St. Louis Area Historic Maps

Each of these Neighborhood Histories was written for the St. Louis Community Development Agency in the early 1970's by Norbury Wayman. They provide a detailed viewpoint of the historical neighborhoods from the vantage point of the 1970's -- the information about the current state of individual neighborhoods may not apply today. The 27 historical neighborhoods in this were chosen as being distinctive settings by reason of geography, ethnic or historical characteristics, and historical traits and architecture. Main thoroughfares were used as boundaries.

This is an exact reproduction of the original 1878 atlas with an alphabetized index of all landowners compiled and added by the St. Louis Genealogical Society

A web project that accompanies the above book; includes four interactive series of maps, each touching on a major theme developed in the book

The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, ignited nationwide protests and brought widespread attention police brutality and institutional racism. But Ferguson was no aberration. As Colin Gordon shows in this urgent and timely book, the events in Ferguson exposed not only the deep racism of the local police department but also the ways in which decades of public policy effectively segregated people and curtailed citizenship not just in Ferguson but across the St. Louis suburbs. Citizen Brown uncovers half a century of private practices and public policies that resulted in bitter inequality and sustained segregation in Ferguson and beyond. Gordon shows how municipal and school district boundaries were pointedly drawn to contain or exclude African Americans and how local policies and services--especially policing, education, and urban renewal--were weaponized to maintain civic separation. He also makes it clear that the outcry that arose in Ferguson was no impulsive outburst but rather an explosion of pent-up rage against long-standing systems of segregation and inequality--of which a police force that viewed citizens not as subjects to serve and protect but as sources of revenue was only the most immediate example. Worse, Citizen Brown illustrates the fact that though the greater St. Louis area provides some extraordinarily clear examples of fraught racial dynamics, in this it is hardly alone among American cities and regions. Interactive maps and other companion resources to Citizen Brown are available at the book website.