Their six room, three bedroom and bath-and-a-half home at 1130 Angeline contained 1,458 square feet and included a fireplace and one-car garage. In September 1956, Bruce started kindergarten at Hathaway Hills Elementary, the name of which changed to Danforth when Bruce was in first grade. Bruce remembers being classmates with Dan Green, Steve Taylor, Deb Hussey and Candy Hofer, among others.
It wasn’t long before a particularly upsetting event occurred on Hopedale Drive (Patti Lingenfelter’s street) in Hathaway Hills on the south side of St. Cyr Drive. Four houses between 1029 and 1049 Hopedale began sinking and were abandoned and demolished. Bruce provided a picture of two of the damaged houses.
Hopeless on Hopedale. It must have been devastating for those families who lost their homes. The exact location of the area where the homes were demolished is identified on the 1970 Aerial View map of St. Cyr Road above. The land where the homes had been constructed was incorporated into St. Cyr Park and a foot-bicycle path was added when the houses were demolished. Patti Lingenfelter remembers this tragic event and how distressed even the neighbors in Hathaway Hills were. She also remembers using the path to walk to school and church. The path was great for bike riding down the hill.
At about the same time, the Boyd house on Angeline developed a large crack down the middle (through Bruce’s bedroom). Bruce described his parents as “freaked out.” They had the foundation stabilized with piers, repaired the cracks, put the house up for sale and moved in the summer of 1958 immediately after Bruce completed first grade at Danforth. The Angeline house is still standing.
Mr. and Mrs. Boyd contracted to have a home constructed in Ferguson at 37 Dames Court, about 4.5 miles from St. Cyr Hills. Because construction of the new home would not be completed for six months, the Boyd family detoured to North St. Louis City, where Bruce’s grandmother lived at 2029 John Avenue near the Water Tower on Grand Avenue. Bruce’s family lived with his grandmother for six months, and Bruce attended nearby Bryan Hill School for three months.
The Boyds moved into 37 Dames Court in Ferguson before Thanksgiving in 1958. The new brick home had six rooms, three bedrooms, a bath-and-a-half and a fireplace, all within 1,046 square feet, together with a two-car garage. Bruce attended second grade (the 1958-59 school year) and part of third grade at Griffith Elementary in the Ferguson-Florissant School District. Bruce mentioned that, when he was a kid, his family patronized the Ponticello’s on Chambers in Ferguson, where Frank Haase worked in the 1960s, as well as the RGHS Ponticello’s hangout in Spanish Lake.
In 1959, Mr. Boyd lost his job, compelling the family to give up the new house Ferguson and move to 10000 Ashbrook Drive in Bissell Hills at the corner of Ashbrook and Chambers, a distance of 3.7 miles along Chambers Road. Another three-bedroom brick ranch, the Bissell home, built in 1956, provided 975 square feet of living space and a one-car garage. Bruce joined Mr. Preston’s third grade class at Gibson Elementary in the spring of 1960. He attended fourth grade and fifth grade at Gibson through June 1962. In the fall of 1962, Bruce returned to Danforth Elementary along with other Gibson sixth graders who were bused to Danforth for the 1962-63 school year.
By the summer of 1963, Bruce’s Dad had landed a new and better paying job and, consequently, Mr. and Mrs. Boyd bought one of the larger brick homes in Bissell Hills at 10325 Bellefontaine Road, 1.1 miles from the Ashbrook home. Another ranch-style home with 7 rooms (including a breezeway), three bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage, the Bellefontaine Road home offered a floor plan covering 1,387 square feet. This home sat across the street from the gas station just south of Shepley Drive. When Bruce graduated from RGHS in 1969, his family still lived in the Bellefontaine Road home. No more house moves!
But by then Bruce’s nomadic tendencies got the better of him during his Junior High years (September 1963 through June 1966). The Junior High school boundary lines drawn by the District dictated that Bruce would attend seventh grade at East Jr. High. That reunited him with some of his classmates from Danforth. Plus, he met kids from Glasgow Village and the Village of Riverview. Bruce and I have speculated that we may have had some classes together at East.
For eighth grade, the District tinkered with the boundary lines, giving Bruce the choice of staying at East Jr. High or moving to Central Jr. High. Without even flipping a coin, he chose Central! Imagine that! There, he was reunited with kids from Gibson and met others from Moline Acres, Hathaway Meadows, Hathaway Manor, Castle Point and neighborhoods west of Halls Ferry.
During our high schools years, Bruce walked to RGHS because his house on Bellefontaine was less than a mile from the high school. Bruce used to tell his kids that he had to walk to school in the snow, and the walk was uphill both ways—a true statement, given that Shepley Drive from Bellefontaine to Toelle dipped dramatically in the middle at a bridge that straddled the railroad. That was the same railroad that David Manning’s grandpa maintained and repaired while riding his handcar along the tracks.
In assessing his school years from Kindergarten through high school, Bruce reflected, “As I look back at my school years, I think all the changing schools led me to having a shyness that kept me from developing socially. I always felt like the ‘new kid’ and not part of ‘the gang.’ I didn’t overcome this until college, where I joined a fraternity and really bloomed. I feel like I missed out on a lot of the best experiences of high school.”
Thanks for sharing your story, Bruce! It’s a reminder that each one of our “growing up” stories is unique. With over 600 individuals in our class, our stories are varied and distinctive, despite what might seem at a glance like a very homogenous group. Bruce’s story is one of several stories about our classmates that I hope you have enjoyed while reading A Brief History and journeying through The Magical History Tour.
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RIVERVIEW GARDENS SCHOOLS DISTRICT: RIVERVIEW TERRACE ADDITION
RIVERVIEW TERRACE
ADDITION
Riverview Terrace Addition Promotional Ad. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 12, 1950.
Not to be forgotten in an area found in the southeast corner of the the intersection of Highway 367 and Jennings Station Road is a 50-acre subdivision of 143 brick homes called Riverview Terrace Addition. See the comprehensive subdivision map at the top of this Episode 5DOT. Located in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Riverview Terrace Addition is bordered by Hathaway Hills, Friedens Cemetery and the original Riverview Terrace subdivision situated in the City of St. Louis on the north side of Riverview Blvd. The subdivision map above shows the layout of the subdivision in relation to its neighbors.
Our old friend, Norman Schuermann of Schuermann Building & Realty Co. (of Bissell Hills fame) developed and constructed Riverview Terrace Addition, starting with the filing of the plat in March 1949. Let’s roll up to the Grand Opening on February 12, 1950 (prior to the Grand Opening of Bissell Hills in 1951). The Riverview Terrace Addition homes were five-room ranch bungalows that varied in design, priced from $11,750 to $13,500. Some homes featured attached one-car garages, while others included a 10’ x 20’ breezeway with a garage. The homes incorporated a completely equipped and installed General Electric kitchen: dishwashers, garbage disposals, refrigerators and ranges. As with Bissell Hills, the neighborhood included a Schuermann trademark small brick retail building, initially a mini-market, at 1100 Oran Drive.
Our classmates George Inserra, Shirley Abernathy and Carlene Linders lived in Riverview Terrace Addition. Each of their homes is described in the St. Louis County real estate records as a brick bungalow, containing 850 square feet, with two bedrooms, a full basement and a one-car garage. Carlene’s home, built in 1949, incorporated a 180 square foot breezeway. George and Shirley’s homes were built in 1950.
Streets in Riverview Terrace Addition were named Donnell, Oran, Edna, Newby, Troy, Church and Frederick. When Cheryl and I took our Byers-Niebur All-District Tour, we discovered that concrete barriers were installed on Edna, Newby, Church, Frederick and Donnell at the boundary line between the County and the City, to the effect that there were no through streets to Riverview Blvd. Today, residents of Riverview Terrace Addition must traverse Hathaway Hills to Jennings Station Road to access other major thoroughfares. What’s not clear is at what point these concrete barriers were installed. If anyone has any insight, I would appreciate hearing from you.
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DRIVE-IN — DRIVE UP — DRIVE AROUND
AND
MALL WALK
IN THE FUN ZONE!*!*!
Highway 367 separated the Riverview Gardens School District and the Moline School District in 1949, the year that saw the annexation of the Moline School District to the Riverview Gardens School District. By 1966, the year the Class of 1969 became a part of Ram Academy, Highway 367 anchored the area that I am going to dub “THE FUN ZONE!” THE FUN ZONE had something for everyone in high school! THE FUN ZONE stretched along Highway 367 like a cosmic spirit ribbon, inviting anyone who was ready, willing and able to enter the fray and have Fun! Are you ready to roll up to THE FUN ZONE??? Okay, let’s roll up!
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THE FUN ZONE began at the southwest corner of Highway 367 and Chambers Road with the Lewis & Clark Theatre and the Lewis & Clark Tower, traveling south to the Lewis & Clark Library (yes, even libraries could be fun). As shown in the 1966 Aerial View above, THE FUN ZONE wasn’t far from Central Jr. High. The 1970 Aerial View shows the expansion of THE FUN ZONE to the North Drive-In, Ozella’s, McDonald’s, and Howard Johnson’s, all the way to Circle Steak. A quick pivot to Halls Ferry Road and a short jog to Jennings Station Road brought us to River Roads, and how much fun was hanging out at the mall?
We’ll roll up and briefly visit some of the venues in THE FUN ZONE in the hopes of nudging your memories of the good times we had in growing up in the Riverview Gardens School District. Notably, THE FUN ZONE traversed three District municipalities: Moline Acres, Bellefontaine Neighbors and Jennings, plus the City of St. Louis.
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LEWIS & CLARK THEATRE
The Lewis & Clark Theatre in Moline Acres was opened by the Arthur Theatre chain on June 11, 1965. The Class of 1969 had just completed eighth grade and school was out for summer! Located next to the Lewis & Clark Tower, the auditorium was a spacious single floor-single screen theatre with a sloped floor, featuring first-run attractions when it first opened. At the theatre entrance, the lobby ran from the front to the back of the building, and the entrance to the auditorium was on the left. The interior, including the plush seats, was finished in a variety of colors of green, with the walls lined in dark green draperies. The price list on the ticket-counter window shows $1.25 for Adults and $.50 for children. I can’t make out the recipient of a $.90 ticket, but I imagine that price applies to students of a certain age.
LEWIS & CLARK LICENSE BUREAU
Right around the corner from, and on the same level as, the Lewis & Clark Theatre, was one of the most important governmental offices serving 16-year-old teenagers in the District—the License Bureau, where we took our written and driving tests to secure our coveted driver’s licenses. Just the other day, Cheryl Niebur and I were comparing notes about our first driving tests at the Lewis & Clark License Bureau. We both flunked! Bummer! What happened to THE FUN ZONE???
LEWIS & CLARK TOWER
This rendering of Lewis & Clark Tower in Moline Acres is pretty cool. The rendering and caption appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday, May 24, 1964. The Class of 1969 had almost completed seventh grade and was looking forward to summer vacation!
Five years later, Prudential Savings and Loan sold Lewis & Clark Tower and Mall to a “syndicate of professional men.” This photo appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday, April 13, 1969, less than two months before the Class of 1969 graduated. The caption mentions a two-story mall, which included the Lewis & Clark Theatre.
Crowning the Lewis & Clark Tower was Joe Rizzo’s Top of the Tower restaurant and cocktail lounge. The restaurant seated up to 250 for dinner. The decor was Spanish, as was the chef, José Orange. Appointments were red, gold and black. Patrons could command a view from approximately two-thirds of the perimeter of the tower. I have always regretted that I never had dinner at the Top of the Tower.
STELMACKI SUPER MARKET
Stelmacki Super Market’s Grand Opening occurred on June 10, 1964. By this time, the Class of 1969 had just launched its summer vacation and would be entering eighth grade in September. Is there anyone out there whose parents shopped at Stelmacki in Moline Acres?
LEWIS & CLARK PUBLIC LIBRARY
The St. Louis County Library - Lewis & Clark Branch was constructed on land that was part of the Hathaway Meadows subdivision in Moline Acres. You can see Hathaway Meadows houses through the windows from the interior photo of the library. Do any of you remember studying in the main reading room? Believe it or not, I researched “the pill” in that main reading room over a 3-month summer, checking out 64 magazine articles at the circulation desk. There were no books available on the subject matter at the time.
NORTH DRIVE-IN THEATRE
That's our Classmate Darlene Adams, cashier at the North Drive-In during the summer of 1968!
Going to the Drive-In Theatre was an American right of passage growing up in the decades of the 1950s and the 1960s. And we had our own iconic North Drive-In Theatre right in The Fun Zone. Located in the City of Jennings (and in the Jennings School District but smack dab on the edge of the Riverview Gardens School District), the North Drive-In provided an easily accessible family activity for all families in the RGSD. Over the years, there were different ways to go to the Drive-In: pile in the car with Mom and Dad; pile in the car (and the trunk of the car) with our friends; pile in the car with our younger siblings and their friends. As young kids, we played on the dozens of swing sets and slides in front of the gigantic screen up to the moment before the film projector started rolling. Popcorn, candy and soda from the concession stands topped off the evening before we nodded off to sleep while our parents finished watching the movie.
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OZELLA’S AND McDONALD’S
Directly across the street from the North Drive-In were two popular restaurants (also in the City of Jennings), one specializing in pizzas and the other in hamburgers. Ozella’s featured a delicious version of a St. Louis-style thin crust pizza and a dress code! In the late 60s, my Mom and Dad had dinner at Ozella’s on a Friday night. Mom happened to be wearing a pant suit and the restaurant refused to seat them in the main dining room because Mom was wearing pants. They did offer to seat them in the bar. Mom and Dad shrugged their shoulders and said “okay.” I was amazed and a tad outraged to hear this story years later!
The McDonald’s located on Highway 367 opened circa 1960, around the time the Class of 1969 was in third or fourth grade. Burgers were $.15. My Dad refused to eat there and I believe he never became a fan. So, in early days, the Byers kids ate at McDonald’s only if Mom took us there. We went infrequently because fast food just wasn’t a thing at that point and, despite the fact the “all American” meal was then around $.45, it was still costly for a family of five kids. I vaguely remember that, if Mom got together with her friends for card club during the afternoon, someone would occasionally pick up White Castle’s hamburgers at the Kingshighway-Natural Bridge location in North City. Kids at home were included. I think White Castle was cheaper than McDonald’s even then. In any event, it’s clear that McDonald’s was part of THE FUN ZONE to the boys on Pat Blakeney and Bill Becher’s baseball team, drinking their Cokes and eating their burgers in front of the Golden Arches sign! Even the Dads and the owner were having fun!!
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HOWARD JOHNSON’S
If we roll up to the northwest corner of the intersection of Highway 367 and Jennings Station Road in THE FUN ZONE, we’ll find Howard Johnson’s, which opened in the early 1960s in the City of Jennings. While the photo of Howard Johnson’s above is not of the actual building that we patronized on Highway 367, in my memory, it’s a close resemblance. The “ALL YOU CAN EAT” clipping appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on November 13, 1967, when we were Juniors at RGHS. My favorite meal at HoJo’s was the fried clams and french fries. Sometimes, I’d drop in with a friend for the unrivaled HoJo Chocolate Ice Cream Soda—best enjoyed sitting at the counter.
NORTH COUNTY JOURNAL
GASEN’S DRUG STORE
&
RAPPS SUPERMARKET
Across Highway 367 from Howard Johnson’s on the northeast corner was a commercial-retail brick building that was part of the Hathaway Hills subdivision. The North County Journal was headquartered in this building, starting sometime in the 1960s, though I am not sure of the exact date. My brother Tom worked for the North County Journal from 1972 until 1987 and remembers that the building also housed a Gasen’s Drug Store, a deli and a furniture store. On the southeast corner was the Rapps Supermarket. You may remember that Patti Lingenfelter’s Dad worked as a manager of Rapps Supermarket but never managed this particular store, even though the family lived close by in Hathaway Hills. Both of these properties were located in the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors; however, interestingly, portions of the parking lots in both locations were situated in the City of Jennings.
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CIRCLE STEAK
Anchoring THE FUN ZONE at the far south end was Circle Steak, located on the Circle in the City of St. Louis, where Highway 367, Riverview Blvd., Goodfellow and Halls Ferry converged. Of course, Circle Steak is the renowned sobriquet of the Steak ’n Shake stationed on the Circle. What was the draw? To cruise through the parking lot. To see and be seen. To hang out with friends. To chow on a burger and fries. In Mike Cordry’s tribute to Bob Hall on the Memorial’s page of the RamSite, he said that his “then girlfriend … lived at the corner of West Florissant and Goodfellow, behind Don’s Mobil. Bob and I would sit on the balcony and watch the hot cars coming from Circle Steak, to Jennings Steak.” There was something almost spiritually compelling about the legendary and celebrated Circle Steak, found only in our corner of the world!
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RIVER ROADS
Let’s roll up from Circle Steak to River Roads Shopping Center at the northwest corner of Halls Ferry and Jennings Station Road—our last venue in THE FUN ZONE!
COME TO THE GRANDEST OPENING OF THEM ALL. THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY—AUGUST 16,17,18. FOLLOW THE FUN TO THE RIVER ROADS GRAND OPENING. HAVE THE SHOPPINGEST TIME OF YOUR LIFE IN ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST MAGNIFICENT NEW CENTERS. GO FROM STORE TO STORE (30 IN ALL). WITHOUT LEAVING THE AIR CONDITIONED COMFORT OF RIVER ROADS’ BREATHTAKING QUARTER-MILE ARCADE…. YOU CAN SAVE ON EVERYTHING FROM CUFF LINKS TO CABBAGE TO COCKTAIL SHERRY AT SPECIAL CELEBRATION PRICES. YOU CAN SEE A HUNDRED EXCITING THINGS [INCLUDING THE FAMED POPEYE TELEVISION SHOW, WITH COOKIE AND THE CAPTAIN, ORIGINATING LIVE FROM RIVER ROADS ARCADE AT 4 P.M. THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, AND AT 11:30 A.M. SATURDAY]. YOU CAN GET GIFTS GALORE. THIS WEEKEND….
ALL ROADS LEAD TO RIVER ROADS, HALLS FERRY AT JENNINGS STATION ROAD.
Riverview Roads opened in August 1962, the month before the Class of 1969 started sixth grade. Most of us were 11 years old and it’s likely we were gobsmacked with wonder and surprise at the magnitude of riches that flowed into our midst via one of America’s first enclosed shopping malls. In it’s first decade of operation, River Roads featured Stix, Baer & Fuller, J.C. Penney, Woolworth’s and Kroger as its anchor stores. Other major tenants included Walgreens, Lane Bryant, Thom McAn, Bakers Shoes, Bond’s, Hess & Culbertson jewelry store, and Spencer’s Bowling Lanes, located in the lower level of the mall. A total of 30 stores and the four anchors occupied 620,000 square feet of shopping center space.
My most prized store was Woolworth’s, where I could comb through the stacks and stacks of 45s and find the latest and greatest songs by my ever-changing favorite singers or bands. Then I could buy a single slice of pizza and eat it right out in the middle of the mall. Life was good! On special occasions, I might eat lunch at The Steamboat Room. Kathie Merinbaum fondly remembers her field trips to River Roads with Connie Baumgart and the fun and silly things they did together: “We would go to River Roads mall on the bus, bowl a few games at [Spencer’s Bowling Lanes], then have a cup of soup at the counter of Woolworth’s. We were out of money by then so usually couldn’t afford a soda!”
Shopping at River Roads. RGHS is proudly represented by the boy on the right wearing his "R" jacket and enjoying a beverage while strolling the mall.
The original developer of River Roads was Stix, Baer & Fuller, a pioneer department store chain in St. Louis that operated from 1892 to 1984. In our parlance, we called the store "Stix.” The Stix store at River Roads actually opened on August 2, 1961, a year earlier than the mall opening. In St. Louis, Stix was known as a leading high-end fashion store. The River Roads Stix featured two levels, the lower level of which could be accessed through a landscaped outdoor garden. The Pavilion, an elegant restaurant with stylish appointments and an upscale menu, was on display at the front of the store.
Our visit to River Roads concludes our journey through THE FUN ZONE! I thought it might be fun for everyone to study the photo below, which I have entitled “From The Farm Zone To The Fun Zone.” The photo is a 1955 aerial shot that shows the lay of the land before THE FUN ZONE took shape. Can you identify where Circle Steak would end up? Where is Bob Russell Park? Northfield Hills? Two of our subdivisions from The Magical History Tour had already been developed by this time. Can you define the boundaries of Hathaway Hills and Riverview Terrace? Have fun figuring it all out. No more hints from me!!!
The Magical History Tour is hoping to take you away
Hoping to take you away….
THE END OF EPISODE 5DOT
THE MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR
WILL BE CONTINUED in EPISODE 5EYE….
We’ll be rolling up to neighborhoods
along Bellefontaine Road south of Chambers Road.
NEXT STOPS: Green Acres, Surrey Lane Corners, Destrehan, Biritz, Ramming and Belle Crest!
CHEERS TO THE CLASS OF 1969!