1850s Benton Street Row House

In celebration of the Blues winning the Stanley Cup, I decided to feature this brick row house painted blue.

Built in the mid 1850s, this house was constructed in Old North St. Louis during its rapid urban expansion. Old North had originally been founded in 1816 as North St. Louis, but as the population of the city grew, it was annexed into the city limits in 1841, along with Soulard. By the 1850s, many Irish and German immigrants were pouring into St. Louis, and many of the Irish settled in Old North and in Carr Square. By 1857, this was the most densely populated area in the city, and a census from 1920 shows that 40,000 people were living in the ward at that point. The house is visible on the Compton and Dry map in 1875, and it also features the limestone lintels that are typically found on 1850s and earlier Federal style row houses. The neighborhood continued to be a thriving area through the early 20th century, but it was negatively impacted when highway 70 split the residential part of Old North from all of the businesses and factories that were lined up along the River. Over the next 50 years, the decline of the area resulted in many of the historic buildings being demolished, although around half of them managed to survive. The last 15 years has seen a large amount of revitalization in the area, and many buildings which had fallen into disrepair have been restored. Although many buildings still need to be restored and occupied, the neighborhood has rebounded, and regained some of its population in the last census.