O’FALLON (68)
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LOCATION
The O’Fallon neighborhood is located on the north side of the City of St. Louis, nestled between O’Fallon Park and Fairgrounds Park. It is bounded by West Florissant, Harris Avenue, Algernon Street and Adelaide on the North, Pope Avenue on the Northwest, Kossuth and Natural Bridge Avenues on the South via Fair Avenue, Warne on the East, and Newstead on the West.

HISTORY
In the early development of St. Louis, Grand Boulevard marked the eastern boundary of a large commonfield laid out by the French for agricultural use. The Grand Prairie Commonfield, as it was known, was so far from the village of St. Louis that huts were built there for overnight stays. A large portion of the O’Fallon neighborhood, the area south of the present Carter Avenue, was part of this commonfield, composed of a series of narrow parcels running east-west. Both the commonfield strips and surrounding land grants were originally held by colonial French landowners. By 1850, much of this land had been subdivided into tracts and was owned by prominent St. Louisans such Colonel John O’Fallon and J. M. White, a well-known riverman. Some land in the area was also held in the name of Henry Clay, the Kentucky statesman.

The land owned by O’Fallon at the corner of Natural Bridge and Grand became the site of the first St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Fair in 1856. The fair was a great success and became an annual week-long event. Over the years, the grounds expanded for daily use with an Art Gallery, Natural History Museum and Zoological Gardens. The bear pits at the corner of Grand and Natural Bridge are the last structure that remains from this period. John O’Fallon’s country estate along Bellfontaine Road was purchased by the city in 1875 and became the site of O’Fallon Park. The Fairgrounds, O’Fallon Park, and the addition of Sportsman’s Park to the south established the area as a center for entertainment and recreation for the city.

Although some land speculation began in the 1850s, the area remained predominately rural until later in the century. Beginning in the 1890s and continuing through the early 1900s, residential development gained momentum concurrent with the construction of electric trolley lines into the area. Some such subdivisions include O’Fallon Heights, Plymouth Park, and Wanstrath Place. In 1908, the city purchased the St. Louis Fairgrounds and converted the area into a public park. In the 1910s, the former location of the amphitheater was rebuilt into a five-acre swimming pool-the largest municipal swimming pool in the country.

The 1950s and 1960s were a period of significant transition for this portion of North St. Louis and the city as a whole. As people depended more on automobiles over public transportation, many St. Louisans moved out of the city’s core and into the suburbs. During the same period, "Urban Renewal Projects" cleared large portions of land, often occupied by the poorest in the city. Mill Creek Valley, an area inhabited by African-Americans, was part of this "slum clearance." These elements shook up the social and economic patterns of the city. Jim Crow laws had determined were you could eat, sleep, live or go to school if you were African-American. In 1949, African American parents challenged the exclusion of their children from using the pool at Fairgrounds Park. The following year, two thousand St. Louisans rioted over the Parks Department’s decision to allow African-American children to use the pool. Meanwhile, in 1948, the United States Supreme Court decision, Shelley vs. Kramer, which had been initiated by residents just to the southwest, overturned restrictive covenants based on race. During the 1960s, a substantial demographic change took place in this area of North St. Louis. African-American families moved into the neighborhood as older residents moved out, beginning a transition from a predominately white neighborhood to a predominately African-American neighborhood. These changes brought new churches and institutions into the area such as the Julia Davis Library, opened in 1974 named in honor of a distinguished African-American educator. The community faced new challenges such as "redlining" by financial institutions, discouraging investment and development in the area. During the late 1980s, O’Fallon became a part of the City’s Operation ConServ program, beginning a dialogue between community leaders, officials, and residents concerning stabilization and growth of the area.

CHARACTERISTICS
This residential neighborhood, anchored by two major public parks, has remained relatively stable thanks to many long-term residents and a high percentage of owner-occupancy. Most of the homes in the neighborhood were built between 1890 and 1920 and include brick and frame single-family homes, two-family homes, and a few multifamily homes. The areas of the neighborhood with high portions of brick single-family homes are in particularly good condition, such as the area southwest of O’Fallon Park and along San Francisco and Sacramento west of Fairgrounds Park. A drive down West Florissant Avenue greets the viewer with large well-maintained homes overlooking the greenery, lake and renovated Victorian boathouse of O’Fallon Park. Nevertheless, there are other areas of the neighborhood, particularly along business districts and in areas with greater proportions of multifamily units, where declining economic conditions and lack of available financial support have resulted in deterioration. The blocks surrounding Lee Avenue, a commercial thoroughfare, contain vacant lots and derelict buildings. These have also been problems for the areas southeast of O’Fallon Park and along parts of North Newstead. Nonetheless, in recent years, these areas have benefited from revitalization efforts of community organizations, including renovation of older structures and new construction.

INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Although North Newstead is the official dividing line between the O’Fallon and Penrose neighborhoods, many of the neighborhoods’ institutions serve across both sides of this boundary. Children in the area attend Ashland Elementary and Yeatman Middle School, which also acts as a Community Education Center. Bunche International Studies School provides specialized curriculum to middle-school students as part of the magnet program. There are more than a dozen churches in the neighborhood and nearby vicinity, such as Pentecostal Power Church, Northern Missionary Baptist, and Westminster Church of God, to name a few. Some of these organizations, such as Kossuth Church of God, and Christ Community UMC, also address the physical and social needs of the community by providing meeting spaces and food pantries.

One of the oldest religious organizations in the area, Holy Rosary Catholic Church, recently merged with St. Engelbert’s Catholic Church in Penrose to become St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church. Although its successor is no longer housed within the borders of the O’Fallon neighborhood, it continues to serve here through Rosary House, a residential center for the elderly, and by providing a food pantry at the site of the old parish. Girls, Inc., was located at the Holy Rosary school but has since moved across North Newstead. Nevertheless, it also continues to serve in the O’Fallon neighborhood, providing recreation and education facilities for girls, aged 4-18 years.

Earlier this decade, the building that had been the site of Central Medical Center Hospital was bought by the Hospital Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and donated to the Missouri Department of Social Services, with the idea of a family support center in mind. The result is Prince Hall Family Support Center, a mix of both state and private-sector agencies in one building. Its location on North Newstead gives residents of both O’Fallon and Penrose neighborhoods easy access to range of services, including an adult learning center, a health clinic, senior services, adoption assistance, mentoring and an Office of Youth Development.

There are several neighborhood organizations working towards the general improvement of the quality of life and housing opportunities in the area. O’Fallon Alliance for Conservation and O’Fallon Community Housing Corporation work in the 3rd Ward portion, the eastern section of the neighborhood. Dozens of Urban League block units scattered through the area help residents with basic maintenance issues such as weatherization. O’Fallon 2000 has been in existence since 1975 and continues to support development in the community. Nonetheless, the North Newstead Association has arisen as a key player in revitalization of the largest portion of the neighborhood, the 21st ward. The organization began as a merchant association focused on the neighborhood commercial district but has evolved into a Community Housing Development Organization, active throughout the 21st Ward, including portions of O’Fallon, Penrose, and Beaumont neighborhoods.

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
The North Newstead Association has worked towards revitalizing the O’Fallon neighborhood by developing residential and commercial properties. They have addressed the deterioration of commercial areas by assisting owners with façade improvements to existing businesses in the neighborhood. In the case of underutilized properties and vacant land in these areas, the organization has adopted a strategy of conversion to residential use. Development along commercial and in residential areas has taken the form of renovation of older buildings for rental and resale and construction of new single-family homes. These efforts have focused on the 4100 block of Sacramento Avenue, portions of North Newstead, Natural Bridge, the 4200 blocks of Clarence Avenue and Holly Avenue., and the area surrounding their headquarters on Pope Avenue, including blocks of Rosalie Street and Clarence Avenue. Lee Avenue is the main commercial street cutting through the O’Fallon neighborhood; it remains in need of investment and restoration. O’Fallon 2000 has built two infill homes at the intersection of Lee and North Newstead. The North Newstead Association has plans to invest near the opposite end of Lee Avenue, at the intersection of Kossuth and Fair Avenues. Nonetheless, a development strategy is still needed for this major thoroughfare through the center of the neighborhood.