Historical February 1999 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Call it millennium fever, if you wish. Of the many retrospectives currently taking place, one activity that seems particularly relevant is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s “Pages of History”, highlighting one era of the twentieth century each week, specifically in terms of St. Louis. THE TIMES, which has sought for over 28 years to reflect the vicissitudes of the somewhat smaller world of the Skinker-DeBaliviere Neighborhood, has decided to join this endof-the-century activity in our own unique way. Our newer neighbors may not realize that there exists a detailed historical account of our area, published in 1973, called The Neighborhood.
A History of Skinker-DeBaliviere, researched and written by Kathleen M. Harleman, Georgiana B. Stuart, and Susan K. Tepas, three former residents of the neighborhood, who wrote in 1973: “We are not historians, and we offer the results of our research in the hope that residents and friends may find it interesting. Perhaps others will be stimulated to add additional information and research, anecdotes and facts.” In 1999, we feel exactly the same as we start our quest to update this memorable history. Beginning in the next TIMES, each issue will feature, in chronological order, a portion of the text of the previously published book. Accompanying these excerpts will be photos and maps, along with selected articles from previous issues of THE TIMES (previously called THE PAPER).
In addition, we plan some new articles expanding on some of the events, organizations, and people mentioned in the 1973 book.
As the year goes on, our plan is more ambitious. THE TIMES all-volunteer staff will be researching and writing the follow-up history of the neighborhood, from 1973 to the end of the century. Several TIMES board members and other neighbors will be involved.
As we enter the year 2000, we will have brought the history of our community to the present day.
If finances allow, we will then publish this expanded history in book form.
We invite you to join us in this endeavor. So many of us have our own personal histories bound up in our homes here. You may have photos or anecdotes to share, and no writing experience is necessary. Even those who have lived here only a short time may wish to know more about the house they have bought, or about the school their children attend, or simply may be intrigued to learn, for example, that the road that Pope John Paul II traveled in 1999, at the very edge of our neighborhood, was “The Pike”, the concession area of the 1904 World’s Fair in Forest Park. Many historic events, the great and small, have touched our neighborhood.
We hope to include as much detail as space and time and documentation allow, over the course of this banner year.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February 1999.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1999_02.pdf, printed page(s) 1, 3; PDF page(s) 1, 3.
